Keel Design for Low Viscous Drag

1987 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clifford J. Obara ◽  
C. P. van Dam

In this paper, foil and planform parameters which govern the level of viscous drag produced by the keel of a sailing yacht are discussed. It is shown that the application of laminar boundary-Layer flow offers great potential for increased boat speed resulting from the reduction in viscous drag. Three foil shapes have been designed and it is shown that their hydro­dynamic characteristics are very much dependent on location and mode of boundary-Layer transition. The planform parameter which strongly affects the capabilities of the keel to achieve laminar flow is lea ding-edge sweep angle. The two significant phenomena related to keel sweep angle which can cause premature transition of the laminar boundary layer are crossflow instability and turbulent contamination of the leading-edge attachment line. These flow phenomena and methods to control them are discussed in detail. The remaining factors that affect the maintainability of laminar flow include surface roughness, surface waviness, and freestream turbulence. Recommended limits for these factors are given to insure achievability of laminar flow on the keel. In addition, the application of a simple trailing-edge flap to improve the hydrodynamic characteristics of a foil at moderate-to-high leeway angles is studied.

1989 ◽  
Vol 33 (02) ◽  
pp. 145-155
Author(s):  
Clifford J. Obara ◽  
C. P. van Dam

Foil and planform parameters which govern the level of viscous drag produced by the keel of a sailing yacht are discussed. It is shown that the application of laminar boundary-layer flow offers great potential for increased boat speed resulting from the reduction in viscous drag. Three foil shapes have been designed and it is shown that their hydrodynamic characteristics are very much dependent on location and mode of boundary-layer transition. The planform parameter which strongly affects the capabilities of the keel to achieve laminar flow is leading-edge sweep angle. The two significant phenomena related to keel sweep angle which can cause premature transition of the laminar boundary layer are crossflow instability and turbulent contamination of the leading-edge attachment line. These flow phenomena and methods to control them are discussed in detail. The remaining factors that affect the maintainability of laminar flow include surface roughness, surface waviness, and freestream turbulence. Recommended limits for these factors are given to insure achievability of laminar flow on the keel. In addition, the application of a simple trailing-edge flap to improve the hydrodynamic characteristics of a foil at moderate-to-high leeway angles is studied.


Author(s):  
Stefan Becker ◽  
Donald M. McEligot ◽  
Edmond Walsh ◽  
Eckart Laurien

New results are deduced to assess the validity of proposed transition indicators when applied to situations other than boundary layers on smooth surfaces. The geometry employed utilizes a two-dimensional square rib to disrupt the boundary layer flow. The objective is to determine whether some available criteria are consistent with the present measurements of laminar recovery and transition for the flow downstream of this rib. For the present data — the proposed values of thresholds for transition in existing literature that are based on the freestream turbulence level at the leading edge are not reached in the recovering laminar run but they are not exceeded in the transitioning run either. Of the pointwise proposals examined, values of the suggested quantity were consistent for three of the criteria; that is, they were less than the threshold in laminar recovery and greater than it in the transitioning case.


AIAA Journal ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 85-90
Author(s):  
P. A. Nelson ◽  
M. C. M. Wright ◽  
J.-L. Rioual

1959 ◽  
Vol 63 (588) ◽  
pp. 722-722
Author(s):  
R. L. Dommett

It has been found that there is a critical height for “sandpaper” type roughness below which no measurable disturbances are introduced into a laminar boundary layer and above which transition is initiated at the roughness. Braslow and Knox have proposed a method of predicting this height, for flow over a flat plate or a cone, using exact solutions of the laminar boundary layer equations combined with a correlation of experimental results in terms of a Reynolds number based on roughness height, k, and local conditions at the top of the elements. A simpler, yet more general, method can be constructed by taking additional advantage of the linearity of the velocity profile near the wall in a laminar boundary layer.


2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. D. Gardner ◽  
C. B. Merz ◽  
C. C. Wolf

An investigation was performed into the effect of positive and negative sweep angle on the boundary layer transition and dynamic stall behavior of a finite wing. The finite wing had a 6:1 aspect ratio, modern (SPP8) tip shape, and positive twist, moving the maximum load on the wing away from the wind tunnel wall. Experiments were performed with sweep Λ = ±30° and Λ = 0° for static polars and sinusoidal pitching. The positively twisted wing shows a S-shaped boundary layer transition on the pressure side similar to that previously seen for helicopter rotor blades in hover. The transition positions on the suction side of the wing are comparable for the same local angle of attack at all values of the sweep at each of the three pressure sections, and for dynamic pitching motions a hysteresis around the static transition positions is seen. Sweeping the wing led to later stall and higher maximum lift for both static polars and dynamic stall, except for a single case. The negative aerodynamic damping is worse for the swept wing than for the unswept wing, except where the delay of stall led to the flow remaining attached.


Author(s):  
Jonathan H. Watmuff

Experiments are described in which well-defined FSN (Free Stream Nonuniformity) distributions are introduced by placing fine wires upstream of the leading edge of a flat plate. Large amplitude spanwise thickness variations are present in the downstream boundary layer resulting from the interaction of the laminar wakes with the leading edge. Regions of elevated background unsteadiness appear on either side of the peak layer thickness, which share many of the characteristics of Klebanoff modes, observed at elevated Free Stream Turbulence (FST) levels. However, for the low background disturbance level of the free stream, the layer remains laminar to the end of the test section (Rx ≈ l.4×106) and there is no evidence of bursting or other phenomena associated with breakdown to turbulence. A vibrating ribbon apparatus is used to demonstrate that the deformation of the mean flow is responsible for substantial phase and amplitude distortion of Tollmien-Schlichting (TS) waves. Pseudo-flow visualization of hot-wire data shows that the breakdown of the distorted waves is more complex and occurs at a lower Reynolds number than the breakdown of the K-type secondary instability observed when the FSN is not present.


Author(s):  
Brian Barry ◽  
Simon J. Parke ◽  
Nicholas W. Bown ◽  
Hansgeorg Riedel ◽  
Martin Sitzmann

The achievement of large areas of laminar flow over aircraft engine nacelles offers significant savings in aircraft fuel consumption. Based upon current engine configurations nett sfc benefits of up to 2% are possible. In addition the engine nacelle is ideally suited to the early inclusion of laminar flow technology, being relatively self contained with the possibility of application to existing airframes. In September 1992 a European Consortium managed by Rolls-Royce including MTU and DLR began flight testing of a natural laminar flow nacelle. This programme was later extended by R-R and DLR to flight test a hybrid laminar flow nacelle featuring boundary layer suction and insect contamination protection. The tests evaluated the effects of flight and engine environment, boundary layer transition phenomena, suction system operation and insect contamination avoidance strategies. This paper describes the global conclusions from these flight tests which are a significant milestone leading to the future application of laminar flow technology to engine nacelles.


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