Navier-Stokes Simulation of Rear-Facing Step
j...@oxaero.com
All,
As you know, a small, rear-facing step near the leading edge of the wing is a critical part of deturbulator configurations. The question is “what effect does this have on the flow from the leading edge to the deturbulator panel?” Oil patterns suggest slightly detached and/or rolling flow could be bunching the oil into dappled patterns (image below) instead of streaming it as usual. The images seem to show that this condition can be maintained up to .6 chord on both surfaces of the Standard Cirrus Wortmann airfoils. Is that really possible? Jari Hyvärinen has begun a serious effort to model all aspects of flow over deturbulated Wortmann wings. But, two days ago, I ran a simple Navier-Stokes application on my iPhone (Yes, a $1.99 iPhone app!) for a crude preliminary analysis of a rear-facing step. The results are startlingly beautiful. Take a look. A WMV video clip has been posted to www.deturbulator.com where you can get it. Just click the link at the bottom of the page.
Stay tuned,
Jim Hendrix
417 N. 11th Street
Oxford, MS 38655
662-234-0492
j...@deturbulator.org
www.deturbulator.org
