An Experimental Study of the Effect of Vortex Generator on the Flat-Plate Boundary Layer

Abstract

This paper is dealing with an experimental study to show the influence of the geometric characteristics of the vortex generators VG son the thickness of the boundary layer (∂) and drag coefficients (CD) of the flat plate. Vortex generators work effectively on medium and high angles of attack, since they are "hidden" under the boundary layer and practically ineffective at low angles. The height of VGs relative to the thickness of the boundary layer enables us to study the efficacy of VGs in delaying boundary layer separation. The distance between two VGs also has an effect on the boundary layer if we take into account the interference between two pairs of VGs. The effect of the changing in (h- the height of vortex generator, d- the average distance between tow vortex generators) on the thickness of the flat plate boundary layer and the drag coefficients has been studied for triangular vortex generator. The measurements of the vortex generator have been changed to determine the optimum boundary layer thickness and the change in drag coefficients. An experiment was done at an average free stream velocity, (U∞,) of 28 m/s. The experiment was conducted in the wind tunnel UTAD-2 University (NAU) Kiev, Ukraine.