The effect of wing-tip vortices on the flow around a NACA0012 wing

TL;DR

This study systematically investigates wing-tip vortex formation and their interactions with wall turbulence and wakes around NACA0012 wings using high-fidelity simulations.

Contribution

It provides detailed insights into vortex formation and flow interactions for different wing geometries and angles of attack using advanced numerical methods.

Findings

Wing-tip vortices significantly influence surrounding turbulent flow.

Flow interactions vary with wing geometry and angle of attack.

High-order simulations reveal detailed vortex dynamics.

Abstract

The goal of the present work is to perform a systematic study of the formation of wing-tip vortices and their interaction with and impact on the surrounding flow in more details. Of particular interest is the interaction of these vortices with wall turbulence and the turbulent wake. This is done by considering two wing geometries, i.e., infinite-span (periodic) and three-dimensional (wing-tip) wings, at three different angles of attack: $\alpha=0^o$, $5^o$, $10^o$. Simulations are performed by the high-order incompressible Navier-Stokes solver Nek5000 with added adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) capabilities developed at KTH.