| A novel wind tunnel has been designed and built to allow PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) investigation of 2D Airfoil Vortex Interaction (AVI). AVI is a simplified representation of parallel Blade Vortex Interaction (BVI), a phenomenon typical of rotorcraft aerodynamics and characterized by the interaction of the rotor wake vortex with subsequent blades. In AVI, the wake vortex is represented by a vortex, having a rotation axis perpendicular to the direction of the flow, convecting downstream and interacting with the target airfoil, representing the blade. The features of the wind tunnel include a high aspect ratio test section simulating 2D unbounded flow at 80 m/s, a novel design application of CFD for contraction optimization, the incorporation of a modestly priced commercial air-handling centrifugal blower as the wind tunnel fan, and the tunnel's compatibility with a proposed vortex generator, which permits the generation of a single, repeatable transverse vortex. The concept of this vortex generator is novel and involves plunging of an airfoil from the far field to the location of interest in the flow. When the airfoil motion is suddenly arrested, the bound vorticity accumulated due to the change in flow incidence caused by the plunge will "roll up" into a single vortex of predictable circulation and core diameter. |
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