Experimental and Numerical Analysis of the Effect of Vortex Generator Installation Angle on Flow Separation Control

Xin-Kai Li, Wei Liu, Ting-Jun Zhang, Pei-Ming Wang and Xiao-Dong Wang
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Xin-Kai Li: China Huadian Engineering Co., Ltd. (CHEC), Beijing 100160, China
Wei Liu: China Huadian Engineering Co., Ltd. (CHEC), Beijing 100160, China
Ting-Jun Zhang: China Huadian Engineering Co., Ltd. (CHEC), Beijing 100160, China
Pei-Ming Wang: China Huadian Engineering Co., Ltd. (CHEC), Beijing 100160, China
Xiao-Dong Wang: College of Energy, Power and Mechanical Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 23, 1-19

Abstract: In order to explore the effect of the installation angle of vortex generator (VG) on boundary-layer flow control, the vortex characteristics of plate VG and their effect on the aerodynamic characteristics of an airfoil was studied numerically and using wind tunnel experiments. The effects of five VG installation angles ( β ) of 10°, 15°, 20°, 25°, and 30° on the characteristics of vortices were studied. The results show that the strength of vortices on the leeward side of VG increases with an increased installation angle until, eventually, the vortex core breaks down. During the downstream development of the VG leading-edge separation vortices, these vortices deviate in the radial direction. The larger the installation angle, the larger this deviation distance in the radial direction becomes. The effects of installation angle on the aerodynamic performance of airfoils were studied in a wind tunnel using the same five VG installation angles. The results show that VG can delay flow separation on the airfoil suction surface, thereby increasing lift and reducing drag. The stall angle of the airfoil with VG was increased by 10°. When the installation angle of the VG was 20°, the maximum lift coefficient of airfoil increased by 48.77%. For an airfoil angle of attack (AoA) of 18°, the drag of the airfoil decreased by 88%, and the lift-drag ratio increased by 1146.04%. Considering the best overall distribution of lift-drag ratio, the positive effect of the VG was found to be when β = 20° and the worst VG effectiveness was observed at β = 30°.

Keywords: vortex generator; installation angle; airfoil; wind turbine; aerodynamic performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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