Numerical and experimental investigation of the mean and turbulent characteristics of a wing-tip vortex in the near field

Abstract

The near-field (up to three chord lengths) development of a wing-tip vortex is investigated both numerically and experimentally. The research was conducted in a medium speed wind tunnel on a NACA 0012 square tip half-wing at a Reynolds number of 3.2 × 10⁵. A full Reynolds stress turbulence model with a hybrid unstructured grid was used to compute the wing-tip vortex in the near field while an x-wire anemometer and five-hole probe recorded the experimental results. The mean flow of the computed vortex was in good agreement with experiment as the circulation parameter was within 6% of the experimental value at x/c = 0 for α = 10° and the crossflow velocity magnitude was within 1% of the experimental value at x/c = 1 for α = 5°. The trajectory of the computed vortex was also in good agreement as it had moved inboard by the same amount (10% chord) as the experimental vortex at the last measurement location. The axial velocity excess is under predicted for α = 10°, whereas the velocity deficit is in relatively good agreement for α = 5°. The computed Reynolds shear stress component 〈u′v′〉 is in good agreement with experiment at x/c = 0 for α = 5°, but is greatly under predicted further downstream and at all locations for α = 10°. It is thought that a lack of local grid refinement in the vortex core and deficiencies in the Reynolds stress turbulence model may have led to errors in the mean flow and turbulence results respectively.