An Experimental Investigation Of The Passive Control Of Reverse Delta Wing Vortex Flow Structure And Aerodynamics Characteristics

"This thesis summarises an experimental study of a 65-sweep reverse delta wing (RDW) by using a seven-hole pressure probe and a two-component force balance at Re = 270,000. Dye water flow visualization was also conducted in order to better understand the flow structure. Particular emphasis was placed on the variation of vortex flow quantities and critical flow parameters such as the core circulation, total circulation, tangential velocity and axial core velocity with change in chordwise locations from x/c = 0.2 to x/c = 1.5 for [alpha] = 10°- 22°. Based on lift measurements, the RDW generated less lift from [alpha] = 8° to [alpha] = 35° in comparison with the conventional delta wing (DW). Hence, lift augmentation was attempted by attaching passive control devices such as a side edge strip (SES) and a leading edge strip (LES), made from aluminum strips with different widths, which were placed perpendicularly to the wing's bottom surface. The flow field scans showed that the vortex flow underwent diffusion while it progressed in the chordwise direction. The size of the separated flow region, which originated from the spanwise vortex breakdown, increased with the angle of attack. Compared to a baseline RDW, RDW with SES generated a pair of more concentrated vortices with a higher core and total circulation values. Compared to a baseline RDW, the lift coefficient generated by the RDW with a 1.5% c SES and a 3% c SES increased by 0.18 to 0.28 on average, for angles of attack ranging from 0° to 40°. In addition, 1.5% c and 3% c SES boosted the wing's lift-to-drag ratio, for an average of 24% and 5%, respectively, from angles of attack of 10° to 20°. The dye flow visualization showed that the vortex flow generated by the RDW was located outside of the wing's surface and the vortex generated by the DW is located above the wing surface, in which suggesting the vortex lift is not applicable to a RDW. " --