Evaluating airfoil behaviour such as laminar separation bubbles with visualization and IR thermography methods

Abstract

A study of airfoil behaviour is undertaken using two independent non-intrusive measurement techniques, surface oil flow visualization (SOFV) and infrared thermography (IT) to quantitatively determine flow parameters such as separation and reattachment points on the airfoil. Several airfoil heating methods are described and several airfoil materials are evaluated. Results are presented here for constant Re = 4.7 × 104, with the angle of attack varied from 0° to 13°. Innovative post processing methods are used for the IR temperature data to reveal important details of the flow. All methods provide comparable results and allow further understanding of these characteristics and the extension to large scale, dynamic and unsteady flow situations.