The starting flows past a two-dimensional oscillating and translating airfoil are investigated by visualization experiments and numerical calculations. The airfoil, elliptic in cross-section, is set in motion impulsively and subjected simultaneously to a steady translation and a harmonic oscillation in pitch. The incidence of the airfoil is variable between 0° and 45° and the Reynolds number based on the chord length is between 1500 and 10000. The main object of the present study is to reveal some marked characteristics of the unsteady vortices produced from the oscillating airfoil set at large incidences in excess of the static stall angle. Another purpose is to examine, in some detail, the respective and combined effects of the major experimental parameters on the vortex wake development. It is shown that, in general, the dominant parameter of the flow is the reduced frequency not only when the airfoil oscillates at incidences close to the static stall angle but also at larger incidences. It is also demonstrated that, as the pitching frequency is increased, the patterns of the vortex wake are dependent on the product of the reduced frequency and the amplitude rather than on the frequency itself. It is noted that the combined effect of a high reduced frequency and a large amplitude can give rise to cyclic superposition of leading-edge vortices from which a gradually expanding standing vortex is developed on the upper surface.

The starting flows past a two-dimensional NACA 0012 airfoil translating and oscillating at large incidences are investigated by visualization experiments and numerical calculations. The airfoil model is set in motion impulsively and subjected simultaneously to a constant translation and harmonic oscillation in pitch. The evolution of the vortex wake is followed in a sequence of streamline visualizations and the wake pattern generated is analysed. The parameters varied in the visualization experiment are the Reynolds number ranging from 1500 to 10000, the reduced frequency from 0.1 to 1.0, the mean incidence 30° or 15° and the angular amplitude 15° or 7°. There are also two additional parameters of special interest: the airfoil cross-section and the pitching axis. The effects of these parameters are discussed in relation to the resultant wake patterns. Some comparison is made with the results of earlier experiments.

Early stages of unsteady viscous flows around a circular cylinder at Reynolds numbers of 3 × 103 and 9.5 × 103 are analysed numerically by direct integration of the Navier–Stokes equations – a fourth-order finite-difference scheme is used for the resolution of the stream-function equation and a second-order one for the vorticity-transport equation. Evolution with time of the flow structure is studied in detail. Some new phenomena are revealed and confirmed by experiments.The influence of the grid systems and the downstream boundary conditions on the flow structure and the velocity profiles is reported. The computed results are compared qualitatively and quantitatively with experimental visualization and measurements. The comparison is found to be satisfactory.

SUMMARYA description is given of a high-order solution algorithm for the solution of the unsteady axisymmetric Navier-Stokes equations. The method consists of a combination of fourth-order and second-order accurate finite difference schemes, where the approximated equations are solved by an alternating direction implicit (ADI) method. Special attention is paid to the boundary conditions. Results are compared with measurements for the cases of rotating flow within a closed cylinder (rotating driven cavity), developing axial flow in a stationary pipe and developing flow in a rotating pipe. KEY WORDS Navier-Stokes equations Boundary conditions Higher order finite difference method