BOUNDARY LAYER AND SEPARATION

CONTROL ON WINGS AT LOW

REYNOLDS NUMBERS
by

Shanling Yang

A Dissertation Presented to the

FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements of the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(AEROSPACE & MECHANICAL ENGINEERING)
18 December 2013

Copyright 2013

Shanling Yang

Dedication

To my Father

ii

Acknowledgments
I would like to first and foremost thank my Abba Father for the abundant blessings, favor,
provision, and encouragement that He has given me throughout this journey. Though perhaps not obvious or logical to others, it is truly by His hand that I have come to this point.
Throughout this journey I have witnessed uncountable instances of His grace and unmerited
favor, and He deserves the glory.
I would also like to thank my mother, father, and brother, who have been extremely
supportive and encouraging. I especially thank my father, who did not get the chance to
witness my research failures and successes, but he has always been an inspiration and role
model who I constantly look up to. My mother and brother have never ceased to support
me during this journey, and I thank them for investing their time to read my papers, inquire
about my presentations, and even make sure that I stay on schedule. I thank my family for
being such a strong and loving foundation.
I also cannot leave out thanking my family of brothers and sisters who have lifted me in
constant prayer and encouragement. Many of them patiently stood by my side and bore my
burdens with me when I felt completely inadequate to continue my work. I thank them for
praying me through weak moments and for rejoicing with me during triumphs, even when
they did not fully understand the technical aspects of my work. I know that their prayers
have helped me combat the mental and emotional struggles I faced during this process.
I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Spedding, for his support and nurturing over these
past few years. I have grown immensely as a researcher under Dr. Speddings advisory,
though I know that I have only uncovered a little portion of the much larger realm of research.
It has been a pleasure to work with Dr. Spedding, and I thank him for being patient with me
through each technical issue, serendipitous discovery, television taping, manuscript revision,

iii

and presentation. I also thank Dr. Spedding for the wonderful opportunity in 2012 to present
my work at Lund University and witness the Lunds extraordinary wind tunnel research.
On a similar note, I would like to thank Dr. Eliasson for giving me the opportunity to
present my work at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and meet exceptional researchers.
It has also been a pleasure to work with Dr. Redekopp and Eric Lin for a portion of my
research. They both provided an immense amount of help for the non-experimental analysis
of my work, and I especially owe many thanks to Eric Lin for the time and effort he put
aside in his own schedule to help me with the numerical analysis.
I also would like to thank Ewald Schuster and Rodney Yates for all the machining work
they have helped me with throughout the last few years. Without either of them, I would
not have gotten past numerous mechanical conundrums. I thank both of them for taking
time out of their schedules to assist me and for being so patient with me.
Many thanks go to the rest of the USC faculty, staff, and fellow classmates who have
contributed to my journey. I could not have come this far without the relationships I have
developed with these outstanding mentors, colleagues, and friends.

iv

Table of Contents
Dedication

ii

Acknowledgments

iv

Abstract

vii

Preface

Chapter 1

Introduction
1.1 Aim and Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1
2

Chapter 2

Fundamental of Aerodynamics
2.1 Laminar Boundary Layer and Separated Shear Layer Flows . . . . .
2.2 Flow Instabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3 Transition to Turbulence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.4 Stability of Viscous Flows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4
4
5
8
10

Chapter 3

Separation Control by Acoustic Excitation

3.1 Acoustic Excitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2 Optimum Excitation Frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3 Forcing Tones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.4 Hysteresis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.5 Angle of Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.6 Sound Amplitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.7 Tunnel Resonance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.8 Forcing Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.9 Vortex Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

13
14
15
17
18
19
21
22
23
25

Chapter 4

Mathematical Modeling of Flow and Sound

4.1 Sound and Fluid Flow Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2 Sound and Tollmien-Schlichting Instability Interaction . . . . . . . .

27
27
28

Chapter 5

Methods
5.1 Wing Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

32
32

5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6

Wind Tunnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Force Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Particle Imaging Velocimetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Acoustic Forcing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Stability Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

33
34
36
37
38

Chapter 6

Summary of Papers
6.1 Paper I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2 Paper II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.3 Paper III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.4 Paper IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.5 Paper V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

40
40
41
42
42
43

Chapter 7

Paper I

46

Chapter 8

Paper II

74

Chapter 9

Paper III

106

Chapter 10

Paper IV

144

Chapter 11

Paper V

174

Chapter 12

Concluding Remarks

194

References
Appendix A

195
Derivation of Sound and Fluid Flow Equation

200

vi

Abstract
In the transitional chord-based Reynolds number regime for aeronautics, 104 Re 105 ,
fluid flow over a surface is prone to separation followed by possible reattachment and transition to turbulence. The amplification of disturbances in the boundary layer promotes
transition to turbulence, so boundary layer and separation control methods are especially
favorable in this transitional Re regime. The use of sound to control flow separation at
transitional and moderate Re for various smooth airfoils has been experimentally studied in
the literature. Optimum excitation frequencies are reported to match the frequency or sub
harmonics of the naturally occurring instabilities in the shear layer, and correlations between
optimum frequencies for external acoustic forcing and tunnel anti-resonances have been observed. However, reported optimum frequency values based on the Strouhal number scaling
St/Re1/2 are not in complete agreement among the different reported studies. Little attention has been given to distinguish the effects of standing waves from traveling sound waves.
Mathematical and experimental studies of sound and boundary layer instability interactions
have also yielded mixed results, suggesting that there still lacks a full understanding about
the mechanism by which acoustic waves affect boundary layer flows.
Results on boundary layer and separation control through acoustic excitation at low
Re numbers are reported. The Eppler 387 profile is specifically chosen because of its prestall hysteresis and bi-stable state behavior in the transitional Re regime, which is a result
of flow separation and reattachment. External acoustic forcing on the wing yields large
improvements (more than 70%) in lift-to-drag ratio and flow reattachment at forcing frequencies that correlate with the measured anti-resonances in the wind tunnel. The optimum
St/Re1/2 range for Re = 60,000 matches the proposed optimum range in the literature, but
there is less agreement for Re = 40,000, which suggests that correct St scaling has not been
determined. The correlation of aerodynamic improvements to wind tunnel resonances implies that external acoustic forcing is facility-dependent, which inhibits practical application.
Therefore, internal acoustic excitation for the same wing profile is also pursued.

vii

Internal acoustic forcing is designed to be accomplished by embedding small speakers

inside a custom-designed wing that contains many internal cavities and small holes in the
suction surface. However, initial testing of this semi-porous wing model shows that the
presence of the small holes in the suction surface completely transforms the aerodynamic
performance by changing the mean chordwise separation location and causing an originally
separated, low-lift state flow to reattach into a high-lift state. The aerodynamic improvements are not caused by the geometry of the small holes themselves, but rather by Helmholtz
resonance that occurs in the cavities, which generate tones that closely match the intrinsic
flow instabilities. Essentially, opening and closing holes in the suction surface of a wing,
perhaps by digital control, can be used as a means of passive separation control. Given
the similarity of wing-embedded pressure tap systems to Helmholtz resonators, particular
attention must be given to the setup of pressure taps in wings in order to avoid acoustic
resonance effects.
Local acoustic forcing is achieved through the activation of internally embedded speakers in combination with thin diaphragms placed across the holes in the suction surface to
eliminate Helmholtz resonance effects. Activating various speakers in different spanwise and
chordwise distributions successfully controls local flow separation on the wing at Re = 40,000
and 60,000. The changes in aerodynamic performance differ from those observed through
external acoustic forcing, indicating that internal acoustic forcing is facility-independent.
Combining the effect of Helmholtz resonance and the effect of pure internal acoustic forcing
yields a completely different set of performance improvements. Since the internal acoustic
forcing studies in the literature did not separate these two effects, there is reason to question
the validity of the true nominal performance of the wings in previously reported internal
acoustic studies.
Stability analysis is performed on experimental velocity profiles by means of a numerical
Orr-Sommerfeld solver, which extracts the initially least stable frequencies in the boundary
layer using parallel and 2-d flow assumptions. Velocity profiles of the E387 wing are chosen at
a condition where acoustic excitation at various chordwise locations and frequencies promotes

viii

the originally separated, low-lift state flow into a reattached, high-lift state. Preliminary
stability analysis of the flow at different chordwise stations for the wing in its nominal state
(without acoustic excitation) indicates that the flow is initially stable. The least stable
frequencies are found to be equal to, and sub harmonics of, the preferential acoustic forcing
frequencies determined in experiments. However, potentially improper and oversimplified
flow assumptions are most likely sources of inaccuracy since the Orr-Sommerfeld equation
is not generally used for separated flows or for boundary layers that grow significantly over
the chord length. The reported numerical results serve as a basis for further validation.
The initial hope to control separation by acoustic excitation was realized. While both
external and internal acoustic forcing successfully mitigate flow separation and improve wing
performance, internal acoustic forcing is the more practical active control method for low
Re flying devices. Further investigations would entail investigating the effect of embedded
sound sources on the stability characteristics of wings and small-scale flying devices.

ix

Preface
This thesis considers the boundary layer and separation control methods of finite wings at
low Reynolds numbers and is based on the following papers:
I Yang, S.L., Spedding, G.R., Spanwise Variation in Wing Circulation and Drag Measurement of Wings at Moderate Reynolds Number, Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 50, No.
3, 2013, pp. 791-797.
II Yang, S.L., Spedding, G.R., Separation Control by External Acoustic Excitation on a
Finite Wing at Low Reynolds Numbers, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Vol. 51, No. 6, 2013, pp. 1506-1515.
III Yang, S.L., Spedding, G.R., Passive Separation Control by Acoustic Resonance, Experiments in Fluids, Vol. 10, No. 54, 2013, pp. 1-16.
IV Yang, S.L., Spedding, G.R., Local Acoustic Forcing of a Wing at Low Reynolds Numbers, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. 2013. In review.
V Yang, S.L., Stability Analysis of Experimental Velocity Profiles Using an Orr-Sommerfeld
Solver, 2013.

Chapter 1

Introduction

For much time now, small-scale flight dynamics has no longer pertained only to birds, bats,
and insects with the steadily increasing number of small-scale aerial vehicles that operate in
the same Reynolds number regime. The chord-based Reynolds number, Re = U c/ (where
U is the flight speed, c the chord, and is the kinematic viscosity), balances inertial and
viscous forces and can be classified into different regimes. In aeronautics, the low Re regime is
approximately Re 105 (Fig. 1.1). The low Re range can be further sub-divided: Re < 104
(ultra-low Re), which classifies most insect flight, and 104 Re 105 , which classifies most
bird flight.
A growing number of micro aerial vehicles operate in the particular low Re sub-regime
between 104 and 105 . At these Re, fluid flow is prone to laminar boundary layer separation
with possible transition to turbulent reattachment, thereby either favorably or adversely
affecting wing and aircraft performance. This sub-regime can consequently be termed the
transitional Re regime, where viscous effects cannot be ignored. In this regime, fluid flow
is extremely sensitive to small disturbances, such as environmental noise, turbulence levels,
vibrations, surface irregularities, among others. Experiments on airfoils and wings at these
low Re show discrepancies among different facilities, indicating the difficulty in accurately
characterizing the behavior of airfoils and wings at low Re. The acute sensitivity of airfoils and wings in the transitional Re regime has triggered the investigation of transition
mechanisms in the boundary and shear layers and methods for separation control.

Figure 1.1: Re regime for flying objects, from [33].

1.1

Aim and Objectives

The tendency of flow separation over airfoils at low Re has prompted the investigation of
separation control methods. One particular method that has only been moderately studied is
the use of acoustic excitation. The reported investigations on external and internal acoustic
excitation found in the literature describe improvements to airfoil performance with the
presence of select acoustic tones; however, most of the acoustic forcing studies were done on
airfoils and wings at stall or post-stall angles of attack, . Very few studies examined airfoils
that experienced flow separation at low, pre-stall .
Correlations between the most effective forcing frequencies and the most unstable frequencies in the separated shear layer or free wake have been reported. Studies have also
shown that the most effective forcing frequencies match the anti-resonances of the tunnel
test section. There seem to be several possible sources of mechanisms by which acoustic
excitation can change the flow, including a frequency matching of the acoustic wave and
a naturally occurring instability, and the presence of maximum velocity fluctuations at the
wing surface.

In general, the reported range of most effective frequencies is much larger (and even an
order of magnitude different) for internal acoustic forcing than for external acoustic forcing,
and the reported ranges differ slightly for various airfoils, Re, and . The discrepancies
suggest the possibility of different mechanisms by which acoustic excitation changes the
flow around a wing and prompts the need to clearly distinguish between standing waves
(most likely to occur for external acoustic forcing) from traveling waves (most likely to occur
for internal forcing). It is quite possible that completely different parameters need to be
considered for the two types of acoustic forcing if each involves a different type of wave as
the flow-changing mechanism.
All of the internal acoustic forcing tests found in the literature used wing models that
had uncovered spanwise ducts. This design limits the localization of acoustic forcing to
spanwise strips at a single, or very few, chordwise locations, and there are no studies on the
spatial distribution of various forcing frequencies and sound pressure levels. Furthermore,
the sound ducts in these wings present the potential effects of acoustic resonance, which
is not mentioned in any of the reported studies. It is possible that the effects of acoustic
resonance have been overlooked in the studies on internal acoustic forcing of wings reported
in literature.
The aim of the current work is to experimentally investigate the laminar separation
and reattachment process on a finite wing in the transitional Re regime under the effect of
acoustic excitation. In particular, the sensitivity to small disturbances and the practicality
of separation control by manipulation of boundary layer instabilities are investigated. The
explored methods for separation control are external acoustic excitation, internal acoustic
excitation, and acoustic resonance.

Chapter 2

Fundamentals of Aerodynamics

2.1

Laminar Boundary Layer and Separated Shear Layer

Flows

Fluid flow is governed by the influence of inertia, viscosity, and external forces. The NavierStokes equations for incompressible flow balances these elements by mass conservation and
momentum equations, given by

u = 0,

(2.1)

1
u
+ (u ) u = p + 2 u + fext
t

(2.2)

where the velocity vector u = hu, v, wi, is the fluid density, p is the pressure, is the
kinematic viscosity of the fluid, and fext is the external force vector. In terms of the x component of the velocity, and assuming steady, two-dimensional flow and no external forces,
Eq. (2.2) can be expressed as
u
u
1 p
u
+v
=
+
x
y
x

2u 2u
+
x2 y 2


.

(2.3)

The left-hand side of Eq. (2.3) is the net inertial force, the first term on the right-hand side
is the net pressure force, and the last term on the right-hand side is the net viscous force.
At low Re, viscous forces dominate the inertial forces, especially in the laminar boundary
p
layer where the flow is still attached (Fig. 2.1). Adverse pressure gradients ( x
> 0) are

most likely to occur when the boundary layer is still laminar, making the flow over a surface
susceptible to separation, after which begins the separated shear layer, which consists of a
laminar shear layer and turbulent shear layer, as well as a laminar-turbulent transition shear
layer. For the flow to remain attached to the surface, the flow must have sufficient energy
to overcome the adverse pressure gradient, the viscous dissipation along the flow path, and
the consequent energy loss due to changes in momentum. When the energy is insufficient,
the flow separates from the surface (Fig. 2.1a). The flow is also prone to transition from
laminar to turbulent and may reattach (Fig. 2.1b) to form a turbulent boundary layer that
can result in a laminar separation bubble.

2.2

Flow Instabilities

Each stage of a developing flow contains dominating instabilities. Flow instabilities can be
classified as local and global, and further into convective and absolute [24, 5]. If localized
disturbances spread upstream and downstream and contaminate the entire flow, the velocity
profile is considered locally absolutely unstable, whereas if disturbances are swept away from
the source, the velocity profile is considered locally convectively unstable. Global instabilities
can arise from feedback from either upstream-propagating vorticity (instability) waves or
irrotational global pressure feedback. While the basic flow may be convectively unstable,
instantaneous velocity profiles of the disturbed basic flow can be absolutely unstable with
respect to secondary disturbances, which can occur if the scale of the secondary instability
is much smaller than that of that of the primary disturbance [30].

Figure 2.1: Boundary layer characteristics for separated flow (a) and reattached flow (b).
Different dominating instabilities are found in corresponding parts of a developing boundary layer. Figure 2.2 shows the development of the boundary layer over a flat plate. Immediately aft of the leading edge, the boundary layer is still attached and laminar, as indicated by Stage 1. Slightly farther downstream, the laminar boundary layer is dominated by
small-amplitude, viscous instabilities, commonly referred to as Tollmien-Schlichting (T-S)
instabilities (Stage 2). When amplified, T-S waves can grow into larger, three-dimensional
instabilities. Experimental results on boundary layer instability and the onset of turbulence
on flat plates [29] showed that initially small-amplitude and nominally two-dimensional wave

Figure 2.2: Laminar-turbulent transition in the boundary layer on a flat plate, from [55].
disturbances became three-dimensional when the amplitude was increased with the formation
of regions of peaks and valleys with short duration spikes.
At large enough amplitude of the T-S waves, the flow no longer remains attached to
the surface, whereby the boundary layer becomes a separated shear layer, dominated by
secondary instabilities, referred to as separated shear layer, or sometimes Kelvin-Helmholtz
(K-H) instabilities. K-H waves are inviscid and cause the shear layer to roll up, and they
have been shown to be responsible for shear layer and separation bubble unsteadiness [32].
Studies also identified large-scale vortex shedding as the primary cause of low Re number
separation bubble reattachment and unsteadiness, whereas the role of small-scale turbulence
was only secondary. In the separated shear layer, vortex merging can occur and contribute
to the sub harmonic growth of periodic disturbances, although the growth is less obvious
and pronounced as Re increases or angle of attack, , decreases (and as the height of the
separated region decreases). Merged roll-up vortices have been observed [59] to shed at the
first sub harmonic of the natural frequency in the separated shear layer.
Separated shear layer instabilities would begin at Stage 3 in Fig. 2.2. Experimental
results on a flat plate from [29] showed development of these secondary waves in the form of

-shaped instabilities upon large enough amplification of T-S waves. Secondary instabilities
can continue to grow (Stage 4) into turbulent spots (Stage 5), which can then initiate the
transition to fully turbulent boundary layer flow [46]. Transition has been shown to occur
quickly after the roll-up and agglomeration of vorticity in both experiments [54, 35] and simulations [56]. While T-S instabilities have been observed to initiate transition in separation
bubbles, the rate of transition caused by T-S instabilities is lower than that caused by K-H
instabilities, which results in a longer transition length. When the flow extends beyond the
end of the surface (for finite bodies), dominating instabilities are wake profile, or free wake,
instabilities.

2.3

Transition to Turbulence

Transition to turbulence occurs when perturbations enter into and influence the flow, and
upon large enough amplification, break down nonlinearly. The physical mechanisms that
prompt transition depend on the specific type of flow and the type of environmental disturbances. Transition in boundary layer flows can be classified into two main types [25]. The
first type involves boundary layer instabilities (initially described by linear stability theories), amplification, and interaction of various instability modes, which ultimately lead to the
breakdown of laminar flow. In this first type of transition, the environmental disturbances
are small. The second type, often referred to as bypass transition, involves the direct nonlinear laminar flow breakdown under the influence of external disturbances. Bypass transition
occurs when high levels of environmental perturbations, such as free stream disturbances
and surface roughness, are present.
The first type of transition to turbulence can be separated into three main aspects:
receptivity, linear stability, and nonlinear breakdown (Fig. 2.3) [25]. In the first stage of
transition where the local Re is low, T-S waves are generated through receptivity. Receptivity
is a process by which a disturbance, such as sound or vorticity, enters the boundary layer
and establishes its signature in the resulting flow [43]. Receptivity involves the generation,

rather than the evolution, of instability waves in the boundary layer. Instability waves are
generated when energy from long wavelength external disturbances are transferred to shorter
wavelength T-S waves through local or global flow changes [28, 13, 12, 6]. The wavelengths
of the naturally occurring disturbances are usually longer than those of the instability waves,
so a wavelength conversion mechanism is required to transfer energy from the longer free
stream disturbance to the shorter instability wave [27].
The slow (viscous), linear growth of these disturbances occurs in the second stage of
transition: the linear stability region. In this stage, T-S instability waves propagate down
the boundary layer and are either amplified if the flow is unstable, or attenuated. Sometimes
the disturbance might even decay for a considerable distance before being amplified [13]. This
stage is described by linear hydrodynamic stability theory, which can be used to describe
two- and three-dimensional flows and disturbances. After the linear stability region, the
disturbances continue to grow and become nonlinear, entering the third stage of transition:
nonlinear breakdown. This stage occurs when the fluid flow enters a phase of nonlinear
breakdown, randomization, and a final transition into a turbulent state. In the breakdown
phase, the flow is transformed from a deterministic, regular, and generally two-dimensional
laminar flow into a stochastic yet ordered, three-dimensional flow [25]. Studies on nonlinear
breakdown include resonant phenomena that occur in the transition process as well as the
detection and description of coherent structures in the transitional boundary layer [25].

Figure 2.3: Characteristics of a boundary layer transition to turbulence, from [25].

Transition to turbulence is also driven by the formation and the resulting development
of vortical structures in the separated shear layer. During the initial stage of transition,
small-amplitude disturbances centered at a fundamental frequency have been observed to
experience exponential growth in the separated shear layer [58, 54, 8]. The final stage of
transition, which results in turbulence, is associated with nonlinear interactions between
these disturbances, and coherent structures have been shown to form during this stage of
transition [59, 38, 54, 31]. This sub harmonic merging of roll-up vortices in the separated
shear layer is followed by a rapid breakdown of the vortices [59]. Even though shear layer
roll-up vortices break down during transition, they may interact with wake vortex shedding
if the transition region extends into the near wake [59].

2.4

Stability of Viscous Flows

The viscous growth of disturbances in a flowfield (the linear region in Fig. 2.3) is governed by
linear stability theory. Stability analysis does not predict turbulence, which is experimentally
observed, and there is no theory of transition; however, empirical predictions of transition
can be made based on the spatial amplification rates of linearized stability theory [55].
Fluid motion with components (u, v, w, p) can be decomposed into a basic flow consisting
of mean components (U, V, W, P ) and a superimposed perturbation motion consisting of
fluctuating components (u0 , v 0 , w0 , p0 ). For a two-dimensional incompressible flow with a
two-dimensional disturbance assumption, the mean velocity components can be assumed as
follows: U = U (y), V = W = 0. Boundary layer flow can be regarded approximately as a
parallel flow since the dependence of U on y is much greater than the dependence of U on x.
The pressure P (x, y) should be assumed to be dependent on x, as the pressure gradient

P
x

can strongly affect the flow. For parallel flow at a surface, appropriate boundary conditions
require that u0 and v 0 vanish at the walls to satisfy the no-slip condition.

10

The equations for continuity and momentum for an incompressible, two-dimensional flow
can be written in terms of the vorticity equation , given by


2
+ (u ) = 0,
t

(2.4)

where u = (u, v), is the kinematic viscosity, and is the vorticity. Introducing a streamfunction, , and using the relations

u=

,
y

v =
x

(2.5)

and

= 2 ,

(2.6)

the vorticity equation in Eq. (2.4) can be written in terms of the streamfunction:


2
+ y
x
2 = 0.
t
x
y

(2.7)

To analyze the initial development of small perturbations of a fluid flow, it is assumed

that the mean flow is parallel and represented by U (y), nonlinear effects can be ignored, the
disturbances can be represented by traveling waves, and the maximum amplified disturbances
are two-dimensional. Using parallel flow assumption, the streamfunction can be written as
y, t) +
(x, y, t) = (x,

U (y)dy,

(2.8)

y, t) is the perturbation streamfunction, and

where (x,

U (y)dy is the mean flow con-

y, t) can be represented as a traveling wave of the form

tribution. (x,
y, t) = (y)ei(kxt) ,
(x,

(2.9)

The two-dimensional flow assumption omits the vortex stretching term.

11

where (y) is the amplitude function, k is the wave number and is the frequency. The
phase speed, c, is related to k and by the relation

c=

.
k

(2.10)

Linearizing the vorticity equation, Eq. (2.7), in terms of and substituting in Eq. (2.9)
yields the Orr-Sommerfeld equation:

(U (y) c) 00 (y) k 2 (y) U 00 (y)(y) =

1
0000 (y) 2k 2 00 (y) + k 4 (y) .
ikRe

(2.11)

The left-hand side of Eq. (2.11) comes from the inertial terms while the right-hand side
comes from the friction terms of the equations of motion. The Orr-Sommerfeld equation
poses an eigenvalue problem for a given Re and mean flow, U (y). For boundary layers, the
boundary condition at the surface boundary (or wall) there is a no-slip condition, and
perturbation velocities vanish at the boundary. Hence,
y = ywall = 0,
(ywall ) = 0,

(2.12)

(ywall )0 = 0.
Stability analysis can be achieved using the Orr-Sommerfeld equation. The common types
of stability analysis are temporal, spatial, and combined stability, where temporal stability
corresponds to absolutely unstable flows, and spatial stability corresponds to convectively
unstable flows. For boundary layer flows, it is more common that disturbances develop
in space rather than in time. Therefore, in the linear region of transition (described in
Section 2.3) where T-S instabilities are either amplified or attenuated, spatial stability can
be assumed, whereby i = 0 and k = kr +iki . The term ki is the spatial growth rate, and the
minimum value of ki (or maximum ki ) at a given Re represents the most unstable initial
growth of the flow instability.

12

Chapter 3

Separation Control By Acoustic Excitation

Manipulation of the instability waves in the boundary layer can be advantageous. Decreasing
the instability wave amplitudes may delay or avoid transition from laminar to turbulent
boundary layer flow, while increasing the amplitudes may trigger earlier separation, leaving
sufficient time and downstream surface for the flow to reattach. The amplitudes of boundary
layer instability waves can be affected by changing either the generation or propagation of
the waves [26]. In the traditional view of boundary layer flow control, the origin of the
inviscid inflectional instability is associated with the K-H instability in the separated shear
layer. However, in a modified view [7], the origin of the inviscid inflectional instability is an
extension of the instability caused by the adverse pressure gradient in the region upstream of
separation. In this modified view, there is seemingly no direct connection between T-S and
K-H instabilities, although each is independently connected to the upstream convectively
unstable inflectional instability [18].
Since flows in the transitional and low Re regimes are prone to separation, it is beneficial
to find efficient methods of boundary layer and separation control. In general, separation
control falls under three categories: body shape design, passive control, and active control.
Body shape design involves fabricating the body surface shape to be well streamlined in order
to maintain a higher energy level along the flow path so that flow separation does not occur.
This method can delay, but will not always prevent, separation, and it is suitable for limited
flow conditions. Passive control involves using passive devices such as vortex generators

13

or fences that are mounted to the body; these devices are not controlled by an external
energy source but energize the flow by enhancing or accelerating flow transition. Active
control involves introducing an external energy source to supplement the boundary layer
energy. Active control methods include acoustic excitation, vibrating wires and flaps, and
steady and unsteady blowing/bleeding techniques (injection and removal of mass into and
out of the boundary layer) by various synthetic jets devices. Active control devices require
additional power sources but can be implemented without changing the original body shape.

3.1

Acoustic Excitation

Traditionally, boundary layer instabilities have not been problematic in aeronautical applications at higher Re. However, an increasing number of engineering interests, including unmanned aerial vehicles, micro air vehicles, wind turbines, sailplanes, rotor blades, hydrofoils,
and high-altitude jet fans, operate in the low and transitional Re regimes. Consequently,
boundary layer instabilities become a concern, and separation control becomes an important design parameter. Of the various methods to control separation, the use of acoustic
excitation has been studied throughout the literature due to experimental and theoretical
observations of flow receptivity to acoustic disturbances.
In general, acoustic forcing can be classified as external or internal, where external forcing
is achieved by an outside sound source emitting tones in the vicinity of a wing, and internal
forcing is achieved by emitting sound from within the wing. Possibly the earliest investigation of the influence of external sound on aerodynamic performance was experiments by
Schubauer and Skramstad on boundary layer transition of a flat plate [47]. In their experiments, regularly oscillating velocity fluctuations corresponded to sound production in the
wind tunnel, and sound at particular frequencies and amplitudes changed the boundary layer
transition process. It was concluded that small disturbances by themselves do not produce
transition, but small disturbances may grow according to stability theory and when large
enough can cause turbulent flow.

14

Acoustic forcing of symmetric and mildly cambered airfoils at low and moderate Re using
single frequency tones has been shown to effectively change wing performance. Improvements
include increasing lift at particular angles of attack [14, 62, 2, 1], tripping the flow from lowto high-lift states [14], diminishing the size of the hysteresis loop in lift-drag curves [14],
reducing the tendency toward flow separation over an airfoil [62, 2], as well as changing the
behavior of the laminar separation bubble and turbulent boundary layer [63]. However, the
effects of external acoustic excitation have been shown [62, 14] to be strongly correlated with
wind tunnel test section resonances. The results from [14] are peculiar, since the tested airfoil
(Eppler 61) is one of the many airfoils reported in literature [48, 49, 34, 51] that experiences
bi-stable separation behavior at low and transitional Re in its nominal, unexcited state.

3.2

Optimum Excitation Frequency

Literature results on acoustic excitation of airfoils and wings at low and moderate Re and
pre- and post-stall show dependence of optimum (or preferential) excitation frequencies
on Re, , and the dominating instabilities in the flow. The optimum excitation frequency,
denoted as fe *, has been found to increase with increasing Re or increasing [63], while
the range of effective excitation frequencies has been found to increase with increasing Re
or decreasing [1, 57]. In some cases, the range of fe * increased when the forcing occurred
at higher amplitudes (sound pressure levels) [4].
Tests from both external and internal acoustic forcing show that the values of fe * correspond to the most amplified instabilities that dominate the separated region. For preand immediately post-stall , K-H instabilities dominate the separated shear region, so fe *
correspond to these separated shear layer instability frequencies, fs [63, 57, 21, 61]. For large
post-stall , the dominating instabilities are due to free wake vortices, so fe * correspond to
the free wake vortex shedding frequencies, fw [23, 41, 19, 4, 20]. The free wake frequencies
are reported to be an order of magnitude lower than the separated shear layer frequencies,
fw 0.1fs [19].

15

Increased pressure fluctuations on the surface of a NACA 65(l)-213 airfoil at Re 350,000

[1] were observed at optimum forcing frequencies. The increases in fluctuating pressure yield
increases in fluctuating velocity on the wing surface, which has been described in [1] to add
vortical activity near the surface and excite the instability waves in the separated shear layer.
The shedding and excitation frequencies relate to Strouhal number, St, given by

St =

fc
U

(3.1)

where f is the shedding or excitation frequency, c is the chord length, and U is the free
stream velocity. In external acoustic forcing tests [63, 57], laminar separation was observed
to be most effectively reduced when the parameter St/Re1/2 was between 0.02 and 0.03, and
correspondingly, when fe * = fs . However, some external acoustic forcing results at moderate
Re [1] showed similar improvements in reducing separation at St/Re1/2 that was an order
of magnitude lower than the 0.020.03 range. Results from internal acoustic forcing tests
[19, 4, 21] report a larger optimum St/Re1/2 range of 0.001 0.02.
Since the laminar boundary layer thickness over a flat plate is
5.2x
=
Rex

(3.2)

where x is the streamwise distance from the leading edge and Rex the Reynolds number at
the location x, the St/Re1/2 scaling is directly related to the growth of the boundary layer
thickness, . St from Eq. (3.1) uses the chord as the length scale and is associated with the
shedding instabilities. If the scaling is instead the size of the wake behind the body (more
suitable for airfoils at high , which act like bluff bodies [44]), then the projected height of
the airfoil, c sin , is used as the length scale, as shown in Fig. 3.1. A Strouhal number that
takes into account can be given by

St =

f c sin
.
U

(3.3)

16

If the scaling is associated with the size of the separated region, then the height of the
separated region (or the laminar separation bubble) is used as the length scale, as shown by
s in Fig. 3.1. A corresponding separation Strouhal number is then

Sts =

f s
Ue

(3.4)

where s is the momentum thickness of the separated region, and Ue is the edge velocity
of the boundary layer [39]. An optimum range of Sts is reported to be between 0.008 and
0.016 [39].

Figure 3.1: Different length scales for different Strouhal number scalings.

3.3

Forcing Tones

Most of the previous studies on external acoustic excitation used continuous monotones for
the source of acoustic forcing. There are some claims [45] that continuous acoustic forcing
is problematic if one wishes to measure T-S waves, because Stokes waves generated by the
continuous free stream acoustic fluctuations are superimposed on the T-S waves. However,
the dominant transition process affected by acoustic excitation has been claimed [14] to be
in the separated shear layer rather than in the attached boundary layer where the T-S waves
exist. If sound waves and T-S do not interact efficiently, then the K-H instabilities, rather
than the T-S instabilities, should be given more attention in regards to exciting boundary
layer flow. Earlier tests [47, 3] showed that single frequency sound is much more likely
to cause boundary layer transition than a continuous sound spectrum, which implies that
17

influencing the transition process requires the particular matching of the acoustic forcing
frequency to that of the naturally occurring instability.

3.4

Hysteresis

At transitional Re, many smooth airfoils [48, 49, 34, 51] exhibit unconventionally shaped liftdrag curves, where there appear to be two performance envelopes: a low- and high-lift state.
Many of these bi-stable state airfoils also experience hysteresis between the two states, so
that a given state depends on the time history or previous state. External acoustic excitation
tests on an Eppler 61 airfoil at Re = 25,000 and 60,000, which experienced bi-stable states
and pre-stall hysteresis [14], showed changes in lift and drag hysteresis with as well as with
fe . Excitation promoted transition from low- to high-lift states at lower wing incidence,
, and the high-lift state was maintained longer when was increased. There was also a
reduction in the size of the hysteresis loop. Hysteresis was also noticed with the addition
and removal of, or change in, acoustic forcing. At certain , the removal of the acoustic
forcing caused the flow to revert back to its original state, while at other , even with the
removal of the forcing, the flow remained in the high-lift state, indicating that there exists
a certain region in the hysteresis loop where the high-lift state is unstable and will tend to
revert back to the original low-lift state under insufficient excitation [14]. Similar behavior
occurred for a symmetric NACA 0025 airfoil at Re = 57k, 100k, and 150k, whereby once
flow reattachment occurred, either fe could be altered slightly from the optimum value fe *,
or the SPL could be lowered, and the boundary layer would remain attached and the flow
would remain in the high-lift state [58]. Acoustic forcing is therefore capable of promoting
hysteresis that depends on various factors, including , fe , and SPL.

18

3.5

Angle of Attack

There are various reported results regarding the range of for which acoustic forcing is
beneficial, which is seemingly determined by the unexcited performance of a given airfoil.
External acoustic excitation on a E61 airfoil at Re = 25,000 had little effect at high and low
but the largest effect at inside the hysteresis loop ( 6 11 ) [14], as shown in Fig.
3.2.

Figure 3.2: Lift coefficient for the E61 airfoil at Re = 25,000 without excitation and excited
at fe = 140Hz (St/Re1/2 = 0.025), replotted from [14].
For a NACA 65(l)0-213 at Re = 350,000 and the GA(W)-1 at Re = 600,000 and 800,000,
16 appeared to be affected the most by external acoustic forcing [2, 1]. For a NACA
633 -018 airfoil at Re = 300,000 with internal acoustic excitation located at x/c = 0.0125
(near the leading edge), immediately post-stall values experienced the most benefit. Just
prior to stall, lift could either be improved or diminished depending on the selected forcing
frequency [19]. On the other hand, tests on a LRN(1)-1007 airfoil at Re = 75,000 showed
19

that lift increased for all up to 38 with external acoustic excitation [61], whose results
are replotted in Fig. 3.3. The E61 airfoil was tested at a lower Re and demonstrated prestall hysteresis and bi-states while the NACA 65(l)0-213, NACA 633 -018, GA(W)-1, and
LRN(1)-1007 airfoils were tested at higher Re and did not experience pre-stall hysteresis
or bi-stable states in their nominal, unexcited states, further indicating the Re dependence
of bi-stable states. It is likely that the range of in which airfoils benefit from acoustic
excitation depends on the unexcited performance of the given airfoil and Re.

Figure 3.3: Lift coefficient for the LRN(1)-1007 airfoil at Re = 75,000 without excitation
and excited at fe = 342Hz (St/Re1/2 = 0.017), replotted from [61].

20

3.6

Sound Amplitude

The beneficial effects of external acoustic forcing have been shown to increase with increasing
SPL. In the external acoustic forcing tests of a NACA 65(l)-213 airfoil at Re 350,000 [1],
not only did CLmax increase with increasing SPL, but the value of at CL,max also increased,
as seen in Fig. 3.4. The magnitude of fluctuating pressures measured on the surface of the
wing increased with increasing SPL [1], which was also observed for excitation at optimum
forcing frequencies. In the same experiments, increased freestream velocities as well as larger
chords required higher SPL values in order to obtain the same increase in CL , implying that
effective SPL depends on Re. While results from internal acoustic testing also agreed that
higher SPL values generate higher CL , some studies showed that lift improvement actually
diminished after a certain amplitude level [4], suggesting that there are thresholds for effective
SPL values.

Figure 3.4: Lift coefficient for the NACA 65(l)-213 airfoil at Re = 350,000 for unexcited and
excited flow at fe = 665Hz (St/Re1/2 = 0.007) with SPL = 139dB and 147dB, replotted
from [1].

21

3.7

Tunnel Resonance

The effects of external acoustic excitation have been found to couple with and depend on
tunnel resonances. The resonances in wind tunnel test sections differ among facilities depending on tunnel geometry. The fundamental cross resonances in a rectangular cross section
can be calculated by

fmn

"
 2 # 21 
1
U0
m 2  n 2 2
a0
1
+
,
=
2
a0
H
W

(3.5)

where m and n are normal and spanwise modes, respectively, H and W are the height and
width of the test section, respectively, a0 is the speed of sound, and U0 is the freestream
velocity [11]. For non-rectangular and more complicated tunnel cross sections, the fundamental cross-resonances are less easy to calculate and most likely need to be obtained by
empirical means.
In external acoustic forcing studies on a LRN(1)-1007 airfoil [62], the cross-resonances
in the wind tunnel test section induced large transverse velocity fluctuations near the airfoil. These cross-resonances had the greatest effect in changing the airfoil performance and
determined the optimum frequencies at which airfoil performance was improved. The effect
of individual frequencies on the flow around an E61 airfoil was shown to scale with the
acoustic response of the wind tunnel [14]. At frequencies corresponding to tunnel resonances
(maxima in sound level), the flow required a higher gain to trip, whereas at the frequencies
corresponding to tunnel anti-resonance (minima in sound level), the flow only required a
small gain to trip.
In a resonant duct, maxima in sound pressure level correspond to minima in induced
fluctuating velocity levels and vice versa. In acoustic wave fields, the gradient of pressure
is maximum where the pressure fluctuations cross zero and is consequently where the maximum fluctuations in velocity (90 out of phase with the pressure) are found. In a closed
structure, the standing wave nodes that correspond to pressure fluctuations equal to zero

22

(anti-resonances) will have minimum root-mean-square values. The nodes where the pressure fluctuates between maximum and minimum but where the pressure gradient is close to
zero will have maximum r.m.s. values. The results from [14] and [62] suggest that maximum
improvement in wing performance occurs at maximum levels of fluctuating velocity, which
occur at minimum SPL (tunnel anti-resonances). There are further claims [14] that the
mechanism by which acoustic disturbances affect the flow is through velocity fluctuations
rather than acoustic pressure fluctuations.

3.8

Forcing Location

A parameter specific to internal acoustic excitation is the location of the acoustic forcing.
The common internal acoustic forcing setup used in the studies found in literature entails
placing a speaker inside the wing with spanwise ducts and slots so that the sound travels
through the entire span of the wing. Tests on a symmetric airfoil at = 0 and Re =
35,000 [22] showed that acoustic forcing applied ahead of the chordwise separation point,
denoted as cs , was found to be more effective in increasing lift than forcing applied aft of cs ,
where higher SPL was required for the same effectiveness. Tests on a NACA 633 -018 airfoil
at Re = 300,000 [19] showed that when the forcing location, which can be denoted as ce ,
was approximately equal to cs , the performance of the wing was most affected by acoustic
forcing, especially in the post-stalled region. Separation occurred very near the leading edge
of the airfoil (cs /c 0.01), and so forcing nearest to cs yielded the most benefit, as seen in
Fig. 3.5.
While the effect of forcing was found to deteriorate as ce moved farther aft from cs ,
the values of fe * were reported not to be a function of ce [19]. These studies concluded
that the nature of the local excitation control is due to hydro-dynamical disturbances rather
than acoustics: if the nature of the control were due to acoustics, the forcing should not be
sensitive to slot location because the acoustic wave length is much longer than the length
scale of the wing model.

23

Figure 3.5: Lift coefficient for the NACA 633 -018 airfoil at Re = 300,000 [19] for acoustic
forcing at ce /c = 0.0125, 0.0625 and 0.1375. fe = 110Hz (St/Re1/2 = 0.004).
Internal acoustic forcing emitted near cs over the top of a symmetric airfoil (ce /c
0.15) at Re = 35,000 and at stalled angles of attack ( = 15 , 20 ) was found to effectively
alter the separated region so that stall was delayed [23, 22]. When excitation was forced
near cs , fe * was found to be equal to the separated shear instability frequency, fs , or a sub
harmonic of fs . As described in [23], the coupling (frequency matching) between the injected
sound and separated shear layer instabilities causes the shear layer to resonate through its
harmonics and induce additional vortical motions, and the presence of a pressure gradient
further enhances receptivity of the flow to sound. Separation that otherwise occurs at the
leading edge in the immediate post-stalled region can be reattached when fe = fs and when
ce = cs [19].
Trailing edge acoustic forcing also alters the flow over a wing. Studies on internal acoustic
forcing emitted near the trailing edge of an airfoil at = 0 and Re = 35,000 [22] showed
that acoustic forcing near the trailing edge successfully controlled trailing edge separation
and substantially altered the near wake development. While effective forcing frequencies
were in the range 1/4fw to 2fw , the optimum forcing frequency was equal to the vortex

24

shedding frequency: fe * = fw . Acoustic disturbances generated pressure oscillations in the

separation region, which modified the aft pressure recovery region and therefore reduced
trailing edge separation [22]. Flow visualization showed that trailing edge acoustic forcing at
certain forcing frequencies made the wake develop earlier and spread out farther. However,
far downstream of the airfoil, the vortex shedding frequency remained constant and was
unaffected by acoustic forcing, which suggests that the trailing edge acoustic forcing only
affects near wake flow. The high amplitude, low frequency acoustic forcing through a slot on
the airfoil surface can be compared to the control of boundary layer separation by periodic
blowing and suction [22]. At low frequency and high amplitude forcing, the acoustic forcing
is composed of two halves of a cycle: one half is analogous to the suction of low momentum
flow out of the boundary layer, and the other half of the cycle is analogous to the injection
of high momentum flow into the boundary layer.

3.9

Vortex Dynamics

Experimental studies on acoustic excitation of airfoils and wings include observations and
measurements of vortical activity in the separated shear layer. Tests on a NACA 0025 airfoil at Re = 55k, 100k, and 150k [59] showed that disturbances centered at a fundamental
frequency were amplified in the separated shear layer. The initial growth of these disturbances was followed by the generation and growth of harmonics and a sub harmonic of the
fundamental frequency, resulting from the nonlinear interactions between the disturbances
[8]. The amplification of flow disturbances in the separated shear layer was shown [59] to
cause the shear layer roll-up at a fundamental frequency (the frequency of the most amplified disturbances). The shear layer transition process is associated with the decay of roll-up
vortices [59, 35], and the sub harmonic growth of the disturbances in the shear layer is likely
due to vortex merging [59, 37, 35].
Breakdown to turbulence has been observed to take place at the most upstream location
where the separated shear layer reattaches [37]. Secondary and tertiary reverse-flow zones

25

occurred in the reattachment region, which were induced by vortices that were shed from the
transition region and generated by the roll-up of two-dimensional vorticity within the shear
layer [59]. In some instances, these vortices were shed at a sub harmonic of the fundamental
separated shear layer frequency, indicating the presence of a vortex-pairing process. In the
wake of the NACA 0025 airfoil [59], alternating vortices were shed, resulting in a similar
pattern to a Karman vortex street. The wake vortices were less coherent and the vortex
pattern less organized when a laminar separation bubble formed (when the flow reattached).

26

Chapter 4

Mathematical Modeling of Flow and Sound

4.1

Sound and Fluid Flow Interaction

The interaction of sound waves and fluid flow can be mathematically modeled by using
the fact that sound perturbs the surrounding fluid. For simplicity, assuming flow in the
x-direction only, the continuity equation is

+
(u) = 0
t x

(4.1)

and the Navier-Stokes equation (Eq. (2.3)) without external forces is

u
1 p
2u
u
+u
=
+ 2.
t
x
x
x

(4.2)

An initially unperturbed state at rest is assumed, as well as small perturbations in density,

pressure, and velocity from the acoustic wave: = 0 + 0 , p = p0 + p0 , and u = u0 . Taking
the divergence of Eq. (4.1), and taking the time derivative of Eq. (4.2) and combining it
with Eq. (4.1) (derivation in Appendix A) yields
2 0
2 u0

2 u

c
=
2
2
t
x
t

2 u0
x2


.

(4.3)

Eq. (4.3) describes a modified wave equation where the temporal and spatial changes
in velocity perturbations, u0 , are related to both speed of sound, c, and viscosity, . The

27

viscous term involving the third partial of u0 indicates that temporal changes in particle
perturbation convection must also be considered in addition to the standard terms in a pure
wave equation (when the right-hand-side of Eq. (4.3) equals zero). Pressure and velocity
perturbations can also be related by the relation (derivation in Appendix A)
1 2 p 0 2 p0
3 u0

= 0 3 .
c2 t2
x2
x

(4.4)

The real part of the particle frequency, , is related to viscosity (derivation in Appendix A)
by the relation
1
r2
= c2 2 k 2
2
k
2

(4.5)

where k is the wave number. For viscosity-dominant flows in the low and transitional Re
regimes, especially in the laminar boundary layer, Eq. (4.5) can be important for relating viscosity to frequencies associated with boundary layer instabilities. This example only
assumes flow in one direction; including more dimensions in the flow field to better predict three-dimensional flow inevitably involves additional higher-order partial terms of the
velocity perturbations in all three directions, (u0 , v 0 , w0 ).

4.2

Sound and Tollmien-Schlichting Instability Interaction

Experimental and theoretical work on exciting the boundary layer with acoustic waves have
led to various conclusions regarding the interaction of sound and T-S instability waves.
Experimental work [50] on the generation of T-S waves by sound showed that a T-S wave was
generated with the same frequency as the sound wave but with a much smaller wavelength.
Mathematical modeling [53] the flow field as the sum of a sound wave and T-S wave agreed
with the experimental data [50], leading to the conclusion that there is no interaction between

28

the two waves. The only relationship between the waves is in the setting up of initial
conditions of the T-S waves at or before the leading edge of the surface.
Numerical analysis on the interaction of acoustic and T-S waves over a flat plate at
120,000 Re 380,000 [40] assumed two different energy-feeding mechanisms: a continuous
(plane) wave that fed energy to the T-S wave along the whole boundary layer, and a sound
wave that interacted with the boundary layer only in localized regions. For the first case
(continuous wave interaction), and using the notation in [40], the total disturbance can be
represented as
u = A cos(i x t) + B cos(t)

(4.6)

where A is the T-S wave amplitude, B the sound wave amplitude, i the instability wave
number, and the instability frequency (with the assumption that both the sound wave and
T-S wave have the same frequency). The Fourier amplitude of the total disturbance at some
is

C = A2 + B 2 + 2AB cos(i x)

1/2

(4.7)

and when B  A (the sound wave amplitude is much larger than that of the T-S instability),
Eq. (4.7) can be expanded to

C = A cos(i x) + B + O A2

(4.8)

which assumes that A and B are independent or at most weakly dependent. If this is
the case, then the total disturbance amplitude will oscillate spatially with a wavelength
equal to the T-S wavelength, the magnitude of the spatial mean will be associated with
the sound wave, and the magnitude of the envelope about the mean will be associated with
the T-S wave [40]. Earlier experiments [50] showed that the Fourier amplitude of the total
disturbance oscillated spatially with the T-S wavelength. Comparisons of spatial amplitude
variations were made between a T-S wave in the presence of sound wave and a pure T-S

29

wave, and results [40] showed that the T-S wave was generated by the boundary condition
at the upstream boundary and propagated independently of the sound wave.
For the second case (localized wave interaction), the parameter s =

x
U

(where is the

disturbance frequency, x is streamwise location, and U the free stream velocity) was used
to classify the Orr-Sommerfield equation into two regimes: s O(1) and s > O(1). It was
found that the Orr-Sommerfield equation was valid only for s > O(1), in which case the T-S
wave and sound wave were found to be independent. For 0 s O(1), where the boundary
layer and sound wave would interact near the leading edge, linear solutions for the T-S wave
and Stokes-layer were found to be mathematically independent. It was therefore concluded
that on a sharp, flat plate, a sound wave can generate a T-S wave but not interact with it
over the rest of the boundary layer [40]. Numerical results further suggested that localized
disturbances may generate larger amplitude T-S waves than a plane wave disturbance.
Under normal circumstances, the nature and physical characteristics of sound and T-S
waves are so different that they will not interact. However, there can still be coupling between
the two waves, and for this to occur, necessary conditions are either matching the frequencies
or matching the phase velocities of the incident sound wave and excited instability wave [52].
Since the phase velocity is inversely proportional to the wave number ( = kc), a matching
of wave numbers, k, will also result in a coupling between a sound wave and T-S wave. Using
the notation in [52], the pressure associated with the T-S wave can be expressed as

pi (x, y, t) = f (y) ei(i xt)

(4.9)

where f (y) is the instability amplitude distribution across the boundary layer, i the instability wave number, and the instability frequency. The pressure associated with the sound
wave can be expressed as

ps (x, y, t) = B g (y) ei(s xt)

(4.10)

30

where s is sound wave number (in the x-direction) and B the amplitude of the sound wave,
and the function g(y) is amplitude distribution of the sound wave across the shear layer.
Normally, s > i so that there is no interaction; however, if B is allowed to vary in x, then
ps can be expressed then as
i(s xt)

ps (x, y, t) = B (x) g (y) e

(k) g (y) ei[(k+s )xt] dk

B

(4.11)

where B(k)
is the Fourier transform of the spatially varying amplitude B(x). Then, the
acoustic wave is a superposition of many wave components with a new wave number (k +s ).
The wave number spectrum is now continuous, and with rapid enough amplitude variation,
the wave number spectrum of the sound wave could be broad enough to overlap the constant
wave number of the instability wave. Then, there would be coupling and interaction between
the two waves. There is hence a seemingly possible interaction of an acoustic wave with a
T-S wave when the acoustic wave has a rapidly varying amplitude or when there is rapid
spatial change in the mean flow velocity profile.

31

Chapter 5

Methods

5.1

Wing Models

All tests were performed on wings with an Eppler 387 profile (inset of Fig. 5.1). The baseline
model is a solid wing, CNC-machined from an aluminum block, with AR = 5.8 (span b =
52.7cm and chord c = 9cm). The model used for the internal acoustic forcing tests is a
two-part aluminum wing with AR = 6 (b = 54cm and c = 9cm), which is custom designed
to consist of a base and a lid that fit together with a tongue-and-groove connection. The
wing was manufactured by electrical discharge machining wire cutting (wire EDM), which is
a thermal mass-reducing process that uses a constantly moving wire to remove material by
rapid, controlled, and repetitive spark discharges. The base structure of the wing contains
cavities and channels into which small speakers and wire connections are embedded. The lid
is 1-mm thick and contains 180 0.5-mm diameter holes arranged in six spanwise arrays with
30 holes each. The six spanwise arrays are located at streamwise locations x/c = c0 = 0.1,
0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6. The base of the wing contains 180 cavities that are aligned with
the holes in the lid; these cavities are connected to each other through spanwise channels for
wiring, and ultimately to an exit port aft of the quarter chord mount point.

32

(a)

(b)
Figure 5.1: (a) E387 wing consisting of a base with 180 speaker cavities and a lid with 0.5mm diameter holes, and (b) profile view of the lid of the wing. Six spanwise rows of holes
are located at x/c = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6.

5.2

Wind Tunnel

Experiments were performed in a closed-loop wind tunnel with an octagonal test section of
wall to wall width 1.37m and 5.7m length and area contraction ratio of 7 to 1. The empty
test-section turbulence level is 0.025% for spectral frequencies between 2Hz f 200Hz in
the velocity range 5m/s U 26m/s, and the velocity at any point in a given cross section
deviates by no more than 0.5% from the mean velocity for that cross section [60]. The (x, y,
z) coordinate system is as follows: x is the streamwise direction, y is the spanwise direction,
and z is the normal direction, with the origin at the leading edge and midspan (Fig. 5.2).

33

Figure 5.2: Wind tunnel setup. (x, y, z) are streamwise, spanwise, and normal directions.
Origin is at leading edge and midspan.

5.3

Force Balance

All wing models are mounted vertically on a sting that extends through the floor of the wind
tunnel, which connects to a custom force balance (described in detail in [60] and [36]) placed
below the wind tunnel floor. The cruciform-shaped force balance contains four strain gauges
on each arm. Two of the arms are connected to a plate above, and the other two arms
are connected to a plate below, so that the entire assembly resembles a sandwich structure
with the cruciform containing the strain gauges as the middle layer. The strain gauges are
parallel-plate-structures (PPS), which have been shown to yield a lower total deflection for
the same strain than a sensor based on a uniform beam at the same gauge location [42].

34

Figure 5.3: Force balance schematic, from [60]. Inset: parallel-plate-structure strain gauge
setup.
The force balance is capable of measuring lift, drag, and pitching moment. Measurements
are averaged over at least 8000 samples at a sampling rate of 1000 Hz, and standard deviations
are also calculated. Before data acquisition, static calibrations are performed from 0 to
360 mN in 4 mN steps at different moment arms, and the force balance measurement has
an expected uncertainty of 0.1 mN, confirmed through calibration. The expected friction
coefficient on a flat plat can be given by
1.328
Cf =
Rex

(5.1)

Ff = Cf q S

(5.2)

and the friction drag by

35

where q is the freestream dynamic pressure. For a flat plate the same size as the E387
wing at zero degrees of incidence and Re = 40k, the expected friction drag is 11 mN. In
force balance measurements, is varied from 10 to 20 in steps of 1 , and for some of the
acoustic studies, is varied in steps of 0.1 inside the hysteresis loop. At least three tests
are performed for both increasing and decreasing and lift, drag, and moment results are
averaged.

5.4

Particle Imaging Velocimetry

A Continuum Surelite II dual-head Nd:YAG laser generates pulse pairs separated by exposure
times, t = 100300s. The two coaxial laser beams are converted into sheets of slowly
varying thickness through a series of convergent-cylindrical-cylindrical lenses. The laser
sheets are oriented in the xz-plane across the tunnel, illuminating single chordwise span
stations on the wing, or downstream of it (Fig. 5.2), and can be moved in streamwise and
spanwise directions. A Colt 4 smoke machine generates 1m paraffin-based particles. For
the external acoustic excitation study, a Kodak ES 1.0 CCD array camera with 1008 x 1018
pixels and 85-mm focal length lens, placed above the wind tunnel, traverses in the spanwise
direction in concert with, and at constant distance from, the scanned laser sheet and acquires
images. For the acoustic resonance and internal acoustic excitation studies, a higher quality
Imager Pro X 2M (1600 x 1200 x 14-bit) camera that is fitted with a 85-mm focal length
lens and an adjustable 70210-mm focal length lens is used to acquire images. PIV images are
used to obtain qualitative flow visualization as well as quantitative measurements of velocity
fields and profiles, and spanwise vorticity, y .
PIV processing uses a variant of the custom CIV algorithms described in [10] and [9].
A smoothed spline interpolated cross-correlation function is directly fit with the equivalent
splined auto-correlation functions from the same data. The vectors are passed through an
automated rejection criterion, and obviously incorrect vectors are manually removed, after
which the raw displacement vector field is reinterpolated back onto a rectangular grid with

36

the same smoothing spline function [24]. The spline coefficients are differentiated analytically
to obtain velocity gradient data. The uncertainty, which does not depend on velocity magnitude, is in fractions of a pixel and correlates with 0.5 5% in {u, w} and approximately
10% in y .

5.5

Acoustic Forcing

External acoustic forcing is accomplished using a SolidDrive SD1sm speaker, which is attached to the outside of the wind tunnel test section upstream of the wing model (Fig.
5.2). The SolidDrive SD1sm speaker, which has a frequency response of 60Hz15kHz, uses
high-powered neodymium magnets and dual symmetrically opposed motors to convert audio
signals into vibrations, which are transferred into solid surfaces upon direct contact. Placing
the speaker on the outer wall of the wind tunnel test section converts the entire test section
into an acoustic chamber. The vibrations from the speaker are negligible to the structure
integrity of the wind tunnel test section. Sine waves from a waveform generator are amplified by an adjustable gain Pyle Pro PCA1 2 x 15 W stereo power amplifier with a frequency
response of 20Hz40kHz 3dB and 0.3% total harmonic distortion. The frequency and
peak-to-peak voltage amplitude of the sine wave are changed directly from the waveform
generator.
Internal acoustic forcing is achieved with Knowles Acoustics Wide Band FK Series
(WBFK-30095-000) speakers measuring 6.50mm in length, 2.75mm in width, and 1.95mm in
height. The WBFK speaker frequency response is 400Hz1000Hz 3dB. Four EX1200-3608
eight-channel digital-to-analog-converters send sine waves of adjustable frequencies and amplitudes to the WBFK speakers. The WBFK speakers are amplified with a Kramer VA-16XL
balanced adjustable gain stereo audio amplifier that has a frequency range of 20Hz40kHz.
A 4944 1/4 B&K pressure field microphone, which has a pressure-field response of 2
dB between 16Hz70kHz, is used to obtain acoustic measurements for the wind tunnel
resonance study. A 4954-B 1/4 B&K free field microphone, which has a free-field response

37

of 3 dB between 9Hz100kHz, is used to obtain all other acoustic measurements. Both

microphones are calibrated using a B&K 4231 Acoustic Calibrator.

5.6

Stability Analysis

Stability analysis on the experimental velocity profiles is achieved by a numerical OrrSommerfeld solver based on the solver described in [17] and used in [16] and [15]. The
solver extracts the initial instability properties, not the completely developed properties.
The general process is outlined here, and a detailed description is found in Paper V. The
Orr-Sommerfeld equation (refer to Section 2 for derivation) is given by

(U (z) c) 00 (z) k 2 (z) U 00 (z)(z) =

1
0000 (z) 2k 2 00 (z) + k 4 (z) .
ikRe

(5.3)

Far from the boundary, derivatives in the velocity field are small, whereby the term in Eq.
(5.3) containing U 00 (z) can be neglected as z . Then, the asymptotic form of the
eigenfunction (z) can be given by

(z) = Aekz + Bekz + Cez + Dez .

(5.4)

The exponential solutions in k are homogeneous (inviscid) solutions, and the exponential
solutions in are the particular (viscous) solutions, where is given by

1/2
= k 2 + (ikRe) (U c)
.

(5.5)

Far above the boundary (z +), only the decaying solutions exist, so A = C = 0. At
the boundary (or wall), the boundary conditions are

38

z = zwall = 0,
(zwall ) = 0,

(5.6)

(zwall )0 = 0.
A shooting method is implemented to solve the two-point boundary valued problem.
The ordinary differential equation is integrated downwards from an initial point z = +zi far
above the boundary, as well as upwards from the boundary at z = 0. The fourth-order o.d.e.
is simplified into a set of first order o.d.e.s, yielding four solution vectors, two at z = zi
and two at z = 0. At both limits in z, an inviscid (homogeneous) solution i and a viscous
(particular) solution v exist. The solution vectors are integrated towards a matching point,
z = zm , above the boundary, and a fourth order Runge-Kutta integration scheme is used for
marching the solutions towards the matching point. At the matching point, the Wronskian
of the eigenvectors must vanish with proper choices of c and k. If this convergence criterion
is not met, c is iterated on until the Wronskian meets the criterion. The solutions are for a
spatial stability analysis, so the instability frequency, = kc, is real.
The velocity profiles at different chordwise locations for the E387 wing at Re = 60,000
and = 9 , which come from PIV results, are used in the Orr-Sommerfeld solver to obtain
the initial most amplified instabilities in the boundary layer. The frequency associated with
the value of k = kr + iki that contains min(ki ) at kr > 0 is the most unstable frequency for a
given profile. The most unstable frequencies are solved for at various chordwise locations and
compared to the experimentally-obtained values for preferential acoustic forcing frequencies.

39

Chapter 6

Summary of Papers

6.1

Paper I

This paper considers the variation in drag and circulation across the span of an E387 wing
at Re = 30k. Local two-dimensional drag coefficients are measured at 35 span locations and
six using non-intrusive particle imaging velocimetry. The momentum defect method is
applied far enough downstream where the downstream pressure is equal to the undisturbed
pressure and where turbulent flow is negligible. Variations in the spanwise profile drag,
cd (y), are related to local flow variations on the wing itself, including the location of the
separation point and instantaneous and time-averaged spanwise vorticity. The greatest drag
variation occurs near the wing tip, which is expected due to the three-dimensionality of
the flow. In the mid portion of the wing where the flow is expected to be nominally twodimensional, the variation in drag is found to correlate with the spanwise vorticity and
separation point location such that an increase in local drag is associated with an increase in
local spanwise vorticity and a forward movement of the separation point. Integrated values
of drag are compared with direct force balance data, and the distinction between profile and
induced drag components is realized, along with estimations for inviscid and viscous span
efficiency factors, ei and ev , respectively. The magnitude of the measured drag variations
are compared to the magnitude of measured drag discrepancies for the same airfoil reported

40

in the literature. Comparisons suggest that spanwise drag variation is a possible - although
not the sole - contributor to the measured inconsistencies.

6.2

Paper II

This paper details the study of external acoustic excitation on a E387 wing at Re = 40k and
60k. A magnetically driven speaker that converts acoustic signals into vibrations is placed on
the outside of the wind tunnel test section so that when the speaker is turned on, the entire
test section turns into an acoustic chamber. Total lift and drag forces on the wing are measured directly by the force balance, and flow visualization and corresponding measurements
of flow velocity and spanwise vorticity are obtained from PIV methods. Optimum forcing
frequencies (the frequencies that yield the largest improvements in aerodynamic efficiency,
L/D) are shared between the two test Re, although the range of effective frequencies is much
greater at the higher Re. Both forcing frequency and sound pressure level (sound amplitude)
are varied, and correlations between improvements in L/D to both parameters are found.
The E387 wing has a nominal behavior that includes pre-stall hysteresis and abrupt switching between stable states which results from sudden flow reattachment and the appearance
of a large separation bubble. Control of these dynamics is achieved using external acoustic
forcing at select excitation frequencies and sound pressure levels. The global flow around
the wing is effectively modified such that large, stable vortical structures appear in the separated shear layer. Correlation between the effects of acoustic excitation and wind tunnel
resonance shows that the anti-resonances in an enclosed chamber correspond to the largest
improvement in wing performance. The resulting optimum frequencies, when normalized to
Strouhal numbers, correlate with values reported in the literature, suggesting that a correct
Re scaling has not yet been determined.

41

6.3

Paper III

This paper describes the serendipitous discovery of the presence of open holes in the suction
surface of a E387 wing as a means of passive separation control. A custom designed and
electrical-discharge-machined wing with a E387 profile contains 180 0.5-mm diameter holes
in the suction surface, designed for the emanation of sound from speakers embedded inside
the wing. Initial testing of this wing without speakers but with open holes shows completely
different lift and drag behavior than from the known behavior of the same profile wing.
Blocking air passage through the holes - either by filling them in from the top of the wing
or by placing diaphragms underneath the holes - yields lift and drag results that match
those from an otherwise solid E387 wing. It is realized that the presence of small holes
has a transformative effect on the aerodynamics by acoustic resonance that occurs in the
backing cavities underneath the holes, as changing the cavity volume changes the calculated
and measured instability frequencies immediately above the open holes. Opening different
spanwise rows of holes at various chord locations changes the mean chordwise separation line
location. PIV measurements show that the local flow at a given span station on the wing is
affected by the presence of a nearby open or closed hole, implying the ability to locally and
passively control flow separation. The wing with open holes (perforated wing) is compared
to a woodwind instrument, and practical consequences for passive flow control strategies are
discussed together with potential problems in measurements through pressure taps in such
flow regimes.

6.4

Paper IV

This paper is the main paper of this thesis and details the successful local control of flow
separation by local internal acoustic forcing. Small speakers are embedded inside a custom
designed and fabricated E387 wing. Function generators with adjustable frequency and
amplitude and variable gain stereo audio amplifiers were used to send sine wave signals to
each individual speaker. Force balance and PIV measurements yield lift and drag forces as

42

well as flow visualization of local flow separation. For a given spanwise row of speakers, a
range of optimum forcing frequencies is determined. The investigation of the distribution
of activated speakers shows that improvement in L/D correlates with spatial distribution,
spacing, density, and amplitude of sound sources. The localization of separation control
is apparent from the raw PIV images, which show differences in the separation line and
the presence of vortical structures depending on the activation of a local speaker. The effect
internal acoustic excitation and the effect of acoustic resonance from open holes are combined
and show significantly different results than those from the individual effects. Previously
reported studies found in the literature on internal acoustic forcing are questioned as those
studies do not distinguish the effects of acoustic resonance from pure internal acoustic forcing.
From the current results on local separation control by internal acoustic forcing, implications
for control and stabilization of small aircraft are considered.

6.5

Paper V

This technical report describes the Orr-Sommerfeld numerical solver used for extracting the
initial flow instability properties of experimental velocity profiles and the results thereof. A
spatial stability problem using parallel and 2-dimensional flow assumptions is solved, and
the preliminary results indicate that the flow in the boundary layer is initially bounded
and stable. The least stable frequencies, which are associated with the minimum spatial
growth rates, ki , can be determined for profiles at different chordwise locations. Comparison
of the numerical results to experimental results from local internal acoustic forcing show
that the preferential excitation frequency, fe , matches the initial least stable frequency at
the natural separation point, and that aft of the separation point, fe is a harmonic of the
least stable frequency. Conclusions are less obvious for locations forward of the separation
point. These preliminary results must be taken only as a basis for further verification due
to potentially improper flow assumptions and an oversimplification of the problem. More
studies can be done to vary different parameters in the solver, obtain better interpolations

43

of the experimental data, and even compare experimental velocity profiles to Falkner-Skan
profiles.

44

Paper I

45

Chapter 7

Spanwise Variation in Wing Circulation and

Drag Measurement of Wings at Low
Reynolds Numbers

Yang, S. L. and Spedding, G. R.

Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California 90089-1191
Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 50, No. 3, 2013, pp. 791-797.

The measurement and prediction of aerodynamic performance of airfoils and wings at

chord Reynolds numbers below 105 are both difficult and increasingly important in application to small-scale aircraft. Not only are the aerodynamics strongly affected by the
dynamics of the unstable laminar boundary layer, but the flow is decreasingly likely to be
two-dimensional as Re decreases. The spanwise variation of the nominally-two-dimensional
flow along a two-dimensional geometry is often held to be responsible for the large variations in measured profile drag coefficient, cd at this scale. Here, local two-dimensional drag
coefficients are measured along a finite wing using non-intrusive PIV methods. Variations
in cd (y) can be related to local flow variations on the wing itself. Integrated values can
then be compared with direct force balance data, and the dynamical significance of spanwise
variability will be re-evaluated.
46

Nomenclature
AR

aspect ratio

wing half span (m)

chord (m)

cd

sectional profile drag coefficient

c d,P IV

sectional profile drag coefficient obtained from PIV measurements

C d,0

minimum total drag coefficient on an infinite wing

CD

total drag coefficient on a finite wing

C D,P IV +F B

total drag coefficient on a finite wing from force balance and PIV

C D,i

induced drag coefficient on a finite wing

C D,i,F B

induced drag coefficient on a finite wing calculated from force balance measurements

C D,0

minimum total drag coefficient on a finite wing

Cf

laminar skin friction coefficient

CL

total lift coefficient on a finite wing

cs

separation line location (m)

drag per unit span (N/m)

ei

inviscid span efficiency

ev

viscous span efficiency

body force (N)

vertical transect in the wake region of the wing

normal vector to surface

pressure (N/m2 )

47

p0

free stream pressure (N/m2 )

dynamic pressure (N/m2 )

Re

Reynolds number

control surface around the wing

mean velocity vector (m/s)

mean component of velocity in x (m/s)

U0

free stream velocity (m/s)

x, y, z

coordinates are streamwise, spanwise, and normal directions

angle of attack (deg)

boundary layer thickness (m)

standard deviation

momentum integral (m)

vorticity vectory (rad/s)

spanwise component of vorticity (rad/s)

normalized vorticity

h*i

root-mean-square value

I.

Introduction
STANDARD airfoil performance data do not often extend beneath Re 100,000, and

when they do there are large discrepancies between studies of airfoils under ostensibly the
same conditions [1, 2]. In the range 30,000 Re 100,000 in particular, there is heightened
sensitivity to small variations in geometry and operating conditions. Gross performance
parameters depend strongly on initial laminar boundary layer stability and separation, transition to turbulence of the separated shear layer, and possible subsequent reattachment in
some time-averaged sense. Though practical wings are finite in span, those of moderate
aspect ratio share many of the characteristics that have been demonstrated for 2D airfoil
sections [3], as the central part of the wing sees little influence from the tip vortices. One

48

of the well-known characteristics that has not been measured for the finite wing however, is
the possible variation in sectional drag coefficient as measured from wake surveys [1, 4]. At
these Re, wake surveys and calculating drag components pose particular problems (described
below), and it is not known whether the variations will be large, or whether they could be
responsible for discrepancies or variations in force measurement. The purpose of this paper
is to carefully document the spanwise variation in measured sectional drag coefficient in experiments that combine optical flow measurement techniques with direct force balance data
from custom instrumentation with adequate resolution of the small forces involved at these
Re. We may then determine whether quasi two-dimensional analysis is sufficient (or where
it is sufficient) and then compare the variations with the previously-reported variations on
two-dimensional geometry. Ultimately the findings will extrapolate out to small UAVs with
fixed wing design.

A.

Drag Variation at Transitional Reynolds Numbers

While much literature exists for the Eppler 387 [4], an airfoil commonly used on sailplanes

and gliders, the agreement of measured lift and drag coefficients among different facilities
deteriorates as Re decreases, as seen in Figure 7.1. At Re = 60k, cd (y) is large, and while
turbulence levels, acoustic noise, model accuracy, and physical vibrations may contribute to
these measured drag discrepancies, it has also been suggested that spanwise drag variation
is responsible [4, 5]. This is partly because measurements of relatively small drag forces are
usually made not by direct measurement on the wing but by integrating velocity/pressure
information from scanning or arrayed sets of pitot tubes in the wake, when sampling of
spatially inhomogeneous data can be incomplete. Moreover, precisely at these low Re the
validity of the method has been questioned due to the upstream influence of wake rakes on
the flow [6].
The spanwise drag variation, cd (y), of an E374 wing section has been measured at various
angles of attack, , and downstream locations, x/c, for Re = 200,000 (Figure 7.2) [1]. Figure
7.2 shows that while variation is most pronounced at the farthest downstream locations, all
stations vary across the span, and the variation is spread across the entire span. Total
49

Figure 7.1: Drag polars for the 2-D Eppler 387 at various Re from different facilities replotted
from [7].
drag estimates would have to come from a number of span stations and one may imagine
cases where it could be wrongly-estimated if measurement stations coincided with peaks or
troughs. Most routine cd measurements are taken at some x/c (= 2.25 for Selig) where
pressure gradients are small and the local flow is mostly parallel to the tube array. Indeed,
for drag calculations made from pitot-static pressure measurements, a proper downstream
wake survey location has been shown to be a function of the drag formulation equations
themselves [8]. Steady-state equations have been shown to be applicable for survey regions
sufficiency far downstream so there is negligible variation in static pressure [8, 9], but this is
where the spanwise variation in Figure 7.2 is most pronounced. Finally, the larger variations
in cd in Figure 7.1 are for Re < 100,000, and it is not clear how to extrapolate the results at

50

Figure 7.2: cd (y) of an E374 wing section at Re = 200,000, = 6.4 at x/c = 1.0 (trailing
edge) (solid circles), x/c = 1.7 (squares), and x/c = 2.23 (diamonds) re-plotted from [1].
Re = 200,000 in Figure 7.2 to this regime, where apparently the flow properties are much
less predictable.

B.

Drag Calculations
The momentum equations for a viscous flow in Einstein notation are
P
2 ui
ui
ui
+
uj
=
+ fi +

t
xj
xi
xj xj

(7.1)

where ui is the total instantaneous velocity comprised of mean, Ui , and fluctuating, ui ,

parts (ui = Ui + ui ), pi is the total pressure also comprised of mean and fluctuating parts
(pi = Pi + pi ), is the density of the fluid, is the dynamic viscosity, fi is the total body
force per unit mass, and i, j = (x, y, z). For our wing model system, x is streamwise, y is
spanwise, and z is normal to the chord, x, and span, b, when the wing is at zero , Eq. (7.1)
can alternatively be written by decomposing into mean and fluctuating velocity components
to yield the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equation:

Ui
Ui
P
2 Ui
ui uj
+ Uj
=
+ fi +

t
xj
xi
xj xj
xi

(7.2)

where is the Reynolds stress tensor. In classical aeronautics applications, the flow around a
fixed wing in steady motion is assumed to be steady and inviscid. Furthermore, if a region
of flow is surveyed far from the body, then the pressure there can be assumed to be equal
51

to the constant, undisturbed free stream pressure, p0 , and turbulent motion of the flow is
negligible. With these additional constraints, the time derivative term on the left side of Eq.
(7.2), the pressure term, and the last two terms on the right side drop out, leaving

Uj

Ui
= fi
xj

(7.3)

Eq. (7.3) relates the body force in any direction with the mean momentum flux in that
direction. It is then convenient to express this relationship in integral form so that forces in
one region can be related to fluxes through an enclosing control volume with surface area S
and corresponding normal vector n, so
Z

Z
Ui Uj nj dS =

fi dS

(7.4)

The component of the force in the streamwise direction, fx , can therefore be calculated
from the change in momentum flux between upstream and downstream surfaces, and when
the flow and body geometry are uniform in one direction, such as the span, the drag force
per unit span, D0 , can be evaluated from just two line integrals:

1 U12 dz

D =

Z
+

l1

2 U22 dz

(7.5)

l2

where 1 and U1 are the density and velocity of the fluid upstream of the body at a vertical
transect l1 , and 2 and U2 are the density and velocity downstream of the wing at l2 , which
contains all the wake region, W. If U1 = U0 and = constant, the total positive drag on the
body with span b can be written as

D = U02 b

(7.6)

where the momentum integral, depends only on the variation of mean velocity components
over W :

52

Z
=
W

U2

U0

U2
U0

2 !
dz

(7.7)

The section profile drag coefficient cd is then

cd =

2
c

(7.8)

The drag formulation of Eqs. (7.4) (7.8) differs slightly from other well-known methods
in the literature [8, 10, 11, 12]. The total drag formulation in [11] includes a total pressure
loss term and allows for non-zero cross plane velocity components, while Eqs. (7.4) (7.8)
are more restrictive, assuming that the wake is surveyed far enough downstream so the
downstream pressure is equal to the undisturbed pressure and turbulent flow is negligible
(so average cross plane velocity components go to zero). Betzs equation for profile drag [10]
takes the survey location only in the wake of the body by introducing a fictitious velocity
component that is non-zero only in the region of the viscous wake while the current method
does not use a fictitious velocity but rather takes the survey location far downstream. The
equivalent equation for profile drag in [12] uses the total and static pressures measured
close behind the body whereas the current method only considers velocities measured at
two locations (upstream and downstream of the body). The total drag on a finite wing is
commonly described as the sum of two components:

Cd = cd + CD,i

(7.9)

cd is the profile drag coefficient in Eq. (7.9), which is a function of , and can be expressed

cd = cd,0 + cd ()

(7.10)

where cd,0 is the minimum drag coefficient for a 2-d wing section. CD,i is the induced drag
coefficient,

53

CD,i =

CL2
ei AR

(7.11)

where CL is the lift coefficient of a finite wing with aspect ratio AR, ei 1 is the inviscid
span efficiency factor, which accounts for departures from the ideal elliptic spanwise load
distribution. It can be convenient and reasonable to write CD as a quadratic function of
CL , and then a viscous span efficiency factor, ev , which can be obtained through the slope
approximation of the CD -CL 2 curve [3], can be used to write the total drag coefficient as

CD = CD,0 +

CL2
ev AR

(7.12)

where CD,0 is the minimum drag value from the CL -CD polar. The slope values from the CD CL 2 curves differ between two-dimensional airfoils and finite wings, as shown in [3], so careful
distinction between the two conditions must be made. Either of these two drag decomposition
methods (using either Eqs. (7.9) & (7.11), or Eq. (7.12) alone) can be used to estimate drag
components that are essentially inviscid (induced drag due to downwash behind a lifting
wing) and viscous (profile drag from skin friction and boundary layer separation) in origin.
Such a separation is simple at high Re, but perhaps less easy to disentangle at moderate to
low Re, when the behavior of the viscous boundary layer is so influential [13].

C.

Objectives
This paper provides the first direct check on the spanwise variation of local cd measure-

ments on a smooth airfoil of moderate thickness for Re < 100,000. When and if variation
is found, the associated instantaneous and time-averaged velocity fields on the wing can be
checked for conditions that may cause the observed fluctuations. Direct association of the
force coefficients with the relevant flow field is still quite rare in aeronautics practice but is
important in regimes with such a rich variety of important flow behavior. The local drag
measurements come from PIV-derived velocity fields, and the total inferred and integrated
drag on the wing can be compared with direct force balance measurements.

54

II.
A.

Materials and Methods

Experimental Setup

Experiments were performed in a closed-loop wind tunnel with octagonal test section of
wall-to-wall width 1.37 m, and 5.7 m in the streamwise direction. The empty test-section
turbulence level is 0.025% for spectral frequencies between 2 Hz f 200 Hz in the
velocity range 5 m/s U 26 m/s. Flow uniformity measurements showed no more than
0.5% velocity deviation from the mean velocity for a given cross section [14]. The wing was
CNC-machined from a solid aluminum block with AR = 5.8 (span b = 52.7 cm and chord c
= 9 cm) with an Eppler 387 airfoil section, as shown in Figure 7.3 inset. All measurements
were made at Re = 30,000, which is deliberately set to be in a region of CL (CD ) space
where abrupt switching between stable states can occur. Previous experimentation [15] on
the same wing and same conditions shows that the flow separates before the trailing edge,
so small variations in trailing edge thickness were not a concern.
Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was used to estimate velocity components (u, w ) in
the two-dimensional plane (x, z ) (Figure 7.3). A dual-head Continuum Nd-Yag laser was
used to generate coplanar sheets in the smoke-seeded flow in the test section. Paraffin-based
particles were generated with a Colt 4 smoke machine. The laser sheets were oriented in
the xz -plane across the tunnel, illuminating single chord-wise span stations on the wing, or
downstream of it. A Kodak ES 1.0 CCD camera with 1008 x 1018 pixels and an 85-mm
focal length lens, placed above the wind tunnel, was traversed in the spanwise direction in
concert with the scanned laser sheet and acquired images. The time between laser pulses
was set to a nominal 260 s. Images were taken at 35 span stations spaced 1 cm apart, at
three streamwise locations (Figure 7.3), and at six angles of attack, = 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 .

B.

Spanwise Vorticity Measures

Persistent features in the time-averaged wake profiles can be traced upstream to the

generating conditions on the wing, where the separation line location and spanwise vorticity

55

Figure 7.3: Three streamwise locations and three (of 35) spanwise stations at which PIV
images were taken. The coordinate system origin is the leading edge at mid span. The
trailing edge is x/c = 1.0. Inset: E387 profile.
magnitudes in the separation region can be related to the wake structure. Contrasting
regions of interest were studied for the y (x,z ) measurements at two . For = 0 , where
the majority of the flow across the top surface of the wing is still attached, the regions of
interest were the fore- and aft-attached regions, denoted by a and b in Figure 7.4a.
Region(a) encompassed the front (windward) half of the airfoil, following the boundary
points along the top surface of the airfoil and extending to a height that enclosed the entire
boundary layer profile. Region(b) covered the back (leeward) half of the airfoil with the
same height as Region(a). Statistics from these two regions were collected separately.
When the separation line has moved forward by a significant fraction of the chord, such
as at = 8 , the regions of interest were the attached region and the separated region, a

56

and s in Figure 7.4b. The attached region was the same as Region(a) for = 0 . The
separated region was defined by a triangle from mid-chord to the trailing edge (Figure 7.4b).

Figure 7.4: Regions of interest for spanwise vorticity fields. Top: = 0 fore (a) and aft (b).
Bottom: = 8 attached (a) and separated (s).
For all PIV images at a given span station and region of interest, i (a, b, s), the rootmean-square of the instantaneous spanwise component of vorticity y values were calculated
over that region to give a single r.m.s. vorticity value, h y ii :
v
u
N
u1 X
hy ii = t
(y ({x, z} i))2k
N k=1

(7.13)

where N is the total number of images. h y ii was then normalized by the chord and mean
velocity and is denoted

hii =

hy ii c
U

(7.14)

The location of the separation point itself can be measured directly and independently
from raw particle images. At values of where separation occurs on the front half of the
wing (0.0 x/c 0.4) the separation line is visible as a thin dark line. In this line fluid

57

has come directly from the boundary layer where fewer tracer particles (introduced in the
exterior flow) have penetrated. cs is the chordwise location of this separation line.

C.

Force Balance
Lift and drag forces were measured with a custom cruciform-shaped force balance (de-

scribed in [14, 15]), placed below the wind tunnel floor. The force balance was capable of
measuring lift, drag, and pitching moment. Measurements were averaged over 9000 samples
at a sample rate of 1000 Hz. Careful calibration procedures were performed each day before
data acquisition; static calibrations were performed from 0 to 360 mN in 4 mN steps at
different moment arms. The force balance measurement has an expected uncertainty of 0.1
mN. The expected friction drag on a flat plate of the same size as the E387 wing at zero
degrees of incidence is approximately 11 mN. In force balance measurements, was varied
from -10 to 20 in steps of 1 . Three tests were performed for both increasing and decreasing
, and results were averaged.
The force balance measures total drag (which will be labeled CD,F B ) as well as lift, CL .
The profile drag values at the six different are obtained from the PIV measurements of
momentum wake defect in the midsection of the wing (-0.4 y/b 0.4); this profile drag
component will be labeled, cd,P IV . The span efficiency (Eqs. (7.11), (7.12)) for the E387
wing is initially unknown, so CD,i,F B can be estimated by subtracting cd,P IV from CD,F B at
each . Since CL is known at each , a least squares fit for CD,i,F B values can be used to
solve for ei and ev from Eqs. (7.11) and (7.12). The total drag achieved by adding cd,P IV and
Ci,F B with the calculated efficiency values will be labeled CD,P IV +F B and is necessarily equal
to CD,F B . The uncertainties in CD,i,F B derive primarily from the standard deviation in CL
from force balance measurements, and the uncertainties in cd,P IV are obtained by methods
explained in the following section.

58

III.
A.

Results
Spanwise Drag Variation at Moderate Reynolds Numbers

Correct estimates of cd from Eq. (7.10) require that converged time-averaged profiles
exist and that contributions from

dp
dx

are negligible. This condition occurs at some distance

downstream, estimated to be x/c > 3 for similar conditions [16]. Mean profile integrals
R
U (z)dz, where W is a vertical line in the wake of the wing where the wake defect exists,
W 2
converged to within 13% after 120-210 image pairs, depending on . Satisfactory convergence
of (x) can be claimed after x/c = 2.75, and all subsequent data use streamwise averages
over x/c [3.0, 3.4].
The results of integrating Eq. (7.7) to obtain (y) at the six different at the downstream
location x/c = 3.4 yield cd (y) for the E387 wing at Re = 30,000, shown in Figure 7.5. There
is increasing variation near the wingtip (y/b = 1.0) with increasing , which is mostly a
consequence of the non-zero mean out-of-plane momentum flux. There is also measurable
variation over the mid portion of the wing between -0.4 y/b 0.4 where the variation
with y in cd is higher than the measurement uncertainty. cd (y0 ) increases as increases, but
there is no obvious variation in the absolute magnitude of cd with in the wing center.
Since the wingtip effects are incidental to the main focus here, they are not analyzed further
and the resulting focus will be on the mid portion of the wing.
The momentum thickness, , was obtained by several methods, including averaging different numbers of image pairs to obtain U (z ), applying different interpolation methods to
acquire the boundaries for the momentum defect regions, and using different integration
methods to calculate from a given mean profile The uncertainty cd is the maximum difference in cd values obtained using these various methods. The greatest relative variation in
cd in the midsection of the wingspan (-0.4 y/b 0.4) is 27% at = 0 . By definition, in
this procedure, any measured variation must come from systematic and repeatable variations
in profile amplitude and width.

59

Figure 7.5: cd (y) at = 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 . The symbol size is chosen to match the size of the
measurement uncertainty.
60

If there is variation in average values of and cd due to time-averaged variation in flow

field, then it should be possible to trace such variations upstream. cd (y) at = 0 and
= 8 are compared at two different downstream locations, x/c = 3.4 and 2.0 (Figure 3.6).

Figure 7.6: cd (y) at = 0 and 8 at x/c = 3.4 (solid circles) and x/c = 2.0 (squares). The
symbol size matches the measurement uncertainty. Arrows denote data points in subsequent
sections.
At = 0 the pattern of above-threshold spanwise cd (y) variation matches for the two
x/c locations. The difference between the two sets of data is a slight offset (the calculated
drag values are slightly higher further downstream). At = 8 the correlation is less obvious,
but there are correlated variations, significantly above noise, that are coherent in x. If the
correlations in the wake are coherent in x, then it may be possible to trace their origin back
to conditions on the wing.

B.

Spanwise Vorticity and Separation Point Location Variation

At = 0 , instantaneous and time-averaged y look similar as the flow is steady and

laminar separation occurs shortly before the trailing edge (Figure 7.7 a, b). At = 8 , flow
separation is earlier and the separated shear layer has become unstable, generating coherent
structures that impinge upon the downstream portion of the suction surface. y and y are
not the same (Figure 7.7 c, d). The earlier separation of the boundary layer is associated with
increased turbulent levels in the separated region and reduced aerodynamic performance. At
61

x 10mm, Rex 3300 and the boundary layer thickness =

5.2x
Rex

0.9mm. The grid

resolution is 1.5mm, so the laminar boundary layer at the wall is not resolved. The boundary
layer vorticity and possible presence of small separation and reattachment regions upstream
of the trailing edge separation are therefore not accessible to this experiment. However,
the statistics of the larger separated region can be used as indicators of variation in the
separation point and conditions behind it.

Figure 7.7: a) y (x, z) and b) y (x, z) at = 0 ; c) y (x, z) and d) y (x, z) at = 8 .

Arrows are fluctuating velocity vectors.
At = 0 , five y/b stations in the mid portion of the wing (-0.5 y/b 0.5) were chosen
where cd (y) varied similarly at x/c = 3.4 and x/c = 2.0 (indicated by arrows in Figure 7.6).
hia,b are shown at the different span stations in Figure 7.8. hia varies with the resolved
outer boundary layer vorticity over the attached part of the airfoil, and is therefore a measure
of the strength of the bound vorticity on the wing. hia may be expected to vary with lift

62

coefficient but may not be sensitive to changes in drag. When flow separation is mild, hib ,
which averages all spanwise vorticity over the aft surface, has a lower magnitude (the mean
boundary layer has thickened) but still has very similar variation. Neither hia nor hib
varies significantly across the span or in phase with cd (y). Apparent variations in phase with
variation in cd (y) do not rise above the measurement uncertainty. Flow separation does not
occur until close to the trailing edge at = 0 , so there is no separated region along the top
of the wing as in the case of higher .
At = 8 six y/b stations were also chosen where cd (y) varied similarly at x/c = 3.4 and
x/c = 2.0 (indicated by arrows in Figure 7.6). hia,s and cs /c are shown at the different
span stations in Figure 7.9. his varies as cd , showing, unsurprisingly, that high local cd
is associated with high turbulence levels over the trailing half chord. There is no clear
correlation of his with cd . cs varies inversely with his so high turbulence in the separation
region is associated with earlier separation and higher local cd .

C.

Estimation of Spanwise Efficiency Factors

In Figure 7.10, CD,F B is compared with values calculated from the wake measurements

that use CD,i and the least squares fit on ei (Eq. (7.11)) to match the sum of CD,i and
CD,P IV +F B . The best fit yielded ei = 0.83. This estimate uses the wake-measured variation
of cd () to estimate the profile drag. An alternative is to use the force balance data to
calculate the constant value of CD,0 (also sometimes known as the profile drag), and then
the implicit variation of cd with CL 2 is included in the value of the viscous span efficiency,
ev , which can again be estimated by least-squares regression of CD,P IV +F B on . The fit
is satisfactory when ev = 0.3 (Figure 7.11) [3]. This estimation by least-squares regression
essentially yields values of ev and ei that would otherwise be obtained through a linear fit
and slope calculation of the CD -CL 2 curve. The estimated slope at low is 0.14, compared
with 0.09 for a different E387 wing at the same Re in [3], where it was noted that such values

63

Figure 7.8: At = 0 , spanwise cd (y) (top, x/c = 3.15 in black, x/c = 1.75 in gray), hib
(middle), and hia (bottom).
have limited significance when the lift-drag polars themselves have shapes very different from
model assumptions.

IV.

Discussion

There is measurable variation in cd (y) on the E387 wing at Re = 30,000 over all the
tested (0 10 ). The large differences in measured cd (y) between the mid-span and

64

Figure 7.9: At = 8 , spanwise cd (y) (top, x/c = 3.15 in black, x/c = 1.75 in gray), his
(middle), and cs /c (bottom). The uncertainty in hii is the maximum difference among the
values of hii obtained from averaging over different number of image pairs.
the wing tip (up to 98% at = 10 for 0.0 y/b 0.9), are related to the non-negligible
momentum flux in out-of-plane directions, and are related directly to the lift on the finite
wing. However, spanwise cd (y) variation also occurs in the mid portion of the wing (up
to 27% variation at = 0 for 0.0 y/b 0.2), where the local flow may otherwise be
considered to be close to two dimensional.

65

Figure 7.10: Combined force balance and PIV drag results. CD,F B (gray line + circles),
cd,P IV (dashed line + diamonds), CD,P IV +F B using ei = 0.83 (solid line + squares).
The cd (y) variation trends are preserved at different x/c locations, and tracing the flow
back to on-wing conditions shows that, at = 8 ,where significant flow separation occurs,
his variation is directly proportional to cd (y) variation. This was not the case for hia , or
at = 0 where separation does not occur until near the trailing edge. The fore-aft movement of the separation point location showed that an increase in his corresponds to earlier
separation, suggesting that at high , the location of the separation line cs is not uniform
and two dimensional. The location of separation affects the size of the separated region
above the airfoil, as measured by the magnitude of the spanwise vorticity in the separated
region, and correlates with the wake momentum deficit, and hence the local sectional drag,
and its measurement.

66

Figure 7.11: CD,F B (gray line + circles), CD,0 (dotted line), CD,P IV +F B using ev = 0.3
(dashed line + triangles).
The results of the cd (y) variation study at Re = 30,000 are quantified by the same
normalization procedure as described in Section IB. and compared with literature results
[1, 4] in Figure 7.12. While the values of drag variation are associated with two different Re
and two different (but similar) airfoils, both show a local maximum at 6 deg, which is
where the separation location is highly sensitive to small disturbances. The lower Re data
show that the relative variation increases for small . The variation of cd with y is much
higher in current experiments, but that is because Re is lower.
The variation magnitude is shown as a function of Re in Figure 7.13. Clearly decreases
as Re increases, but the increase in /cd with decreasing Re is consistent in both facilities.
Finally, for the current study at Re = 30,000 is compared with cd among different
facilities at Re = 60,000 in Figure 7.14. For 0 10 , at Re = 30,000 is less than cd
67

Figure 7.12: at Re = 200,000 for the E374 from [1] (squares) and Re = 30,000 for the
E387 from the current study (solid circles).

Figure 7.13: /cd at = 0 (solid circles) and 5 (gray squares) at various Re from Langley
[4] and Dryden. The value at = 5 from Dryden is an average of the values at = 4
(bottom white square) and 6 (top white square).
at Re = 60,000. Figure 7.13 shows that drag variation increases as Re decreases, so at Re
= 60,000 will be lower still than at Re = 30,000. The observed cd (y) variation is much less

68

than the drag variation from literature at Re = 60,000 and therefore cd (y) variation is not
the main cause of the discrepancies in measured cd among different facilities.

Figure 7.14: Drag variation from different facilities (squares) and spanwise cd (y) from current
study (solid circles).
The separation of drag into its different components is achievable at Re = 30,000 if ei and
ev are determined empirically. Since only the -dependent profile drag cd is obtained from the
PIV-based measurements, a second method (in this case, direct force balance measurements)
must be used to complete the drag measurement/calculation, which involves two unknowns,
e and CD,i . At Re = 30,000, the drag measurements imply values of ei and ev of 0.83 and
0.3, respectively, which are very low compared with the usual high Re default values close to
1, but in agreement with previous findings at moderate Re [3]. The existence of persistent
spanwise variation in wake defect magnitude, and hence cd , along the span, supports the
argument that a single parameter description of the departure from ideal uniform conditions
may not be a very good reflection of the detailed flow field on the wing.

69

V.

Conclusion

At transitional Re flows, particularly in the sub-regime 30,000 Re 70,000, the drag

values reported by various facilities for smooth airfoils including the E387 differ significantly,
and it has been suggested that spanwise drag variation is one possible cause of these disparities. Airfoil and wing performance, especially at low Re, is extremely sensitive to separation
location [17], and variations in separation location do indeed correlate with variations in
local measured sectional drag coefficients. However, the magnitude of these variations in
the nominally two dimensional center section of the wing reported here is small, and cannot
account for the differences in reported results among different facilities.

70

Paper I References

[1] Guglielmo, James J., and Selig, M. S., Spanwise Variations in Profile Drag for Airfoils
at Low Reynolds Numbers, Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 33, No. 4, 1996, pp. 699-707.
[2] Simons, M., Model Aircraft Aerodynamics, 4th Ed., Special Interest Model Books, Poole,
1999.
[3] Spedding, G. R. and McArthur, J., Span Efficiencies of Wings at Low Reynolds Numbers, Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 47, No. 1, 2010, pp. 120-128.
[4] McGhee, R. J., Walker, B. S., and Millard, B. F., Experimental Results for the Eppler
387 Airfoil at Low Reynolds Numbers in the Langley Low-Turbulence Pressure Tunnel,
NASA TM-4062, 1988, pp. 25-26.
[5] Mueller, T. J., Aerodynamic Measurements at Low Reynolds Numbers for Fixed Wing
Micro-Air Vehicles, presented at the Development and Operation of UAVs for Military
and Civil Applications course held at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics,
Belgium, September 13-17, 1999.
[6] Lowson, M. V., Aerodynamics of Aerofoils at Low Reynolds Numbers, Bristol UAV
Conference 1999.
[7] Selig, M. S., Guglielmo, J. J., Broeren, A. P., and Giguere, P., Summary of Low-Speed
Airfoil Data, Vol. 1, Soar Tech Publications, Virginia, 1995, pp. 19-20.
[8] Takahashi, T. T., On the decomposition of drag from wake survey measurements,
AIAA Paper 97-0717, Jan. 1997.
[9] Taylor, G. I., The Determination of Drag by the Pitot Traverse Method, British ARC
R&M 1808, 1937.
[10] Betz, A., A Method for Direct Determination of a Wing Section Drag, NACA Technical Memorandum No. 337, 1925.
[11] Bollay, W., Determination of Profile Drag from Measurements in the Wake of a Body,
Journal of Aeronautical Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 6, 1938, pp. 245-249.
71

[12] Jones, B. M., Measurement of Profile Drag by the Pitot-Traverse Method, British
ARC R&M 1688, 1936.
[13] Brune, G. W. Quantitative Low-Speed Wake Surveys. Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 31,
No. 2, 1994, pp. 249-255.
[14] Zabat, M., Farascaroli, S., Browand, F., Nestlerode, M., and Baez, J., Drag Measurements on a Platoon of Vehicles, Research Reports, California Partners for Advanced
Transit and Highways (PATH), Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley, 1994,
(doi: 10.1146/annurev.fl.15.010183.001255).
[15] McArthur, John. Aerodynamics of Wings at Low Reynolds Numbers, Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, CA, 2007.
[16] Spedding, G. R. and Hedenstrom, A., PIV-Based Investigations of Animal Flight,
Experiments in Fluids, Vol. 46, 2009, pp. 749-763.
[17] Lissaman, P. B. S., Low Reynolds Number Airfoils, Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 15, 1983, pp. 223-239.

72

Paper II

73

Chapter 8

Separation Control by External Acoustic

Excitation on a Finite Wing at Low Reynolds
Numbers

Yang, S. L. and Spedding, G. R.

Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California 90089-1191
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Vol. 51, No. 6, 2013, pp. 1506-1515.

At Reynolds numbers approaching those of micro-air vehicles (both engineered and natural), the Eppler 387 airfoil (in common with many other smooth profiles) can have multiple
lift and drag states at a single wing incidence angle. Pre-stall hysteresis and abrupt switching between stable states result from sudden flow reattachment and the appearance of a
large separation bubble. Here, we show that control of the dynamics can be achieved using
external acoustic forcing. Separation control, hysteresis elimination, and more than 70%
increase in lift:drag ratio are obtained at certain excitation frequencies and sound pressure
levels. The global flow around the wing is effectively modified, and large, stable vortical
structures appear in the separated shear layer. Correlation between the effects of acoustic
excitation and wind tunnel resonance shows that the anti-resonances in an enclosed chamber

74

correspond to the largest improvement in wing performance. Implications for control and
stabilization of small aircraft inside and out of enclosed boxes are considered.

Nomenclature
AR

aspect ratio

wing half span (m)

chord (m)

CD

total drag coefficient on a finite wing

CL

total lift coefficient on a finite wing

fe

excitation frequency (Hz)

fe *

optimum excitation frequency (Hz)

fe o

uneasily excitable frequency (Hz)

fs

separated shear layer instability shedding frequency

L/D

lift-to-drag ratio

SPL

sound pressure level (dB)

St

Strouhal number

St

angle of attack based Strouhal number

Sts

separation Strouhal number

Re

chord-based Reynolds number

free stream velocity (m/s)

Ue

edge velocity of boundary layer (m/s)

Ua

advection speed (m/s)

angle of attack (deg)

hysteresis loop-preceding angle of attack (deg)

percent change in parameter (%)

75

I.

Introduction

A growing number of micro aerial vehicles have been in development, production, and use for
multiple applications. The flight regime in which many of these miniature aircraft systems
operate is where the chord-based Reynolds number, Re, lies between 104 105 , which is
considered to be a low Re regime in aeronautics. Here, complex flow characteristics can
either favorably or adversely affect wing performance. Two main approaches can be taken
in this design space: either avoid it altogether, or manipulate and force the flow toward
favorable conditions that maximize wing performance. In this study, the latter approach is
taken using active separation control through acoustic excitation.
At low Re, adverse pressure gradients are most likely to occur when the boundary layer
is still laminar, making the flow over an airfoil susceptible to separation. When the flow
has sufficient energy to overcome the combined effects of adverse pressure gradient, viscous
dissipation, and change in momentum, the flow remains attached. Conversely, when the flow
has insufficient energy, the flow separates from the wing surface, then often transitions from
a laminar to turbulent state, and may then reattach as a turbulent boundary layer. In such
a case, the separated region forward of the reattachment point will be termed a laminar
separation bubble (LSB).
The performance of the Eppler 387, a high performance sail plane airfoil usually used at
Re > 200,000, has been shown to be strongly affected by the presence of a laminar separation
bubble at lower Re [1]. In the regime 30,000 Re 80,000 the E387 has complex flow
characteristics where the lift-drag curves show pre-stall hysteresis and abrupt jumps between
what appear to be multiple performance envelopes due to flow separation and reattachment,
as seen in Figure 8.1. Numerous laminar airfoils also experience such behavior in similar Re
regimes [2, 3]. These airfoils can have more than one lift or drag state at a single angle of
attack. In Figure 8.1, there appear to be two sets of curves to which the CL (CD ) polar may
be attracted. Small perturbations can lead to a transition from one to another of what we
shall term bi-stable state. Previous work [4] has shown that state-switching corresponds to

76

the presence or absence of reattachment and that the process is close to two-dimensional or
spanwise uniform [5].

Figure 8.1: Bi-stable states in CL CD polars for the E387 wing [4].
Since flow separation and reattachment both strongly affect wing performance, separation
control is of clear practical significance. Active separation control involves introducing an
external energy source to supplement that of the boundary layer, and common methods
include external and internal acoustic excitation, vibrating wires and flaps, blowing, bleeding,
and synthetic jets. The basis for efficient energy-based mechanisms to induce separation
control is boundary layer receptivity, when a particular disturbance such as an acoustic
pressure wave or vortex structure can interact with the boundary layer and establish its
signature in the resulting disturbed flow. When the initial disturbances are sufficiently

77

large, they can grow nonlinearly and result in turbulent flow. When they are small, they can
still excite disturbances in the boundary layer, such as Tollmien-Schlichting (T-S) waves [6].
When the boundary layer does separate, the detached shear-layer is susceptible to KelvinHelmholtz (K-H) mode instabilities. The unstable waves grow and their roll-up into coherent
structures and transition to turbulence are associated with a high degree of unsteadiness and
facilitation of the reattachment process as high momentum fluid from the external flow is
swept into the region close to the airfoil surface [7]. Since the possible flow reattachment is
critical to the selection of bi-stable state alternatives, proposed flow control strategies should
be targeted at both wall-bounded and free shear layer modes.
Several studies have focused on external acoustic excitation as a means to modify the
flow and control separation around a wing at various Re and in various flow states. External
forcing at single frequency tones has been shown to effectively change wing performance in
the range 25,000 Re 800,000 by increasing lift at particular angles of attack [2, 8, 9, 10],
tripping the flow from low- to high-lift states [2], diminishing the size of the hysteresis loop
in lift-drag curves [2], reducing the tendency toward flow separation [8, 9], and changing
the basic behavior of the laminar separation bubble and turbulent boundary layer [11]. The
effects of external acoustic excitation have been shown in [8] and [2] to be strongly correlated
with wind tunnel test section resonances.
Previous literature results on acoustic excitation at low and moderate Re and pre- and
post-stall show the dependence of optimum excitation frequencies on Re, , and the dominant intrinsic instabilities in the flow. The optimum excitation frequency has been found
to increase with increasing Re or increasing [11], while the range of effective excitation
frequencies has been found to increase with increasing Re or decreasing [11, 13]. It has also
been suggested that the optimum excitation frequencies correspond to the most amplified
instabilities in the separated region. For pre- and immediately post-stall , K-H instabilities dominate the separated shear region, and so the optimum excitation frequencies have
been reported to correspond to these shear layer instability frequencies [10, 12, 13, 14, 15].

78

For large post-stall , the dominating instabilities are due to free wake vortices, when the
optimum frequencies correspond to the vortex shedding frequencies [13, 17].
The optimum excitation frequencies can be related to the Strouhal number, St, given by

St =

fc
U

(8.1)

where f is the shedding or excitation frequency, c is the chord length, and U is the free
stream velocity. Laminar separation was observed to be most effectively reduced when the
parameter St/Re1/2 was between 0.02 and 0.03 based on the excitation frequency [11, 12].
Recalling that the boundary layer thickness over a flat plate, Re1/2 , the St/Re1/2 scaling
is directly related to the growth of the boundary layer thickness, .
St from Eq. (8.1) uses the chord length as the length scale and is associated with the
shedding instabilities. If the scaling is instead the size of the wake behind the body (more
suitable for airfoils at high , which act like bluff bodies [20]), then the projected height of
the airfoil is used as the length scale, and a Strouhal number that takes into account can
be given by

St =

f c sin()
.
U

(8.2)

If the scaling is associated with the recirculation time of the separated region, then the height
of the separated region (or of the laminar separation bubble) is used as the length scale, and
a separation Strouhal number is

Sts =

f s
Ue

(8.3)

where s is the momentum thickness of the separated region, and Ue is the edge velocity
of the boundary layer [18]. An optimum range of Sts is reported to be between 0.008 and
0.016 [18].
This paper provides a study on the effects of external acoustic excitation on the forces and
flow fields of an E387 wing in a Re regime where pre-stall hysteresis and abrupt switching

79

of bi-stable states occur. At low Re, the aerodynamic performance (CL , CD ) of the E387
and many other smooth airfoils is notoriously sensitive to small changes in environmental
and/or boundary conditions, and this study reports the first of a series of experiments to
unambiguously establish the basic flow conditions associated with the force variation, with a
view to exploiting this sensitivity for control. If successful, then internal acoustic forcing can
be examined for the same wing, and significant variations in lift and drag could in principle
be generated with no moving parts on the wing.

II.
A.

Materials and Methods

Experimental Setup

Experiments were performed in a closed-loop wind tunnel with octagonal test section of
wall-to-wall width 1.37 m, and 5.7 m in the streamwise direction. The empty test-section
turbulence level is 0.025% for spectral frequencies between 2Hz f 200Hz in the velocity
range 5m/s U 26m/s. Flow uniformity measurements showed no more than 0.5%
velocity deviation from the mean velocity for a given cross section [19]. The wing was CNCmachined from a solid aluminum block with AR = 5.8 (span b = 52.7 cm and chord c =
9 cm) with an Eppler 387 airfoil section. The (x, y, z) coordinate system is as follows: x is
the streamwise direction, y is the spanwise direction, and z is the normal direction, with the
origin at the leading edge and midspan (Figure 8.2).
External acoustic forcing was accomplished using a SolidDrive SD1sm speaker, which
was attached to the outside of the wind tunnel test section upstream of the wing model.
The SD1sm has a usable frequency response range of 60Hz 15kHz and uses neodymium
magnets and dual symmetrically opposed motors to convert audio signals into vibrations,
which are transferred into solid surfaces upon direct contact. Placing the speaker on the
outer wall of the wind tunnel test section converts the entire test section into an acoustic
chamber. The vibrations from the speaker did not impact the structure of the wind tunnel.
Sine waves from a waveform generator were amplified by an adjustable gain Pyle Pro PCA1
80

2 x 15 W stereo power amplifier with a frequency response of 20Hz 40kHz 3dB and 0.3%
total harmonic distortion. The frequency and peak-to-peak voltage amplitude of the sine
wave were changed directly from the waveform generator.
A 4944 1/4 B&K pressure field microphone, which has a pressure-field response of 2dB
between 16Hz f 70kHz, was used to obtain acoustic measurements for the wind tunnel
resonance study. A 4954-B B&K free field microphone, which has a free-field response of 3
dB between 9Hz f 100kHz, was used to obtain all other acoustic measurements. Both
microphones were calibrated using a B&K 4231 Acoustic Calibrator.

B.

Force Balance
Lift and drag forces were measured with a custom cruciform-shaped force balance de-

scribed in [19] and [16], placed below the wind tunnel floor. The force balance was capable
of measuring lift, drag, and pitching moment. Measurements were averaged over 8000 samples at a sampling rate of 1000 Hz. Careful calibration procedures were performed each day
before data acquisition and static calibrations were performed from 0 to 360 mN in 4 mN
steps at different moment arms. The electromechanical force balance measurement has an
expected uncertainty of 0.1 mN. The expected friction coefficient on a flat plat can be given
by
1.328
Cf =
Rex

(8.4)

Ff = Cf q S

(8.5)

and the friction drag by

where q is the dynamic pressure. For a flat plate the same size as the E387 wing at
zero degrees of incidence, the expected friction drag would be 11 mN. In force balance
measurements, was varied from -10 to 20 then back down to -10 in steps of 1 outside
of the hysteresis loop region and in steps of 0.1 in the hysteresis loop region, and for each
Re at least three tests were performed and results were averaged.
81

C.

Particle Imaging Velocimetry

Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was used to estimate velocity components (u, w) in

the two-dimensional plane (x, z) (Figure 8.2). A Continuum Surelite II dual-head Nd:YAG
laser was used to generate pulse pairs separated by exposure times, t = 100300s. The
two coaxial laser beams were converted to sheets of slowly varying thickness through a series
of convergent-cylindrical-cylindrical lenses. The flow was seeded with 1m smoke particles
from a Colt 4 smoke generator and imaged onto a Kodak ES 1.0 1008 x 1018 dual frame
CCD array camera.
PIV processing used a variant of the customised CIV algorithms described in [22] and
[23]. A smoothed spline interpolated cross-correlation function was directly fit with the
equivalent splined auto-correlation functions from the same data. Obviously incorrect vectors that passed by an automated rejection criterion were manually removed and the raw
displacement vector field was reinterpolated back onto a complete rectangular grid with the
same smoothing spline function [24]. The spline coefficients are differentiated analytically to
yield velocity gradient data. The uncertainty does not depend on velocity magnitude but is
fixed in fractions of a pixel, but when rescaled to conditions reported here, we may expect
uncertainties of 0.55% in {u, w} and about 10% in gradient-based quantities, such as the
spanwise vorticity
y =

w u

,
x
z

which is displayed on a discrete colorbar whose step size is set to the measurement uncertainty.

D.

Acoustic Excitation at Constant Amplitude and Constant SPL

The effects of different excitation frequencies, fe , on lift and drag forces at Re = 40k

and 60k were examined. At each Re, a value of 0 immediately preceding the hysteresis
loop was chosen. For Re = 40k, 0 = 10 , and for Re = 60k, 0 = 8 . For the acoustic
study at constant amplitude, fe from the waveform generator was varied while keeping both
the waveform generator peak-to-peak voltage amplitude and the power amplifier volume

82

Figure 8.2: Wind tunnel setup. (x, y, z ) are streamwise, spanwise, and normal directions.
Origin is at leading edge and midspan.
constant. Consequently, the SPL at a given location in the wind tunnel was not constant
for this portion of the study.
For the acoustic study at constant SPL, the power amplifier was kept at a constant
volume setting while the peak-to-peak voltage amplitude levels from the waveform generator
were varied at each fe to yield a constant SPL measured at the wing leading edge and
midspan. The excitation frequencies that produced maximum improvements in aerodynamic
performance are considered to be optimum excitation, or easily excitable, frequencies and
denoted as fe *, which is not meant to denote global optimum values (but could in fact be
local optimum values). The frequencies that made the least improvements are considered
to be uneasily excitable frequencies and denoted as feo . After fe * values were determined,

83

the SPL was varied by changing the waveform generator peak-to-peak voltage. In both
the constant amplitude and constant SPL studies, the force balance measured lift and drag
forces, and PIV yielded flow field characteristics. In general, the speaker was kept on while
changing the frequency during the frequency sweep. However, at and around the optimum
frequencies, the speaker was turned off (allowing the flow to return to its nominal state) and
then turned back on. This was done to ensure that there was no hysteresis occurring.

E.

Wind Tunnel Resonance

Since acoustic amplitudes in a closed box vary greatly in space, spatial maps of the test

section response were measured. The B&K 4944 pressure field microphone was placed inside
the empty wind tunnel test section without flow and traversed in 2 cm steps in (x, y, z) to
form three planes that would intersect the wing if it were in place. The planes traversed by
the microphone were the yz -plane at quarter chord (x/c = 0.25), xz -plane at midspan (y/c
= 0.0), and xy-plane at leading edge (z/c = 0.0) (Figure 8.3). The power amplifier volume
and waveform generator peak-to-peak voltage level were kept constant, and four excitation
frequencies were used: two values of fe * and two values of feo . SPL values were averaged
over 15,000 samples at a sampling rate of 2500 Hz.

Figure 8.3: Wind tunnel resonance measurement planes: a) yz-plane, b) xz-plane, c) xyplane.

84

III.
A.

Results
Eppler 387 Performance at Low Reynolds Numbers

Figure 8.4 shows the abrupt increases in lift and decreases in drag for the E387 at particular pre-stall values, which decrease as Re increases. Counter-clockwise hysteresis also
occurs so that the high-lift state is preserved longer as the wing incidence is decreased.
Changes between separated flow and reattached flow conditions over the suction surface of
the wing cause the jumps between bi-stable states, as observed from PIV flow field data (not
shown here). More than an 85% difference in L/D can occur over a 0.1 change in (at Re
= 40k, the difference in L/D is 87% between 12.3 and 12.4 , Figure 8.4b).

B.

Acoustic Excitation at Constant Amplitude

At each, Re = 40k and 60k, distinct increases in L/D can be observed at particular

excitation frequencies, as indicated by Figure 8.5, which plots the percent change in L/D
with varying acoustic excitation frequencies.
Maxima in (L/D) occur at fe * = 525Hz and 660Hz for both Re = 40k and 60k, but
at 800Hz there is no improvement for Re = 40k. The range of fe * is larger for higher Re,
which agrees with the observations in [11, 13]. However, for the same excitation conditions,
the L/D improvement is greater at Re = 40k where (L/D) reaches 74% for fe = 525Hz.
The maximum (L/D) at Re = 60k is only 56% at fe = 800Hz. The corresponding CL (CD )
and L/D curves at the indicated fe * values are shown in Figure 8.6.
When the flow is excited at fe *, hysteresis is largely eliminated for both Re = 40k and
60k. Excitation at fe * removes most, but not all, of the drop in L/D() at moderate ,
and the magnitude of the improvement varies with . The higher Re case shows the closest
achievement of a flat, high (L/D) over a broad range of (Figure 8.6d). The original PIV
images with densely-seeded flow show dark lines that are the path lines of fluid originating
in the relatively particle-poor boundary layer.

85

Figure 8.4: CL (CD ) curves (a) and L/D() curves (b) for the E387 at Re = 30k (circles),
40k (triangles), 50k (squares), and 60k (diamonds). Error bars are the standard deviation
from multiple tests.

86

Figure 8.5: (L/D) for different fe at constant amplitude at = 10 at Re = 40k (top) and
at = 8 at Re = 60k (bottom) with fe * values indicated.

87

Figure 8.6: CL (CD ) for Re = 40k (a) and Re = 60k (b) and L/D for Re = 40k (c) and Re =
60k (d) for unexcited flow (dotted gray line + circles), fe = 525Hz (black line + triangles),
fe = 660Hz (gray line + squares), and fe = 800Hz (black line + diamonds).

88

Figure 8.7 compares the unforced (left column) and forced (right column) flows for
= 8 at Re = 60k. The unforced flow separates at a well-defined location about c/4 from
the leading edge. In the forced flow the path line lifts slightly and late, and then marks a
series of dark spots located above the airfoil surface. There is no obvious sign of a largescale detachment. The time-average spanwise vorticity shows that in fact separation has
occurred close to the leading edge but that the flow then reattaches to form, in the mean,
a recirculation zone that is large in both x and z. The recirculation zone attaches stably to
the suction surface. It can be termed a laminar separation bubble. Note that this bubble
is much larger and occupies a different chordwise location than the well studied laminar
separation bubble that appears on the SD7003 airfoil [21] and which, by contrast, has almost
no dynamical significance.

Figure 8.7: Separation and spanwise vorticity for flow over E387 at = 8 and Re = 60k
without forcing (left) and with forcing at fe = 800Hz (right). Vorticity fields are superimposed on a fluctuating velocity vector field with unity scaling.

89

C.

Acoustic Excitation at Constant SPL

The effects of fe on (L/D) at constant SPL at Re = 60k and 40k together with the SPL

variation with fe in an empty wind tunnel measured at x = 0, y = 0, and z = 0 are shown in

Figure 8.8. Figure 8.8c shows that the tunnel acoustic pressure is not uniform as a function
of frequency, and measurements taken in the normal position of the wing show variations in
SPL of up to 30dB. These variations are due to constructive and destructive interference of
primary and reflected waves in the tunnel test section which has no special acoustic treatment
of the walls. In acoustic wave fields, the gradient of pressure, |5p|, is maximum where the
pressure fluctuations cross the zero line, and this consequently is where the maximum induced
particle velocity is found, 90 out of phase with the pressure fluctuations. When the acoustic
wave field is dominated by standing waves (ultimately caused by the container geometry),
nodes that correspond to zero crossings will have the lowest r.m.s. values. The high r.m.s.
values, by contrast, occur where the pressure fluctuates between maximum and minimum
but where the pressure gradient is close to zero. The anti-resonance regions in fe are where
(L/D) is highest. The flow is most easily switched to its high L/D state when the acoustic
wave induced velocity field has its highest amplitude. Note that the sensitivities in Figure
8.8a, b are adjusted for constant amplitude SPL.
The resulting performance curves from constant SPL excitation over the range of at the
three most excitable frequencies of Figure 8.8b are shown in Figure 8.9. Hysteresis is again
eliminated, although the original dips in L/D (gray curves in Figure 8.9) are not completely
eliminated. Not all experience the same magnitude of L/D improvement, similar to the
results from acoustic excitation at constant amplitude. Of the three values of fe * (415Hz,
520Hz, and 675Hz), the lower two produce better overall lift-drag curves. Qualitative results
of the flow field and corresponding spanwise vorticity field at two values of fe * (415Hz and
520Hz) and two values of feo (445Hz and 550Hz) are shown in Figure 8.10 and Figure 8.11,
respectively.
The particle images for the two feo (Figure 8.10 b, d) have the same dark separation
line as seen before the wing changes to the high-lift, low-drag state in normal, unexcited

90

Figure 8.8: Effect of fe on (L/D) at Re = 60k (a) and 40k (b) and corresponding wind
tunnel SPL response measured at (x = 0, y = 0, and z = 0) (c).
conditions. At the two fe * (Figure 8.10 a, c), the dark line, previously detached from the
airfoil surface, has moved closer to the surface, and the previously-noted vortical structures
can be seen close to the surface starting at x /c 0.3, most notably at 520Hz (Figure 8.10
c). These vortical structures move along the suction surface of the wing from leading edge

91

Figure 8.9: Effect of fe on CL and CD (a) and L/D (b) at Re = 40k for unexcited flow
(dotted gray line + circles), fe = 415Hz (black line + triangles), fe = 520Hz (gray line +
squares), and fe = 675Hz (black line + diamonds) at constant SPL = 75.5dB

92

Figure 8.10: Raw PIV images for flow at Re = 40k with acoustic excitation at fe * (a, c) and
feo (b, d) (SPL = 75.5dB).

Figure 8.11: Spanwise vorticity fields for flow at Re = 40k with acoustic excitation at fe *
(a, c) and feo (b, d) (SPL = 75.5dB). Fluctuating velocity vectors are scaled by a factor of 4.

93

to trailing edge as observed through a time series of acquired images. The spanwise vorticity
fields (Figure 8.11), obtained from the raw PIV images (Figure 8.10), reveal that exciting
the flow at feo has no effect on the flow, which remains separated over the aft half of the
airfoil, but excitation at fe * produces a region of circulation over the front half of the wing,
corresponding to a reattached flow state.

D.

SPL Dependence
The results of varying SPL on wing performance for a value of fe * (520Hz) and feo

(550Hz) are shown in Figure 8.12. Figure 8.12 shows that varying the forcing amplitude at
fe * changes the magnitude of (L/D) and the range of over which the change is seen.
Changes in L/D can be obtained by forcing at feo but require a much higher amplitude. For
flow at Re = 40k and = 10 , a 77% L/D improvement is achieved with an SPL = 77.8dB
at fe * = 520Hz, but the same improvement requires a much higher SPL of 91.8dB at feo =
550Hz. A 14dB change in SPL is a 0.1mPa change in pressure.

Figure 8.12: L/D() for acoustic excitation at fe * = 520Hz (a) and feo = 550Hz (b).
Varying SPL can lead to quite smooth variations in (L/D), and Figure 8.13 shows that
SPL can be used as a control parameter for (L/D) that has its own hysteresis loop, not
in , as in Figures 8.4, 8.6, 8.9, and 8.12, but in SPL. In Fig. 8.13, the excitation is held
94

constant at fe * = 520Hz. The separated and reattached flow states are indistinguishable
from those achieved with varying .

Figure 8.13: Hysteresis of L/D and SPL at Re = 40k and = 10 . fe is held constant at
520Hz. Spanwise vorticity superimposed on a fluctuating velocity field is shown for the four
indicated points on the hysteresis loop. Fluctuating velocity vectors have unity scaling.

E.

Wind Tunnel Resonance

Figures 8.14 8.16 show the spatial variation in measured SPL for constant amplitude

forcing of the speaker/tunnel wall. The two fe * cases are shown in a and b and the two feo

95

Figure 8.14: Wind tunnel resonance in the yz -plane (normal to the chord and the mean
flow).
cases are shown in c and d in each case. Figure 8.14 shows the SPL response in the yz -plane,
Figure 8.15 the xz -plane, and Figure 8.16 the yz -plane.
The SPL varies significantly (by 15dB) over length scales that are comparable to the span
(b 6c) in the {y, z } plane normal to the wing and across the free stream (Figure 8.14).
The acoustic source is at the tunnel wall in z + and direct reflections will come from the
opposite wall in z . The corresponding distribution in {x, z } (Figure 8.15) is more uniform,
with only minor variation in x, where there are no direct reflectors. There are also smaller
variations in z, which suggests that the large variations in {y, z } of Figure 8.14 come also

96

Figure 8.15: Wind tunnel resonance in the xz -plane (parallel with the chord and the free
stream).
from reflections in y. The wind tunnel test section is octagonal and so this is expected. In
Figure 8.16 the {x, y} plane lying coplanar with the wing chord at = 0 has amplitude
variations in y that are similar to those of Figure 8.14 and rather small variations in x.
In reverse order, a region of SPLmin occurs at y = 0 over all x in Figure 8.16 for fe *.
In Figure 8.15 this trough is at z = 0, uniform in x. In Figure 8.14, the minimum is sharp
at z = 0, y = 0. In this particular wing/facility geometry, spatial minima in SPL occur
on the wing at mid span at this particular frequency. This SPLmin is associated with a
maximum efficiency of flow modification. The obverse is also true: spatial maxima occur at

97

Figure 8.16: Wind tunnel resonance in the xy-plane (parallel with the chord and with the
span).
the wing center (and flow measurement point) for the frequencies feo that are least effective
in disturbing the flow.

IV.

Discussion

Previous literature results suggest that the values of fe * correspond to the most amplified
instabilities in the separated shear layer (K-H instabilities) for pre- and immediately poststall . If the values of fe * are used in the calculation of St in Eq. (8.1) and then normalized
by Re1/2 , the optimum range of St/Re1/2 for Re = 60k is approximately 0.015 St/Re1/2

98

0.035, and for Re = 40k the optimum range is 0.025 St/Re1/2 0.045, as shown in Figure
8.17. The reported optimum range of St/Re1/2 between 0.02 and 0.03 [11, 12] coincides more
with the higher Re results here. The fact that results for both Re do not overlap in St/Re1/2
suggests that the correct scaling has not been identified.

Figure 8.17: (L/D) as a function of St and St/Re1/2 .

A shear layer frequency, fs , can be obtained given a mean advection speed, Ua , and
the spatial separation of the vortical structures in the free shear layer, xs (observable from
instantaneous spanwise vorticity fields):

fs =

Ua
xs

(8.6)

99

where xs is the average separation between two adjacent vortical structures in the x -direction,
and Ua , is the time-averaged streamwise velocity at the location of the vortical structures.
For the case of Re = 40,000, using the average distance between the centers of the distinct
vortices for xs yields fs = 445 125Hz, where the uncertainty comes from using different
adjacent vortices and the uncertainty in location of the vortex centers. While this range of
fs encompasses the observed fe * = 520Hz, the large uncertainty in fs suggests that vortical
structures in the shear layer are not shed regularly when the flow is separated. Although
the vortical structures can be detected from vorticity fields, none can be clearly seen in the
raw PIV images.
In contrast, when the flow is forced at fe *, distinct structures are evident in the raw PIV
images, like Figure 8.10c. If xs is the spatial separation between the dark patches, and Ua is
calculated from the time-averaged velocity field at the {x, z } location of the corresponding
structures, then another shedding frequency can be calculated from Eq. (8.6). For the case
of forcing at fe * = 520Hz, the average fs is equal to 1110 30Hz. This value of fs is a
second harmonic of 550Hz 30Hz, which equals the observed fe * = 520Hz. The uncertainty
in this shedding frequency also comes only from using different adjacent vortices and the
uncertainty in location of the vortex centers. The noticeably smaller uncertainty for fs for
reattached flow implies that the shedding is much steadier than for the separated case.
The agreement of estimated fs with the observed fe * suggests that forcing at intrinsic
most-amplified frequencies of the free shear layer could be the most effective way to control
the flow. However, if this were the case, the preferred St, or even range of St/Re1/2 , would
not vary with Re, but they do. Moreover, the proposed physical mechanism based on a
resonance with fs entirely ignores the tunnel resonance dependence.
It is most likely that the variations in effective acoustic forcing, with spatial location
and with frequency, are coexisting with preferred modes in the natural (unenclosed) system.
Since the full wind tunnel/wing system is neither general nor simple, there may be limited
benefit in disentangling the various contributors whose relative influence is likely measured
by continuous amplitude variation, rather than having either one be completely responsible.

100

The quite subtle amplitude and frequency sensitivities and their dependence on the facility could explain much of the well known variation between facilities in aerodynamic
performance of smooth airfoils. The test section size and shape will determine a response
map for a range of frequencies for some given acoustic source. The geometry of that response
map relative to the physical wing in the tunnel will strongly affect the frequency response
and sensitivity of the system. When acoustic sources include not only external noise but
also the wind tunnel fan and motor assembly, it is small wonder that observations vary.
Of more practical interest will be responses that are not strong functions of reflected
acoustic waves, and this could be arranged outside of a tunnel in free flight or in a specialized
open section, anechoic tunnel. Since we would like to pursue the possibility of localized
forcing from sources inside the wing, it is possible that alternative experiments could succeed
where reflections from low amplitude, local forcing are not strongly influenced by reflection.

V.

Conclusion

The distinct jumps between bi-stable states and pre-stall hysteresis of the E387 wing,
particularly in the Re regime 40,000 Re 60,000, can be either provoked or eliminated by
acoustic excitation at optimum excitation frequencies, yielding more than a 70% increase in
L/D. Forcing at these optimum frequencies also completely changes the global flow over the
wing by reattaching the formerly separated flow and forming a laminar separation bubble.
Improvement by acoustic excitation is a function of fe and SPL, and in this experiment,
optimum excitation values fe * correlate with wind tunnel anti-resonances. While fe * and
associated St* are not inconsistent with previous literature results, the correct Re scaling is
not apparent. The documented dependence on test section geometry and acoustic resonance
could explain many of the previous discrepancies in the literature at similar Re, corroborating
and extending the original observations also found in the literature. Further experiments
using local on-wing forcing may help to distinguish the different effects in an open flow.

101

Paper II References

[1] McGhee, R. J., Walker, B. S., and Millard, B. F., Experimental Results for the Eppler
387 Airfoil at Low Reynolds Numbers in the Langley Low-Turbulence Pressure Tunnel,
NASA TM-4062, 1988, pp. 25-26.
[2] Grundy T. M., Keefe G.P. and Lowson M.V., Effects of Acoustic Disturbances on Low
Re Aerofoil Flows. In Fixed and Flapping Wing Aerodynamics for Micro Air Vehicle
Applications, Vol. 195, pp. 91112. Reston, Virginia: American Institute of Aeronautics &
Astronautics, 2001.
[3] Simons, M., Model Aircraft Aerodynamics, 4th Ed., Special Interest Model Books, Poole,
1999.
[4] Spedding, G. R. and McArthur, J., Span Efficiencies of Wings at Low Reynolds Numbers, Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 47, No. 1, 2010, pp. 120-128.
[5] Yang, S. L. and Spedding, G. R., Spanwise Variation in Wing Circulation and Drag
Measurement of Wings at Moderate Reynolds Number, Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 50, No.
3, 2013, pp. 791-797.
[6] Reshotko, E. Boundary-Layer Stability and Transition. Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 8, 1976,
pp. 311-349.
[7] Lin, J. C. M., Pauley, L. L., Low-Reynolds Number Separation on an Airfoil, American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Vol. 34, No. 8, 1996.
[8] Zaman, K. B. M. Q., Bar-Sever, A., Effect of Acoustic Excitation on the Flow Over a
Low-Re Airfoil, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 182, 1987, pp. 127148.
[9] Ahuja, K.K., Whipkey, R.R., and Jones, G.S., Control of Turbulent Boundary Layer
Flows by Sound, AIAA Paper No.1983-0726, 1983.
[10] Ahuja, K. K., Burrin, R. H., 1984, Control of Flow Separation by Sound, AIAA Paper
84-2298, Oct. 1984.

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[11] Zaman, K.B.M.Q., McKinzie, D.J., Control of Laminar Separation Over Airfoils by
Acoustic Excitation, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Vol. 29, No.
29, 1991.
[12] Yarusevych, S., Kawall, J. G., Sullivan, P. E., 2002, Influence of Acoustic Excitation
on Airfoil Performance at Low Reynolds Numbers, 23rd International Council of the
Aeronautical Sciences Congress, 813 September, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
[13] Hsiao, F. B., Jih, J. J., and Shyu, R. N., The Effect of Acoustics on Flow Passing a
High-AOA Airfoil, Journal of Sound and Vibration, Vol. 199, No. 2, 1997, pp. 177-188.
[14] Zaman, K.B.M.Q., Effect of Acoustic Excitation on Stalled Flows Over an Airfoil,
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Vol. 30, No. 6, 1992, pp. 1492-1499.
[15] Nishioka, M., Asai, M., Yoshida, S., Control of Flow Separation by Acoustic Excitation, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Vol. 28, No. 11, 1990, pp.
1909-1915.
[16] McArthur, John. Aerodynamics of Wings at Low Reynolds Numbers, Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, CA, 2007.
[17] Huang, L.S., Maestrello, L., Bryant, T. D., Separation Control Over an Airfoil at High
Angles of Attack by Sound Emanating From the Surface, AIAA Paper No. 87-1261, 1987.
[18] McAuliffe, B. R., Yaras, M. I., Transition Mechanisms in Separation Bubbles Under
Low- and Elevated-Freestream Turbulence, Journal of Turbomachinery, Vol. 132, No. 1,
2010.
[19] Zabat, M., Farascaroli, S., Browand, F., Nestlerode, M., Baez, J., Drag Measurements
on a Platoon of Vehicles, Research Reports, California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH), Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley, 1994. (doi:
10.1146/annurev.fl.15.010183.001255)
[20] Roshko, A., On the Drag and Shedding Frequency of Two-Dimensional Bluff Bodies,
NACA Report TN 3169, 1954, pp.1-29.
[21] Radespiel, R., Windte, J., and Scholz, U. Numerical and Experimental Flow Analysis
of Moving Airfoils with Laminar Separation Bubbles, American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics, Vol. 45, No. 6, 2007, pp. 13461356.
[22] Fincham, A. M. and Spedding, G. R., Low cost, high resolution DPIV for measurement
of turbulent fluid flow, Experiments in Fluids, Vol. 23, 1997, pp. 449-462.
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[24] Spedding, G.R. and Rignot, E.J.M., Performance Analysis and Application of Grid
Interpolation Techniques for Fluid Flows, Experiments in Fluids, 15 (1993), 417-430.

104

Paper III

105

Chapter 9

Passive Separation Control by Acoustic

Resonance

Yang, S. L. and Spedding, G. R.

Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California 90089-1191
Experiments in Fluids, Vol. 10, No. 54, pp. 1-16, 2013.

At transitional Reynolds numbers, the laminar boundary layer separation and possible
reattachment on a smooth airfoil, or wing section, is extremely sensitive to small variations
in geometry or in the fluid environment. We report here on the results of a pilot study that
unexpectedly adds to this list of sensitivities. The presence of small holes in the suction surface of an Eppler 387 wing has a transformative effect upon the aerodynamics, by changing
the mean chordwise separation line location. These changes are not simply a consequence of
the presence of the small cavities, which by themselves have no effect. Acoustic resonance
in the backing cavities generates tones that interact with intrinsic flow instabilities. Practical consequences for passive flow control strategies are discussed together with potential
problems in measurements through pressure taps in such flow regimes.

106

I.

Introduction
An emerging generation of practical Micro-Air Vehicles (MAVs) operates at flight speeds

and characteristic length scales that brings them into an especially challenging flight regime,
where abrupt changes in flight performance can result from very small, and often uncontrolled, changes in the geometry and/or environmental conditions. For example [1], [2], and
[3] show data from a number of facilities with factors of two variation in sectional drag coefficient (cd , with cl the corresponding sectional lift coefficient) at moderate, pre-stall, geometric
angles of attack, .
Experimental difficulties are exacerbated because the relatively small forces (of mN or
less) are difficult to measure directly on standard force balance equipment, so scanning arrays
of pitot tubes are used to measure the streamwise momentum defect to estimate the profile
drag, and it is possible that variations in local sectional properties across the span could
increase the measurement uncertainty greatly. [4] showed that at a chord-based Reynolds
number, Re 8 104 (Re = U c/, where U is the flight speed, c is the wing chord, and
is the kinematic viscosity), there were measurable variations in cd across the span of an
E387 wing, but that they were not of sufficient magnitude to account for disparities in the
literature.
The E387 airfoil is a well-studied airfoil, originally designed for sailplanes at moderate
Re ( 2 105 ). The E387 has been referred to as the low Re calibration standard [5], since
at low Re (< 1 105 ), it experiences laminar separation without reattachment, laminar
separation with turbulent reattachment, and turbulent trailing edge separation. Although
these phenomena that occur at low Re do not make the E387 a strong candidate for practical
MAV design, it can be used as a testbed for the study of transitional phenomena where small
variations can have a large dynamical effect.
Performance data for the same E387 wing used in [4] that included a lower range of Re
values than customary in typical wind tunnel studies (Re ranged from 1 8 104 ) [6], [7]
showed that at moderate = 4 8 the flow can be in either one of two states. In one state,
a lower envelope of cl (cd ) curves marks the performance characteristics where trailing edge
107

separation gradually moves forward on the wing, and cd increases rapidly for > 4 , while
cl rises rather slowly to maximum values of about 0.8. This low-lift state will be referred to
as SI. In a second state, the initial separation point has moved close to the leading edge, but
the flow reattaches before the trailing edge. This high-lift state will be referred to as SII.
Consequently, at any given cd , cl has a value about 40% higher than in SI. The lower-lift
envelope of SI is occupied by all points at Re 2 104 , and the upper envelope of SII is
characteristic of polars for Re 8 104 . In between, and at interim 4 10 , the flow
can separate either close to the leading edge, or further aft, and the global aerodynamic force
coefficients can match with either state SI or SII. The state switch SISII has hysteresis so
the flow at any depends on the time history, or previous state.
The peculiar (when contrasted with the usual, simple C-shape curves at higher Re) shape
of the lift-drag polar of the E387 at intermediate Re is not actually restricted to this single
profile shape, but is quite characteristic of a class of airfoils that have smooth rounded leading
edges with some minimum profile thickness. 74 of 94 airfoils in [1], [2] and [3] at Re < 105
have this polar shape, with non-unique values of cl over some range of cd , and 18 of 31
profiles compiled by [8] have it too. The polar shape is due to the abrupt forward movement
of the separation line, with an accompanying reduction in cd and increase in cl [11]. Absent
any other evidence at these Re, it is reasonable to assume that the same dynamics occur in
all these airfoil/wing systems.
The acute sensitivity of an airfoil configuration at intermediate Re (E61 at Re = [25,
35, 50, 60] 103 ) was noted by [9], who also showed a dependence on the background
acoustic environment. It was further demonstrated that the most effective forcing frequencies
coincided with resonant modes in the tunnel test section, and therefore that sensitivity to
ambient acoustic noise will be facility-dependent. The same result was shown in [7], where
control of the SISII transition and its hysteresis loop around transitional could be achieved
at resonant modes in the tunnel. The spatial distribution of the sound pressure levels was
not uniform but local minima in SPL at the wing location were associated with the most
effective forcing frequencies.

108

In continuation of the acoustic forcing tests reported in [7], the next step in testing the
response to acoustic forcing was to embed arrays of small speakers inside the wing profile,
and to do that, arrays of small holes were drilled in a wing lid that enclosed cavities to house
the speakers. In this short note, we report on how the presence of the holes themselves
profoundly changes the properties of the wing, locking the flow onto the high lift state SII.

II.
A.

Materials and Methods

Wing Model

The aluminum wing had an Eppler 387 profile section (Fig. 9.1) with aspect ratio of 6
(span of 54 cm and chord of 9 cm). The wing was custom designed to consist of a base and
a lid, which fit together with a tongue-and-groove connection. The wing, which originally
started as a solid piece of aluminum, was manufactured by electrical discharge machining
wire cutting (wire EDM), which is a thermal mass-reducing process that uses a constantly
moving wire to remove material by rapid, controlled, and repetitive spark discharges. The
removed particles are flushed with a dielectric fluid, which also regulates the discharge and
keeps the wire and metal cool. The tolerance on the wire EDM is 0.05 mm. The lid of the
wing was 1 mm thick and contained 180 0.5 mm diameter holes arranged in six spanwise
arrays with 30 holes each. The six spanwise arrays were located at streamwise locations
x/c = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6. The base of the wing contained 180 cavities that were aligned
with the holes in the lid; these cavities were connected to each other through spanwise
channels for wiring, and ultimately to an exit port aft of the quarter chord mount point.

B.

Experimental Setup
Experiments were performed in the low turbulence Dryden wind tunnel at USC, where the

empty test-section turbulence level is 0.025% for spectral frequencies between 2 f 200
Hz in the velocity range 5 U 26 m/s. Measurements on flow uniformity yielded no more
than 0.5% velocity deviation from the mean for a given cross section [10]. The wing assembly
was mounted vertically to a sting at one wingtip, at the quarter-chord point (Fig. 9.2). The

109

(a)

(b)
Figure 9.1: (a) E387 wing with 180 0.5-mm diameter holes in the 1-mm thick lid, and (b)
profile view of the lid of the wing.
flow is known to be sensitive to small disturbances (e.g., [3, 30]) and placing the mount point
at one tip confines this particular disturbance to a region that at moderate is dominated by
the induced flow of the tip vortex [4], and is therefore not closely associated with determining
separation points on the central part of the wing, where most measurements are focused.
As noted in the figure, coordinate axes {x, y, z} run streamwise, spanwise and vertically,
respectively, with origin at the midspan leading edge at = 0 . Time-averaged lift and drag
forces were measured with a custom force balance with measurement uncertainty of 0.1 mN,
described in [10], [11], [6].

C.

Particle Imaging Velocimetry

Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was used for flow visualization and estimation of veloc-

ity components {u, w} in {x, z}. A Continuum Surelite II dual-head Nd:YAG laser generated

110

Figure 9.2: Wind tunnel setup. (x, y, z) are streamwise, spanwise, and normal directions.
Origin is at leading edge and midspan.
pulse laser pairs separated by exposure times, t = 100 300s. A series of convergentcylindrical-cylindrical lenses converted the two laser beams into slowly-varying thickness
laser sheets. The flow was seeded with 1m smoke particles from a Colt 4 smoke generator
and captured by an Imager Pro X 2M (1648 x 1214 x 14-bit) camera.
PIV processing was based off of the customized CIV algorithms described in [12] and
[13] in which a smoothed spline interpolated cross-correlation function was directly fit with
the equivalent splined auto-correlation functions from the same data. Obviously wrong
vectors that passed by an automated rejection criterion were manually removed and the raw
displacement vector field was reinterpolated back onto a complete rectangular grid with the
same smoothing spline function [14]. The spline coefficients are differentiated analytically to
generate velocity gradient data. The uncertainty is in fractions of a pixel, and when re-scaled

111

to the test conditions reported here, expected uncertainties are 0.55% in {u, w} and 10%
in gradient-based quantities, such as the spanwise vorticity:
y =

D.

w u

.
x
z

The Imperfect Test Environment

No physical experiment conforms perfectly to its nominal configuration. Here we docu-

ment some of the departures from ideal test conditions. Comparative tests indicate that none
of these are critical in influencing the basic phenomena described here, but flows at transitional Re are known to be sensitive to a number of sometimes poorly- or partially-controlled
environmental variables, and it is useful to at least know what some are.
Background Acoustic Environment
This paper concerns the sensitivity of wing aerodynamics to acoustic perturbations that
occur in a background non-zero acoustic ambient. No special attempts were made to modify
the tunnel geometry to tailor the background acoustics, either from obvious sources (such as
the downstream fan) or from reflections at test section walls. The tunnel is not an anechoic
chamber. Acoustic power spectra were measured with a shielded 1/4 B&K microphone
oriented normal to the mean flow direction. Each power spectrum is an average of at least
10 individual spectra, each taken from 10,000 samples and sampled at 10,000 Hz. The
acoustic power spectra with and without flow in the empty test section were measured at
the equivalent midspan, quarter chord, and top surface of the wing (with no wing present),
and are shown in Fig. 9.3.
A constant peak at 300 Hz, with no wind on, measures the background environmental
noise. Though striking by itself, its amplitude is small when compared with peaks that
appear when the wind is on. These include an increase in the 300 Hz component and
another at about 360 Hz. These will come from the fan noise combined with self-noise of
the microphone head. Though shielded, zero self-noise cannot be obtained. The background
acoustic spectrum is subtracted from all subsequent spectra.
112

Figure 9.3: Acoustic power spectra in an empty wind tunnel with flow at U = 6.7m/s (Re
= 40k), and without flow. Note the change in axis scales.
Wing Tip Deflections
The maximum absolute deflection amplitude, z 0 , was measured at the free wing tip (y/b =
1.0) from image sequences taken from the camera mounted on top of the wind tunnel.
z 0 () was measured for Re = 40k and 60k for the wing with all holes covered (the solid
wing), and results are shown in Fig. 9.4. At Re = 40k before and after the low- to high-lift
transition, the wing tip deflection z 0 /c 0.11%. At Re = 60k, a difference in wing tip
deflection is observed when SI-SII transition occurs. In the low-lift (SI) state, z 0 /c 0.2%,
and after transition to the high-lift (SII) state, z 0 /c 0.07%. The difference is likely due

113

to the increased influence of unsteady aerodynamic forces, which are not resolved in this
experiment, but are implied by the variations in spanwise vorticity, to be shown later.

Figure 9.4: Wing tip deflections normalized by the chord (z 0 /c) at Re = 40k and 60k for the
wing with all holes closed (ie, solid wing).

Surface Roughness
Surface roughness of sufficient height can act as a boundary layer trip, and wings with
different roughness can act as though they operate at different Re. The nontrivial effect
in flow separation and transition at these Re has been well documented [15]. The surface
roughness near the wing tip (y/b 0.99) was measured at different points along the chord
by a Ambios Technology XP Stylus Profiler with a vertical resolution of 1.5 109 m. For
a given chordwise 5-mm segment, multiple scans were made where each data set consisted
of 37,300 points. A 5th-order polynomial curve was fit to each data set and removed to
obtain the relative, small-scale surface roughness. At x/c 0.3, where the wing is visibly
and tangibly the smoothest, the maximum measured roughness height, hr was 6.3 microns,
At x/c 0.9, where the wing is the roughest, the maximum measured hr 15 microns.

114

The roughness may be compared with the likely boundary layer thickness, , which for a flat
plate at zero incidence is,
r
x
=5
,
U

(9.1)

where x is the distance from the leading edge. At x/c = 0.3, = 1.3 mm, and hr / = 5103 .
At x/c = 0.9, = 2.1 mm, and hr / = 0.01. Thus, the surface roughness is small compared
with a boundary layer thickness.
We will be considering the effect of small cavities of 0.5 mm diameter, which could also
be argued to be acting as roughness elements. However the roughness is also a small fraction
of the cavity diameter, 1.3% and 3% at the smoothest and roughest points on the wing,
respectively. Since the hole geometry is at least two orders of magnitude larger than the
surface roughness, its effect can be clearly distinguished from the small-scale distributed
manufacturing roughness. Subsequent tests described later will isolate the geometric surface
and volumetric effects.

III.
A.

Results
Open Holes on the Suction Surface

Figure 9.5 compares the aerodynamic performance at Re = 40k and 60k of the baseline
solid wing and a second wing with the same geometry except for the presence of the arrays
of 0.5 mm diameter holes. At Re = 40k, the baseline wing has the characteristic jump from
SI to SII at = 12 (Fig. 9.5a, b). This transition is marked by an increase in CL from 0.7
to values above 1, and a reduction in drag coefficient by about 10%. At Re = 60k, the jump
from SI to SII occurs at = 9 (Fig. 9.5c, d), with similar CL increase and drag reduction.
The wing with holes (also referred to as the perforated wing) has no such transition and
is in the upper lift state, SII, at all . Consequently, before the SI-SII transition for the
baseline wing (0 12 at Re = 40k and 0 9 at Re = 60k), the perforated

115

wing has a higher efficiency, as measured by L/D, than the baseline case. The performance
improvement is entirely passive, with no active energy input.

Figure 9.5: The effect of open holes on the aerodynamic performance of an E387 wing at
Re = 40k (a, b) and 60k (c, d).

B.

Surface Geometry and Cavity Flows

A comparison was made between two cases where the holes were covered differently. In

one case, the holes were filled and sealed with modeling clay, and in the other case, the holes
were covered and sealed at the underside of the lid so that each hole became a cavity with
aspect ratio w/h = 1/2. The resulting forces on the wing for the two cases show that a wing
116

Figure 9.6: Small surface cavities have no effect on wing performance (Re = 40k).
populated with small, sealed cavities performs just as though the cavities were absent, which
is the same as the baseline wing (Fig. 9.6). Any effect of the unsealed cavities on the flow
depends upon the presence of the backing cavities, and the holes in the surface themselves
do not act like roughness elements (unsurprising given their size, as previously noted), and
their geometry alone does not appear to generate secondary fluid flows that then affect the
boundary layer separation and/or reattachment.

C.

Chord Location
The SISII transition is triggered by a forward chordwise movement of the mean sepa-

ration line. The early separation leaves sufficient time, in fractions of (c/U ), so that transition to turbulence and reattachment can occur. Chordwise local disturbances could effectively promote this transition, and this concept was tested by leaving open individual
spanwise rows of holes at a given x/c location, while closing all others. For a row with open
holes, 15 holes spaced 3.2 cm apart (y/b = 0.12) were left open across most of the span
117

(0.83 y/b 0.83). The CL (CD ) and L/D curves for the wing with selected rows of open
holes located at xo = x/c = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 are shown in Fig. 9.7 (Re = 40k) and Fig. 9.8
(Re = 60k).
For both Re cases, single rows of open holes at specific chord locations allow the envelope
of CL (CD ) and (L/D)() to be populated with results that are intermediate between the
extremes where all holes are open or all closed. As the row location moves closer to the
leading edge, the performance curves are pulled toward the SII state, as generated with all
holes open. When xo = 0.1, there is no abrupt jump in either L or D and the curves lie
close to SII over all . At Re = 40k, the curves once again show sharp jumps between states
when xo 0.2, and for xo 0.3, the performance curves are much closer to, though still
measurably improved upon, the original solid baseline wing. At Re = 60k, the curves show
the sharp jumps when xo 0.3.

D.

Open and Closed Exit Port

The original design of the wing included two exit ports at the right wing tip which were

meant to be used for electrical connections. The results shown in Figs. 9.59.8 were for the
wing with open exit ports. Figure 9.9 shows the L/D curves for the wing with different rows
of open holes with closed exit ports at Re = 40k and 60k. At the lower Re (Fig. 9.9a, b),
the family of curves crossing from SI to SII is restricted to 7 in the pre-stall regime. If
the effect of the holes is to trigger separation (and then re-attachment) towards the leading
edge, then they are less effective when the large cavity volume is closed off. This phenomenon
does not occur, however, at the higher Re, where the curves are nearly the same for both
open and closed exit ports (9.9c, d). While the effect of opening and closing the exit port
affects the performance at the lower Re, this variation was not pursued in further detail.
The remaining results were obtained with open exit ports.
A possible reason for the performance improvements from the open holes is acoustic
resonance in the chambers that back them. If the resonant acoustic modes are in the appropriate frequency range, then intrinsic flow instabilities could be amplified as the acoustic
waves impinge upon the boundary layer or separated shear layer.
118

Figure 9.7: Single rows of holes at varying x/c allow the envelope of performance curves to
be populated between SI and SII at Re = 40k.

119

Figure 9.8: Similar variation in performance curves between SI and SII occur for different
rows of open holes at Re = 60k.

120

Figure 9.9: L/D for different spanwise rows of open holes with open and closed exit ports
at Re = 40k (a, b) and Re = 60k (c, d).

E.

Acoustic Measurements
In this experimental setup, it is not straightforward to insert a measurement probe into

the flow while leaving the sensitive SISII transition unchanged. In tests on a same-sized

121

E387 wing under acoustic excitation at similar Re and pre-SI-SII transition [7], the placement of a microphone near the top surface of the wing prevented the flow from reattaching
when it otherwise normally would, thus keeping the flow in SI.
Since the characteristics of SI-SII transition can be monitored here, one can search for
arrangements where it is not affected by the microphone presence. As an example check on
possible feedback from the presence of the microphone to the wing, power spectra were taken
with the microphone placed at different distances from the wing surface (in the z-direction)
at y/b = 0 and x/c = 0.1. Examples measured above the wing with open holes at x/c = 0.1
and closed exit port are shown in Fig. 9.10. By monitoring the SI-SII state through jumps
in the overall lift force, an adequate distance between the tip of the microphone nose cone
and the wing surface was determined to be z/c = 0.15, and all subsequent power spectra
were obtained with the microphone placed at that location.

Figure 9.10: Power spectra at Re = 40k and = 10 for the wing with open holes at
x/c = 0.1 and open exit port measured at various distances, z/c, from the top surface.

122

The power spectra at Re = 40k are shown in Fig. 9.11 for no wing (a), wing with open
holes at x/c = 0.1 and closed exit port (b), wing with open holes and open exit port (c),
and holes covered (d). For cases (b)(d), = 10 . When the holes are closed (Fig. 9.11d)
and when holes are open at x/c = 0.1 with closed exit ports (Fig. 9.11b), the wing is in SI
(corresponding to Fig. 9.9b), and the power spectra have a peak at f = 600 Hz for these
two cases. This value of 600 Hz is later shown to match an experimentally measured vortex
passage frequency above the wing surface. When holes are open at x/c = 0.1 with open exit
ports (Fig. 9.11c), the wing is in SII (corresponding to Fig. 9.9a), and the power spectrum
has no peak at f = 600 Hz. A natural frequency of 600 Hz occurs over the wing in SI,
but once the wing is in SII, it is no longer measurable in the external flow field. Similarly,
the 400 Hz peak, which is highest when the wing is in low-lift SI, is reduced in amplitude
when the flow is controlled to state SII, and it could mark a harmonic of a flow instability
frequency that is suppressed in the presence of control.

F.

Cavity Volume
The preceding results suggest that the aerodynamic improvements in Fig. 9.5 could be

caused by pressure fluctuations within the cavities and corresponding velocity fluctuations at
the orifices due to acoustic resonance. If this is so, then varying the cavity volume/geometry
should affect the resonant frequencies in predictable ways. In the original wing design, the
cavities were not fluid-dynamically isolated from each other, as shown by the schematic in
Fig. 9.12, but this base topology could easily be changed.
The performance of the wing at Re = 40k was analyzed when the holes in the lid were
left open but the cavities were isolated from each other so that each hole communicated only
with its own local chamber, or reservoir. Figure 9.13 shows that the isolated cavity model
behaves similarly as the original perforated wing, being in SII at positive . However, in the
range 0 12 , L/D values for the wing with isolated cavities are slightly lower than

123

Figure 9.11: Power spectra at Re = 40k. (a) No wing; (b) wing with closed holes; (c) wing
with open holes (x/c = 0.1) and open exit port; (d) wing with open holes (x/c = 0.1) and
closed exit port. For (b)(d), = 10 .

124

Figure 9.12: Schematic of cavities interconnected by a channel. Each cavity was designed to
house speakers with an adjacent channel for wiring.

Figure 9.13: CL (CD ) (left) and L/D (right) for a E387 wing at Re = 40k with closed holes,
open holes, and open holes with isolated cavities.
for the wing with connected cavities. Topologically, the isolated cavity model is the same as
the AR = 1/2 sealed holes. The difference lies only in the volume of the cavity.
For a single row of open holes located at x/c = 0.1, lift and drag forces were compared
for two different internal cavity volumes. Part of the volume directly below the holes was
125

reduced by approximately 24%. The resulting CL (CD ) and L/D curves at Re = 40k are
shown in Fig. 9.14. The reduced cavity volume case yields a slightly lower L/D curve
between 4 12 . A decrease in performance in the same range was also observed
at Re = 60k.

Figure 9.14: CL (CD ) (left) and L/D (right) for a E387 wing with 15 open holes at x/c = 0.1
and two different internal cavity volumes.

G.

Spanwise Variation
The influence of spanwise uniformity of the open holes was examined. In Figs. 9.5 - 9.14,

open holes spanned from 0.83 y/b 0.83. At x/c = 0.1, only nine holes centered at
midspan (0.48 y/b 0.48) were left open while all those closer to the wing tips were
closed. Partial coverage with open holes at midspan (Fig. 9.15) generates lift-drag polars
and (L/D)() curves that are intermediate between those of fully closed and fully open
holes. The intermediate curves still show sharp SISII transitions.
The intermediate result suggests that the integrated force on the whole wing can be
controlled by spanwise variation of local conditions. Figure 9.16 demonstrates that this
concept is true. The figure shows example time-averaged spanwise vorticity fields from five
spanwise planes under the same conditions. The span sections are at y/b = {0.0, -0.15, -0.30,

126

-0.44, -0.59}. The first location (station #1) is at midspan, directly at an open hole location.
Here, and in the next two neighboring locations, a large leading edge separation bubble is
followed by reattachment shortly after mid-chord. The reattached flow corresponds locally
to state SII. The last two stations at y/b = {0.44, 0.59} lie either side of an open hole, but
both show a short separation bubble that does not reattach. The effective separation point is
much closer to the leading edge and the wake is much wider. This flow state corresponds to
SI. The flow at station #4 is controlled not only by the most proximate hole state, but also
by the flow in adjoining station #5. Raw PIV images also provide qualitative information
about the flow behavior by the presence of a dark separation line, caused by the presence of
a shear layer where the fluid particle velocity is zero. In Fig. 9.16, raw images are shown at
y/b = 0.15 (station #2), where the dark separation line lies close to the suction surface,
corresponding to a locally attached (SII) flow, as well as at y/b = 0.59 (station #5), where
the separation line is farther from the surface, corresponding to a locally separated (SI) flow.

Figure 9.15: CL (CD ) (left) and L/D (right) for a E387 wing at Re = 40k with mid portion
holes open (0.48 y/b 0.48) at x/c = 0.1.

127

Figure 9.16: Spanwise vorticity fields, z (x, z) are averaged over 20 independent samples to
give a map whose strongest features are steady, but an indication of the unsteady structure
remains. This is superimposed on similarly time-averaged fluctuating velocity vector fields
at spanwise sections y/b = 0.0, 0.15, 0.30, 0.44, 0.59 for the E387 at Re = 40k and
= 11 with open holes at x/c = 0.1 and 0.48 y/b 0.48. Every third vector is plotted.
Raw PIV images at y/b = 0.0, 0.15 show dark separation lines that distinguish between
locally attached and locally separated flow.

128

IV.

Discussion

On a wing that is characterized by abrupt jumps in lift and drag coefficient between
what we have termed SI, where the flow separates at some point between mid-chord and the
trailing edge, and SII, where separation close to the leading edge is followed by reattachment,
the dynamics are very sensitive to a number of different perturbations. In a study originally
aimed at acoustic forcing of the flow, it was found, quite by accident, that the presence of the
holes themselves in the wing suction surface was sufficient to affect the global behavior. When
holes are present, the flow state switches from SI to high-lift SII, with no other control input
necessary. The mechanism is entirely passive, and a control strategy might simply involve
sliding lids open and shut to modify local flow characteristics.
The effect on the wing is approximately local, so that chordwise strips can affect local
sectional cl and cd . Since each local flow state is either in SI or SII, one may think of the
wing as a device whose lift and drag coefficients can be manipulated under digital control.
Local states can be on or off, and asymmetries across the span will lead to rolling moments,
while symmetrically (about midspan) actuated hole opening can yield pre-determined total
lift and drag from the envelope of possibilities.

A.

Cavity Flows
The performance characteristics of the perforated wing could be due to some form of

cavity flow. In general, cavity flow can be categorized into three main types, as detailed
in [16]: (a) fluid-dynamic, where oscillations come from the instability of the cavity shear
layer and are enhanced through a feedback mechanism, (b) fluid-resonant, where oscillations
are strongly coupled with resonant (standing) wave effects, and (c) fluid-elastic, where oscillations are linked to solid boundary motion. It is also possible to have combinations of
different types of cavity flow.
In purely fluid-dynamic cavity flow, the feedback mechanisms that enhance the oscillations are driven by the presence of the cavity downstream edge [16]. This type of cavity flow
includes the flow over a cavity covered by a perforated plate, whose uses include acoustic

129

lining for sound attenuation [17]. In studies on the shear layer oscillations along a perforated
plate backed by a cavity [18], the predominant frequency varied with impingement length
and inflow velocity. Without the perforated plate, the shear layer was separated with an
inflection point, while with a perforated plate, the shear layer was bounded with no inflection
point. It was also suggested in [19] that unified, large-scale motion occurs through the plate
perforations and induces jet flow at the downstream end of the perforated plate. The longwavelength instabilities along a perforated plate of length L can be expressed as a Strouhal
number, f L/U , where f is a shedding or oscillation frequency. The reported values of f L/U
are on the order of 0.5-0.6 [20]. If the chord of the wing is used as an effective plate length,
the calculated f L/U 8 is an order of magnitude larger.
In classical cavity flows, the cavity length must be several times larger than a boundary
layer thickness at the upstream lip in order for amplification to occur of the instabilities in
the cavity shear layer. Estimates of from Eq. (9.1) ranged from about 1-2 mm along the
chord, which are always larger than the streamwise cavity length of 0.5 mm. Moreover, in
the current tests, a cavity of finite depth (equal to twice its diameter), by itself, has no effect
on the performance of the wing. Changes in flow occur only when the holes are connected to
a larger chamber and when the chamber volume is varied, suggesting the presence of acoustic
resonance effects.

B.

Helmholtz Resonance
Fluid-resonant cavities include Helmholtz resonators, which are distinguished by the very

large ratio of cavity volume to cavity orifice area [16]. In general, a Helmholtz resonator is a
device in which a volume of compressible fluid is enclosed by rigid boundaries with a single
small opening and can be modeled by a second-order mass-spring system where the fluid in
the orifice has an effective mass and the compressibility of the fluid in the chamber is the
stiffness [21]. The resonator has a natural frequency, and when the instabilities in the flow
match the natural Helmholtz frequency, flow-excited resonance occurs. In such cases, small
pressure disturbances can produce large velocity fluctuations at the orifice and large pressure
fluctuations inside the resonator [21].
130

The Helmholtz resonant frequency is

a
fH =
2

,
V

(9.2)

where a is the speed of sound, is a quantity that represents the resistance of fluid passage
through the orifice, and V is the cavity volume [22]. For a circular orifice, the resistance is
r2
=
,
h + 1.697r

(9.3)

where r is the orifice radius, and h is the orifice thickness (neck height) [22].
For multiple orifices in a single cavity, the resistance terms can be summed, yielding a
resonant frequency
a
fH =
2

1 + 2 + ...
.
V

(9.4)

Equations 9.3 and 9.4 were used to calculate the Helmholtz resonant frequency for a
single spanwise row of 15 open holes with interconnected cavities (Fig. 9.14). The combined
cavity and channel volume is approximately 14200 mm3 . Solving for fH yields fH = 650 3
Hz, where the uncertainty comes from the uncertainty in cavity and channel volume measurements. An instability frequency can be estimated from the properties of the vortical
structures above the wing,
fi =

Ua
,
xs

(9.5)

where Ua is the streamwise advection speed, and xs is the average separation between vortices, as observed in PIV data (e.g. Fig 9.17). At Re = 40k and = 10 for the case of
15 open holes at x/c = 0.1, the calculated instability frequency is fi = 630 90 Hz, where
the uncertainty comes from using different pairs of neighboring vortical structures and the
uncertainty in locating the vorticity centers. The calculated fi is equal to the calculated fH .
For the reduced volume case where the volume is approximately 10800 mm3 (Fig. 9.14), the

131

calculated Helmholtz resonance is fH = 750 3 Hz. The calculated instability frequency is

fi = 730 50 Hz, which again equals fH .

Figure 9.17: Instantaneous spanwise vorticity fields over the aft portion of the wing (beginning at x/c = 0.5) at Re = 40k and = 10 with 15 open holes at x/c = 0.1. The time
between successive vorticity fields is 0.1 s.
The calculation of fH in Eq. 9.2 is independent of flow speed. For a given resonator
volume and orifice radius, the same resonant frequencies should be generated for varying
flow speeds. This was confirmed by calculating fi at Re = 60k and = 8 for the case of
15 open holes at x/c = 0.1. For the original volume, fi = 650 90 Hz, and for the reduced
volume, fi = 710 50 Hz, which are equal to the values of fi at Re = 40k for the two
different volumes, respectively.
132

When the number of open holes is doubled from 15 to 30 (while keeping all other parameters the same), the calculated Helmholtz resonance is fH = 925 3 Hz. At Re = 60k and
= 8 , the calculated instability frequency is fi = 830 100 Hz. The large variation could
be due to the fact that the interconnected cavities might not truly act as a single large cavity,
but rather a series of small cavities. In the example given in [22], when two resonators are
connected together in series, one of the resonators can experience a slightly different resonant
frequency depending on the geometry of the connecting channel between the two resonators.
In the same example, if one of the cavities is open to the atmosphere, then the resulting
resonant frequency can be as much as a factor of 2.4 different than a simple resonator [22].
For the current wing, opening and closing the exit ports yielded different results, which were
especially prominent at the lower Re. The ratio of the calculated fi for open and closed exit
ports at Re = 40k is fi,open /fi,closed 2.
Since the power spectra in Fig. 9.11 were measured at x/c = 0.1, and separation occurs
at x/c = 0.2, f = 600 Hz most likely matches a readily amplified frequency that grows
first in the still-attached boundary layer, and then subsequently after separation. The peak
in power spectra at f = 600 Hz disappears when the flow is reattached and the wing is in
SII. 600 Hz is close to the calculated fH and equal to fi , suggesting that a matching of the
Helmholtz resonance with the naturally occurring instability frequency in the boundary layer
promotes flow reattachment and SISII transition. Once this frequency matching occurs, the
reattached SII shear layer contains structures like those in Fig. 9.17 that propagate with
the initial SI separated boundary layer frequency, which is equal to the Helmholtz resonant
frequency.
For airfoil shapes, such as the E387, that exhibit distinct jumps between the SI and SII
states at transitional Re, the same Helmholtz resonant frequencies in perforated wings can be
expected over the entire Re range, and should yield similar results as this study at Re = 40k
and 60k. Key parameters that change the resonant frequency are orifice radius, orifice
neck height, and cavity volume. Additional parameters such as the number of orifices and

133

connecting channel geometry need to be considered when the resonator is more complicated,
as in the case of the current perforated wing.

C.

Similarities to Woodwind Instruments

Helmholtz resonance is the primary means for how many woodwind instruments work,

such as the ocarina or a transverse flute. The distinct frequencies of woodwind instruments
depend on various parameters, including instrument size and geometry, selection of open and
closed finger holes, finger hole size and spacing, type of mouthpiece, and even the angle at
which the air flows over the mouthpiece. There exists an extensive amount of details on the
physics and design of woodwind instruments (ie, [23], [24], [25], [26]), and the main sound
production mechanism that governs woodwind instruments similarly governs the perforated
wing.
The semi-porous wing in the current study contains numerous combinations of open and
closed holes along different spanwise and chordwise arrays, similar to the finger holes on
a woodwind instrument. The wing is much like an ocarina when the exit port is closed,
and a transverse flute when the exit port is open. However, the wing has no single mouthpiece or embouchure, but rather spanwise rows of embouchures that can be blown across
simultaneously.
It should also be noted that fH in Eq. 9.2 is independent of cavity geometry, which
explains why ocarinas can be made into so many different shapes, as long as the internal
volume is controlled. The orifice geometry of Helmholtz resonators was shown in [27] not
to be a significant factor in the resulting resonant frequencies. In the current study, the
intricate interior design of the wing makes the wing a more complicated resonator that may
require different mathematical formulations to obtain the precise resonant frequencies for
various combinations of open and closed holes, angle of attack, etc.
In [7], a solid E387 wing at Re = 40k was acoustically excited by an external sound source.
At excitation frequencies from the sound source that matched tunnel anti-resonances (415,
520, and 660 Hz) the wing experienced an almost 80% increase in L/D. One of the optimum

134

excitation frequency values (660 Hz) matches the calculated fH for the perforated wing.
The calculated values of fi , also obtained from the PIV data, are the second harmonics
of the excitation frequencies, fe . Results from [7] indicate that the flow over the wing is
altered when external acoustic excitation induces maximum fluctuating velocities on the
wing (at tunnel anti-resonances). Minimum pressure and maximum velocity also occur at
the embouchure of a flute, where the air flow occurs [28]. The current study suggests that the
open holes act similarly to embouchures for Helmholtz resonators that amplify the natural
frequency of the fluid instabilities through traveling acoustic waves. That contrasts with
external acoustic excitation, where the most amplified frequency is driven by the matching
of acoustic frequencies with standing waves set up by tunnel resonance. Here, the traveling
acoustic waves from the Helmholtz resonators induce pressure fluctuations at the orifices
that propagate into the separated shear layer immediately above. The perforated wing
shares some characteristics with woodwind instruments and may be thought of as a type
of multi-embouchure woodwind instrument that uses a combination of cavity resonance and
pipe flow to alter the nominal characteristics of the boundary and separated shear layers.

D.

Pressure Tap Measurements

There are certain practical implications of these results. One is that if airfoils and wings

are instrumented with pressure taps in this transitional regime, then their chamber volumes
must be carefully selected to remove resonant frequencies from possible interactions with the
intrinsic flow instabilities, or those induced at the orifice opening. A typical pressure tap
is connected by a tube to a pressure transducer, which contains a cavity, as shown in the
schematic in Fig. 9.18. In a multiple-pressure tap setup, the connecting tubes are typically
connected to a scanning valve which then connects to the transducer. The pressure tubes
can vary in length depending on the placement of the pressure taps in the wing model, but
essentially a pressure tap setup closely resembles a Helmholtz resonator.
Calculations of fH from Eqs. (9.2) and (9.3) can be made for different tube lengths (neck
heights), h, assuming constant orifice/tube radius, or constant cavity volume. Assuming an
orifice radius (equal to tube radius) of 0.5 mm, and setting the cavity volume to those for
135

Figure 9.18: A typical pressure tap geometry (schematic adapted from [31]) has the essential
components of a Helmholtz resonator.
three models of a Validyne pressure transducer (DP15, DP303, and Type 45-14), yields the
curves in Fig. 9.19a. Alternatively, setting the cavity volume to that of the Type 45-14,
while varying the orifice diameter (tube radius) gives the curves in Fig. 9.19b.
fH calculated here gave resonant frequencies between 600 950 Hz. In the acoustic
studies reported in [7], excitable frequencies that cause SI-SII transition at Re = 60k range
between 400 1000 Hz. Figure 9.19 suggests that using pressure transducers with smaller
cavity volumes and/or having smaller orifice/tube radii may be problematic for tube lengths
less than about 14 cm. This could happen when the pressure transducers are located directly
inside the wing, which results in shorter tube lengths. Longer pressure tubes (greater than
20 cm) seem to be safer in order to avoid resonance effects from pressure taps, although
there still must be a balance to avoid attenuation of the pressure response.
Given the similar configuration of a pressure tap system to a Helmholtz resonator, the
presence of pressure taps may modify the flow over a wing, preventing SISII transition. The
flow will also then be non-uniform and forced at spanwise scales dictated by the pressure tap
spacing. For example, data on the E387 airfoil in the same Re regime [30] included sectional
pressure coefficients, obtained by 129 0.5 mm diameter pressure orifices on the wing surface.
The data show significant spanwise variation in cd at Re = 100, 000, and the lowest values of
cd were measured at the location of the pressure taps. These findings parallel those from the

136

Figure 9.19: Relationship between Helmholtz frequency, fH , and tube length (neck height),
h for constant orifice/tube radius and variable cavity volume (a), and for constant cavity
volume and variable orifice/tube radius (b).
current study, which show higher CL and lower CD for configurations with open holes (Figs.
9.5, 9.7, 9.8, 9.9, 9.15). The local sectional flow state (SI or SII), local wing circulation, and
section drag have been shown to be correlated for the E387 wing in this Re regime [4]. Here,
it is clear that the presence of open holes induces spanwise variation in wing circulation and
hence section drag coefficient.
Measured lift and drag coefficients for the E387 vary widely throughout the literature,
especially at lower Re. The relative difference in measured cd for the E387 airfoil at Re = 60k
among different facilities [1] can be expressed as a fraction of the maximum cd ,

Cd,lit =

cd,max cd,min
.
cd,max

(9.6)

137

The result is given in Fig. 9.20. The data include experiments in which some of the
models had pressure orifices and some did not. The variation in CD for the E387 wing from
the current study at Re = 60k with all open holes and all closed holes is shown as

CD,USC =

|CD,open CD,closed |
,
CD,closed

(9.7)

and is also plotted in the same figure. The values of Cd,lit are higher than the values of
CD,USC , but they are not orders of magnitude apart, unlike a similar measure derived from
the natural spanwise variation tests in [4]. The disruptive effect of holes in pressure tap
measurements upon the global flow properties could be a significant factor in the observed
variations in the technical literature. We may note also that the same results here show
that small geometric cavities by themselves do not affect wing performance, so, for example,
surface mounted MEMS probes that have small cavities should not be problematic.
The large changes caused by small geometries promoting resonance at the orifices suggest
that very slightly porous wings may also operate permanently in the high lift SII state. Little
attention has yet been given to the effects of porosity in feathered wings of birds, for example,
which could be important. However, small geometric cavities by themselves will not affect
wing performance, implying that several types of surface mounted MEMS probes should not
be problematic for this particular flow and airfoil.

V.

Conclusion

In the initial stages of testing the response of an E387 wing to acoustic excitation, the
presence of small holes in the suction surface of the wing was found to significantly change the
overall aerodynamic performance. This discovery led to an independent study of the effects
of open holes on the forces and local flow dynamics of the E387 wing at the transitional
Re = 40k where flow separation and reattachment determine whether the wing is in a
low SI or high SII lift state, respectively. Switching from SI to SII can be promoted by
forcing through acoustic resonance of the small chambers when their resonant modes are
close to the most unstable modes in the original (hole-free) flow. The large effect of the
138

Figure 9.20: Cd,lit for the E387 airfoil at Re = 60k among different facilities [1], and
CD,USC between open and closed holes for the E387 wing at Re = 60k.
small holes suggests that some caution is required in interpreting and designing pressure
tap measurements in this transitional Re range. In principle, the passive effects of the
holes+chambers ought to be replaceable through equivalent, local forcing through small,
embedded sources. Either one could be used for local, digital control of forces and moments
on the wing, but with active acoustic forcing through loudspeakers, the frequency is an
independent control parameter, not depending on the cavity geometry, and this possibility
will be investigated in the future.

139

Paper III References

[1] Selig, M. S., Guglielmo, J. J., Proeren, A. P., Giguere, P., Summary of Low-Speed
Airfoil Data Vol. 1, pp. 19-21. SoarTech Publications, Virginia Beach, VA (1995)
[2] Selig, M. S., Lyon C.A., Giguere, P., Ninham, C.P. and Guglielmo, J.J., Summary of
Low-Speed Airfoil Data Vol. 2, SoarTech Publications, Virginia Beach, VA (1996)
[3] Lyon, C. A., Broeren, A. P., Giguere, P., Gopalarathnam, A. and Selig, M. S., Summary
of Low-Speed Airfoil Data Vol. 3, Soartech Publication, Poole (1997)
[4] Yang, S. L., and Spedding, G. R., Spanwise Variation in Wing Circulation and Drag
Measurement of Wings at Moderate Reynolds Number, J. Aircraft, 50, 3, pp. 791-797
(2013)
[5] Somers, D.M. and Maughmer, M.D., Experimental Results for the E 387 Airfoil at
Low Reynolds Numbers in the Penn State Low-Speed, Low-Turbulence Wind Tunnel,
AHS Specialists Conference on Aeromechanics (2008)
[6] Spedding, G. R., McArthur, J., Span Efficiencies of Wings at Low Reynolds Number,
J. Aircraft, 47, pp. 120-128 (2010)
[7] Yang, S. L., and Spedding, G. R., Separation Control by External Acoustic Excitation
on a Finite Wing at Low Reynolds Numbers, American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics, 51, 6, pp. 1506-1515 (2013)
[8] Simons, M., Model Aircraft Aerodynamics, 4th Ed., Special Interest Model Books, Poole,
(1999)
[9] Grundy T. M., Keefe G.P. and Lowson M.V., Effects of Acoustic Disturbances on Low
Re Aerofoil Flows. In Fixed and Flapping Wing Aerodynamics for Micro Air Vehicle
Applications. Vol. 195, pp. 91112. Reston, Virginia: American Institute of Aeronautics
& Astronautics, (2001)
[10] Zabat, M., Farascaroli, S., Browand, F., Nestlerode, M., Baez, J., Drag Measurements
on a Platoon of Vehicles, Research Reports, California Partners for Advanced Transit
and Highways (PATH), Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley (1994)
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[11] McArthur, John. Aerodynamics of Wings at Low Reynolds Numbers, Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, CA (2007)
[12] Fincham, A. M. and Spedding, G. R. Low Cost, High Resolution DPIV for Measurement of Turbulent Fluid Flow, Experiments in Fluids, 23, pp. 449-462 (1997)
[13] Fincham, A. M. and Spedding, G. R. Advanced Optimization of Correlation Imaging
Velocimetry Algorithms, Experiments in Fluids, 29, pp. 13-22 (2000)
[14] Spedding, G.R. and Rignot, E.J.M., Performance analysis and application of grid
interpolation techniques for fluid flows, Experiments in Fluids, 15, pp. 417-430 (1993)
[15] Lissaman, P.B.S., Low-Reynolds-Number Airfoils, Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics,
15, pp. 223-239 (1983)
[16] Rockwell, D. and Naudascher, E., Review - Self-Sustaining Oscillations on Flow Past
Cavities, Journal of Fluids Engineering, 100, pp. 152-165 (1978)
[17] Guess, A.W., Calculation of Perforated Plate Liner Parameters From Specified Acoustic Resistance and Reactance, Journal of Sound and Vibration, 40, pp. 119-137 (1975)
[18] Celik, E. and Sever, A.C. and Rockwell, D., Shear Layer Oscillation Along a Perforated
Surface: a Self-Excited Large-Scale Instability, American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics, 14, 12, pp. 4444-4447 (2002)
[19] Celik, E. and Sever, A.C. and Rockwell, D., Self-Sustained Oscillations Past Perforated
and Slotted Plates: Effect of Plate Thickness, American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics, 43, 8, pp. 1850-1853 (2005)
[20] Ekmekci, A. and Rockwell, D., Self-Sustained Oscillations of Shear Flow Past a Slotted
Plate Coupled with Cavity Resonance, Journal of Fluids and Structures, 17, pp. 12371245 (2002)
[21] Morris, S. C., Shear-Layer Instabilities: Particle Image Velocimetry Measurements and
Implications for Acoustics, Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 43, pp. 529-550 (2011)
[22] Strutt, J. W. S., On the Theory of Resonance, Scientific Papers, 1, pp. 77-118 (1964)
[23] Fletcher, N.H. and Rossing, T.D., The Physics of Musical Instruments, 2nd Ed.,
(1998)
[24] Benade, A.H. and French, J.W., Analysis of the Flute Head Joint, Journal of the
Acoustical Society of America, 37, 4, pp. 679-691 (1965)
[25] Benade, A.H., Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics, (1967)

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[26] Coltman, J.W., Sounding Mechanism of the Flute and Organ Pipe, Journal of the
Acoustical Society of America, 44, 4, pp. 983-992 (1968)
[27] Chanaud, R.C., Effects of Geometry on the Resonance Frequency of Helmholtz Resonators, Journal of Sound and Vibration, 178, 3, pp. 337-348 (1994)
[28] Dickens, P. and France, R. and Smith, J. and Wolfe, J., Clarinet Acoustics Introducing
a Compendium of Impedance and Sound Spectra, Acoustics Australia, 35, 1, pp. 17-24
(2007)
[29] Cohen, K. and Aradag, S. and Siegel, S. and Seidel, J. and McLaughlin, T., A Methodology Based on Experimental Investigation of a DBD-Plasma ActuatedCylinder Wake
for Flow Control, in Low Reynolds Number Aerodynamics and Transition, (2012)
[30] McGhee, R. J., Walker, B. S., Millard, B. F., Experimental Results for the Eppler
387 Airfoil at Low Reynolds Numbers in the Langley Low-Turbulence Pressure Tunnel.
NASA TM-4062, pp. 25-26 (1988)
[31] Freeman, L.A., Carpenter, M.C., Rosenberry, D.O., Rousseau, J.P., Unger, R., McLean,
J.S., Use of submersible pressure transducers in water-resources investigations, in
Techniques of Water Resources investigations, 8-A3, U.S. Geological Survey, (2004)

142

Paper IV

143

Chapter 10

Local Acoustic Forcing on a Finite Wing at

Low Reynolds Numbers

Yang, S. L. and Spedding, G. R.

Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California 90089-1191
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2013. In review.

At transitional Reynolds numbers (104 105 ), many smooth airfoils experience laminar
flow separation and possible turbulent reattachment, where the occurrence of either state is
strongly influenced by small changes in the surrounding environment. The Eppler 387 airfoil
is one of many airfoils that can have multiple lift and drag states at a single wing incidence
angle. Pre-stall hysteresis and abrupt switching between stable states occur due to sudden
flow reattachment and the appearance of a separation bubble close to the leading edge.
Here, we demonstrate control of the flow dynamics by localized acoustic excitation through
small speakers embedded beneath the suction surface. The flow can be controlled not only
through variations in acoustic power and frequency, but also through spatial variations in
forcing location. Implications for control and stabilization of small aircraft are considered.

144

Nomenclature
AR

Aspect ratio

Wing semi-span (m)

Chord (m)

c0

Normalized chordwise coordinate (m)

CD

Total drag coefficient on a finite wing

CL

Total lift coefficient on a finite wing

cs

Separation line location (m)

fe

Excitation frequency (Hz)

fs

Separated shear layer instability shedding frequency (Hz)

L/D Lift-to-drag ratio

SPL Sound pressure level (dB)
St

Strouhal number

Re

Reynolds number

u, v, wVelocity components in (x, y, z) (m/s)

U0

Free stream velocity (m/s)

x, y, z Coordinates in streamwise, spanwise, and normal directions

Angle of attack (deg)

Spanwise component of vorticity (rad/s)

Superscript

Preferential value

I.

Introduction
A growing number of micro aerial vehicles operate in a particular flight regime where the

chord-based Reynolds number, Re = Uo c/ (where Uo is the flight speed, c the chord, and
is the kinematic viscosity), lies between 104 and 105 . In this regime, laminar boundary layer
145

separation and then possible turbulent reattachment can either favorably or adversely affect
wing performance. The Eppler 387 airfoil, along with many other smooth airfoils, can be in
either one of two states: a low-lift state (SI in Fig. 10.1) where separation occurs prior to
the trailing edge without reattachment, or a high-lift state (SII) where initial separation is
followed by the formation of a laminar separation bubble and flow reattachment. A number
of intrinsic unstable modes in the laminar separation bubble problem have been identified [1,
2, 3], from Tollmien-Schlichting waves in the still-attached, laminar boundary layer to KelvinHelmholtz instabilities in the later separated shear layer, together with possible mixed modes
in between. Various of these modes are known to be susceptible to acoustic perturbation,
and we propose to exploit this to test the possibility of active control between the SI and
SII flow states.

Figure 10.1: CL (CD ) and L/D curves show bi-stable states for the E387 wing at various Re.

A.

Separation Control by Acoustic Excitation

Previous tests of acoustic excitation in the Dryden Wind Tunnel involved acoustically

exciting a E387 wing by a speaker that was placed on the outside of the wind tunnel test
section, turning the entire test section into a resonating chamber [4]. Acoustic forcing of
the flow around an E387 wing at Re = 40k and 60k at certain excitation frequencies, fe ,
increased lift at certain angles of attack, tripped the flow from low- to high-lift state (SI
146

- SII), eliminated pre-stall hysteresis, and promoted flow reattachment. In an enclosed

chamber, minima in the rms acoustic power correspond to minimum fluctuating pressure
and maximum velocity fluctuations, and external acoustic excitation at values of fe that
correlated with test section anti-resonances yielded the largest improvement in L/D. It was
also shown that a harmonic of one of these optimum excitation frequencies matched the
shear layer instability frequency, fs , suggesting that the flow over the wing is altered when
acoustic excitation matches a naturally occurring instability in the shear layer.
Internal acoustic excitation of airfoils and wings has been shown to increase lift and
delay and/or prevent separation, sensitive to both excitation frequency and sound pressure
level (SPL) [6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. The most common internal acoustic forcing experiment has a
speaker inside the wing with spanwise slots so that sound travels through the entire span of
the wing, exiting at the open slot(s), and it has been shown [7, 10] that acoustic forcing is
most effective when applied at a point, x0 /c = c0 , close to or before the chordwise separation
point, cs , so that c0 cs .
The effect of acoustic forcing was found to deteriorate as c0 moved farther from cs , and
forcing aft of cs required considerably higher SPL to achieve the same reduction in L/D.
However, the optimum values of forcing frequency, fe , were reported to be independent of
c0 [7]. When excitation was forced near cs , fe was found to be equal to the separated shear
instability frequency, fs , or a sub harmonic [9, 7].
Tests from both external and internal acoustic forcing show that the values of fe correspond to the dominant natural instabilities in the separated region. A non-dimensional
Strouhal number, St, can be written
St =

fe c
.
Uo

(10.1)

If the main frequency selection depends on lengthscales in the viscous boundary layer or in
the separated shear layer, then a modified Strouhal number, St = St/Re1/2 may be relevant.
However, studies of internal acoustic forcing at both transitional and moderate Re show a

147

large range of St from 0.001 0.04, with subranges specific to particular wing [6, 7, 8],
and generally-applicable scaling laws may be elusive.

B.

Objectives
This paper reports on the effects of internal acoustic excitation on the forces and flow fields

of an E387 wing in a Reynolds number regime where pre-stall hysteresis and abrupt switching
between bi-stable states occur. This study is the continuation of a series of experiments to
acoustically excite the boundary layer instabilities and control flow separation of wings at
transitional Re. As an extension of the external acoustic forcing tests, the experiments
reported here aim to eliminate the role of global standing waves that inevitably occur with
facility-dependent resonances by truly localizing the acoustic forcing. Applications of this
research to small-scale aircraft could lead to energy-efficient separation control as well as
overall aerodynamic improvement with no moving parts.

II.
A.

Materials and Methods

Wind Tunnel and Instrumentation

Experiments were performed in the Dryden wind tunnel at USC. Lift and drag forces
were measured with a custom force balance (described in detail in previous experiments
[11, 12, 13]) placed below the wind tunnel floor. Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV) was
used to estimate velocity components (u, w) in the two-dimensional plane (x, z) with the
same setup used by Yang et al. [4] (Fig. 10.2) but with an improved resolution Imager Pro
X 2M (1648 x 1214 x 14-bit) camera.

B.

Acoustic Equipment
The internal sound sources were Knowles Acoustics Wide Band FK Series (WBFK)

speakers with dimensions 6.50 2.75 1.95 mm, with a frequency response of 400 Hz1000 Hz3 dB. EX1200-3608 16-bit DACs were used to generate sine waves with adjustable

148

Figure 10.2: Wind tunnel setup. (x, y, z) are streamwise, spanwise, and normal directions.
Origin is at leading edge and midspan.
frequency and amplitude, and these were amplified with Kramer VA-16XL variable gain
stereo audio amplifiers with a 3 dB frequency range of 20 Hz 40 kHz.

C.

Wing Model
The wing model had an Eppler 387 profile (inset of Fig. 10.3a) with an aspect ratio

AR = 6 (span b = 54 cm and chord c = 9 cm). The model was a two-part aluminum wing
composed of a base and a lid, as shown in Figure 10.3. The base of the wing contained cavities
and channels into which speakers and wires were embedded. The lid, which contained 0.5
mm diameter holes for sound emission, slid over and locked into the base by a tongue-andgroove connection. The model had a total of 180 speaker cavities arranged in six rows, each
with 30 cavities, as noted in Fig. 10.3b. The individual holes in the wing suction surface were

149

(a)

(b)
Figure 10.3: (a) E387 wing consisting of a base with 180 speaker cavities and a lid with 180
0.5 mm diameter holes, and (b) profile view of the lid of the wing. Six spanwise rows of
holes are located at x/c = {0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6}. From Yang et al. [5].
either covered with tissue paper diaphragms from the underside of the lid, leaving cavities
of width-to-depth ratio of 1/2, or filled in with modeling clay.

III.
A.

Results
Baseline Performance of the E387 Wing

Cavities with a width-to-height ratio of 1/2 do not affect the basic performance of the
wing [5], and the perforated wing with holes covered from the bottom of the lid performed
the same as a solid wing of the same size, used in prior external acoustic forcing experiments
[4]. The standard behavior of the wing at these transitional Re includes the sudden jump
from the low-lift (SI) state to high-lift (SII) state at a pre-stall angle of attack, as seen in
Fig. 10.4. At Re = 40k, with external acoustic forcing, the current wing had similar values

150

Figure 10.4: CL (CD ) and (L/D) curves for the E387 wing at Re = 40k (black) Re = 60k
(gray) without excitation.
of fe * as the solid E387 wing, the two most effective frequencies being 420 Hz and 520 Hz
(St = 0.028 and 0.035, respectively).

B.

Excitation at Different Reynolds Numbers

In initial tests, 15 speakers were activated (phase-synchronized in time) over 0.83

y/b 0.83 and spaced (y/b) = 0.12 apart at the chordwise excitation location c0 = 0.1. Lift
and drag forces were measured for a series of different excitation frequencies, fe , at a pre-SII
angle of attack, 0 , for Re = 40k and 60k (as noted in Fig. 10.4). The changes in L/D from
internal forcing at c0 = 0.1, shown in Fig. 10.5, show that at Re = 40k, a single optimum
excitation value occurs at 500 Hz (St = 0.034), for (L/D) 97%. On the other hand, at
Re = 60k, a broad range of fe exists between 200 Hz fe 1500 Hz (0.007 St 0.055),
for (L/D) 57%. L/D at fe = 500 Hz is about the same, regardless of Re. L/D() at
Re = 40k and 60k are shown in Fig. 10.6. Improvements in L and D occur within a small

151

Figure 10.5: L/D for the E387 wing at Re = 40k and = 11 (black), and Re = 60k and
= 9 (gray), resulting from excitation at different frequencies and corresponding parameter
St . Acoustic excitation occurs at the same amplitude settings.

Figure 10.6: L/D for the E387 wing at a) Re = 40k with and without excitation at fe = 500
Hz (St = 0.034), and b) Re = 60k with and without excitation at fe = 800 Hz (St = 0.029).

152

range of low, pre-stall where the bi-stable states exist (5 11 for Re = 40k and 2 10
for Re = 60k).

C.

Spanwise Distribution
Until now, internal acoustic forcing was always applied uniformly across the span [6, 7,

8, 9, 10], though it is well-known that three-dimensional instabilities can rapidly promote

transition to turbulence in otherwise nominally two-dimensional structures, such as mixing
layers [14, 15, 16, 17]. The possible role of spanwise forcing variation in influencing threedimensional transition was examined at Re = 60k and 0 = 9 . Speakers located at c0 = 0.1
and spaced evenly were forced at fe = 800 Hz (St = 0.029). The different span fractions
of activated speakers were 0%, 12%, 24%, 36%, 48%, and 83% of the total span, centered
around midspan. Figure 10.7 shows that between the extreme configurations (one speaker
at y/b = 0 and 15 speakers between 0.83 y/b 0.83), a family of curves exists and that
a broader spanwise coverage produces improved aerodynamic performance. Note that two
effects are combined here: an increase in spanwise coverage and also simply a larger number
of speakers, and hence a higher acoustic power input to the flow. Figure 10.8 expresses the
nearly linear relation between increase in (L/D) and number of speakers.
One can also vary the number of speakers in a fixed span fraction, and Fig. 10.9 shows
the variation in L/D as a function of number of speakers, or speaker density over 0.36
y/b 0.36. Increasing the number of speakers (with decreased spacing between them)
results in a higher (L/D). Figure 10.10 once again shows a correlation of increasing wing
performance with increasing number of speakers, but this correlation is not as linear as for
the varying spanwise distribution with constant spacing (Fig. 10.8), so while (L/D) varies
with the spanwise distribution of sound sources, it depends also on their density. Although
the configuration yielding the greatest performance improvement would be a continuous line
source (where the limit of (y/b) goes to zero), the optimum efficiency in terms of excitation
energy vs. propulsion energy requirement would be some intermediate value that exploits
the finite area of a nominally local excitation source. It is not yet clear whether the optimum
spanwise spacing that would be found corresponds to a natural three-dimensional mode in
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Figure 10.7: L/D for the E387 wing at Re = 60k for different spanwise distributions of
activated speakers. Forcing is at fe = 800 Hz (St = 0.029).

Figure 10.8: (L/D) for the E387 wing at Re = 60k and = 9 for varying number of
speakers spaced evenly apart, forced at fe = 800 Hz (St = 0.029).
the separated, or bubble shear layer, or whether it simply reflects the finite area influenced
by the acoustic waves as they propagate from the small source through the shear layer.
Experiments to verify this might involve deliberate three-dimensional geometric forcing of

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the flow at one wavelength and varying the spanwise wavelength of acoustic excitation sources
around that.

Figure 10.9: L/D for the E387 wing at Re = 60k with activated speakers at c0 = 0.1 between
0.36 y/b 0.36 with different spacings. fe = 850 Hz (St = 0.031).

Figure 10.10: (L/D) for the E387 wing at Re = 60k and = 9 for varying number of
speakers and fixed span coverage, forced at fe = 850 Hz (St = 0.031).

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D.

Amplitude Variation
External acoustic excitation of the same E387 wing [4] and reports on internal acoustic

excitation of others [6, 7, 8, 9, 10] showed that (L/D) varies predictably with acoustic
forcing amplitude. Similar to Fig. 10.7, the number of activated speakers at c0 = 0.1 was
varied, but the number of diaphragms was kept constant. Though the chambers beneath
each speaker in the wing could be mechanically sealed, it could not be ensured that they
were acoustically isolated, so inactive diaphragms could still act as passive acoustic sources.
Fig. 10.11 can be compared with (Fig. 10.7) where the inactive speaker locations had
no diaphragm. The entire baseline (L/D) is raised, and small, local forcing can have a
pronounced effect on global L/D. For example, the effectiveness of single speaker forcing
when surrounded by passive diaphragms is much greater; at = 8 , L/D 9, a result that
is only achieved with a row of 9 speakers in Fig. 10.7. Thus, additional diaphragms act as
additional sound sources in the wing surface.

Figure 10.11: L/D for the E387 wing at Re = 60k for different numbers of activated speakers
beneath a constant number of diaphragms. fe = 800 Hz (St = 0.029). The black circles on
the wing schematic indicate activated speakers and white circles inactivated speakers.

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A separate amplitude test maintained a constant speaker and diaphragm configuration

and varied the amplitude directly from the sound amplifier. Five speakers centered around
midspan at c0 = 0.1 were forced at fe = 800 Hz (St = 0.029). The speaker and diaphragm
configuration is shown in Fig. 10.12. Figure 10.12 shows that (L/D) is a simple function
of forcing amplitude, with measured acoustic power at the shear layer A3 < A2 < A1 .

Figure 10.12: Effect of varying amplitude for five activated speakers and 15 diaphragms
covering 0.83 y/b 0.83 at c0 = 0.1 and forced at fe = 800 Hz (St = 0.029).

E.

Localized Excitation
While maintaining the same diaphragm configuration, activating nine speakers between

0.48 y/b 0.48 (curve (b) in Fig. 10.13) yields the same result within measurement
uncertainty as activating five speakers within the same span, where the spacing between
speakers is doubled (curve (c) in Fig. 10.13) and electrical power input is almost halved.

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This economy is not unexpected because extra diaphragms were found to act as additional
sound sources, albeit at reduced amplitude. However, when the holes over the inactivated
speakers were blocked, resulting in only five total diaphragms (one for each speaker), the
L/D improvements were significantly lower (curve (d) in Fig. 10.13). Curve (d) lies between
the curve associated with the nominal, unexcited state (curve (a)) and the dome-shaped
L/D curves associated with the high-lift state (curves (b) and (c)).

Figure 10.13: L/D for the E387 wing at Re = 60k with activated speakers between 0.83
y/b 0.83 at c0 = 0.1. Excitation with 15 diaphragms is at 800 Hz (St = 0.029) and with
5 diaphragms is at 900 Hz (St = 0.033).
Raw particle images can be used to mark a dark separation line as particle-poor fluid
from the boundary layer is released into the otherwise uniform exterior distribution. These
images can be used to directly infer flow conditions on the wing. Figure 10.14 shows the
raw PIV images for the four cases labeled a-d in Fig. 10.13 at = 9 . Activated speakers

158

are indicated by solid black circles, inactivated speakers with diaphragms over them are
indicated by white circles, and solid wing sections (ie, where holes are filled in) have no
special marker. Arrows show the streamwise position where the dark separation lines can
no longer be readily distinguished from the background.
At a span station over an activated speaker (Fig. 10.14b-d), the dark separation line
ends at x/c 0.5 followed by dark patches that mark distinct vortical structures, which
undersampled time-series show have a very regular passage frequency. Over a solid portion
of the wing, the end of the separation line is farther downstream (x/c 0.6) and is not
followed by distinct vortical structures (Fig. 10.14a-d).
When no speakers are activated, as in Fig. 10.14a, the visible separation line also ends at
the farther downstream location x/c 0.6 across both solid wing sections and diaphragms.
The alternating pattern of separation line ending points is the same in Fig. 10.14b and c,
further indicating that diaphragms over inactivated speakers still act as sound sources. It is
plausible that acoustic excitation amplifies a naturally-occurring instability in the originally
separated shear layer (Fig. 10.15a), returning high-speed fluid close to the surface. The
forced vortical structures then move down the airfoil chord and result in a flow which is
re-attached, in the time-averaged sense (Fig. 10.15b).
The small differences in separation line stability and persistence of Fig. 10.14 are not
easily resolved in PIV measurement, where scales smaller than a correlation box size are not
observable, but the overall spanwise vorticity distributions for forced and unexcited flows
are similar to previous measurements in globally-forced experiments [4]. Fig. 10.16a shows
that at = 9 , the natural state is SI, where the flow separates close to the half-chord, and
does not re-attach. The gradual forward movement of the separation line from close to the
trailing edge at low accounts for the increase in drag and rather small lift increments as
increases. In Fig. 10.16b, the flow is acoustically forced at fe = 800 Hz, and has switched to
SII. A region of separated flow close to the leading edge is followed by reattachment so the
global flow sees a wing with high effective camber. This is what leads to the higher lift and
lower drag in SII.

159

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 10.14: Raw PIV images for different span stations across the wing at Re = 60k
and = 9 . Speakers are located at c0 = 0.1, and fe = 900 Hz (St = 0.033). (a)
Diaphragms with inactivated speakers (no forcing), (b) diaphragms with activated speakers,
(c) diaphragms with and without activated speakers, and (d) diaphragms with activated
speakers with double the spacing of (b). Arrows indicate the downstream locations where
the separation line vanishes.

F.

Chordwise Location
The detailed instability mechanisms behind both forced and unforced flows described here

are not necessarily simple to specify and not necessarily general to all cases. Possible receptive

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Figure 10.15: Schematic of the separation line (a) when the flow is unexcited in the SI state
and (b) when the flow is excited in the SII state, where separation occurs slightly earlier and
the separation line vanishes earlier as vortical structures form.
sites to finite amplitude disturbances include, from upstream to trailing edge, TollmienSchlichting waves in the attached laminar boundary layer, inflectional mean profiles in the
bubble shear layer, Kelvin-Helmholtz-type instabilities in the separated shear layer, and
wake profile instabilities aft of the trailing edge (TE). Moreover, there can be acousticallypropagated feedback from the TE back to any one of the upstream modes, altering the
incoming flow state [18, 1, 19, 2]. More detailed investigation of the natural and forced
mean flow profiles will follow later, but here initial evidence on the effect of chordwise-local
acoustic forcing is shown.
Six rows of five speakers over 0.48 y/b 0.48 spaced (y/b) = 0.24 apart were
excited. The six rows of speakers were located at c0 = {0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6}. An example
of this speaker configuration (at c0 = 0.1) is shown in the wing schematic associated with
curve (d) in Fig. 10.13. The holes over inactivated speakers were blocked so that the
diaphragms corresponded only to activated speakers. At = 9 , each row of speakers was
individually forced over a sweep of frequencies, and resulting (L/D) is shown in Fig. 10.17.
The largest range of effective fe occurs at c0 = 0.1, where (L/D) 50%. For rows
of speakers at c0 > 0.1, the range of effective fe is much narrower. The range of fe where
L/D > 21 L/Dmax can be denoted as R, and is plotted for different c0 in Fig. 10.18a. R
decreases with increasing c0 until c0 = 0.5, where R is approximately the same between 0.4
c0 0.6. In general, the magnitude of the maximum (L/D) decreases with downstream

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Figure 10.16: y (x, z) superimposed on fluctuating velocity vector fields for the wing at
y/b = 0 (a) with no excitation and (b) with excitation at fe = 800 Hz. Re = 60k and
= 9 . Vectors are scaled arbitrarily to 6 times the displacement in experiment.
row location, as shown in Fig. 10.18b. (L/D) is constant for c0 = 0.4 and 0.5 but then
slightly increases at c0 = 0.6.
So far, measurements show that acoustic sources located close together, across the entire
span, and nearest to the leading edge of the wing cause the highest increase in (L/D). A
subsequent study was done to determine if the number of acoustic sources alone was a major
factor in effective excitation. Measurements of (L/D) were taken at c0 = 0.1 for two other
speaker configurations where a constant number of speakers was maintained, but the spacing
between speakers was varied. Figure 10.19 shows the effect of varying the speaker spacing,
(y/b), on (L/D) for the wing at Re = 60k and = 9 at select frequencies. For almost
all fe values, a simple correlation exists for (L/D) vs. (y/b). For a given power input
(a constant number of activated speakers), a larger spacing between acoustic sources yields

162

Figure 10.17: (L/D) for various fe for five speakers spaced (y/b) = 0.24 apart between
0.83 y/b 0.83 at different c0 locations. Re = 60k, and = 9 .

163

Figure 10.18: (a) R, the range of fe where L/D > 12 L/Dmax , and (b) (L/D)max at different
x/c for five speakers spaced (y/b) = 0.24 apart between 0.83 y/b 0.83 at Re = 60k,
and = 9 .

Figure 10.19: (L/D) at select frequencies for different speaker spacing, (y/b), at Re =
60k and = 9 . Five speakers are located at c0 = 0.1.

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Figure 10.20: L/D curves at Re = 40k for inactivated speakers with diaphragms and open
holes at c0 = 0.1.
a larger improvement in wing performance, implying that the number of acoustic sources
alone does not influence the flow, but rather the distribution of these acoustic sources.

G.

Combined Effect of Holes and Internal Forcing

Open holes in the suction surface of the wing drive the flow to the high-lift state through

passive resonance [5]. Covering the holes with thin diaphragms removes this effect, as shown
in Fig. 10.20. Individually, the effect of open holes and the effect of internal acoustic forcing
both improve wing performance. At Re = 40k, neither of these methods by themselves
produces dome-shaped L/D curves, such as those at Re = 60k (ie, Fig. 10.6b).
In the region of interest (5 12 ), a local minimum in L/D occurs at at = 7 , as
seen in Fig. 10.20. At this , a row of 15 speakers at c0 = 0.1 was forced at varying fe , and
the corresponding (L/D) are shown in Fig. 10.21. In the case of pure internal acoustic
excitation at Re = 40k and = 9 (Fig. 10.5), a single peak in L/D occurs at fe 500 Hz

165

Figure 10.21: (L/D) at various fe for the wing with open holes at c0 = 0.1 at Re = 40k
and = 7 .
(St 0.034). However, in the case of both open holes and internal acoustic excitation, the
range of effective fe is much wider (fe = 100Hz 500 Hz or St = 0.007 0.034).
When the speakers were forced at fe = 200 Hz without diaphragms in the lid of the wing,
the combined effect of active acoustic forcing plus open holes gives the highest L/D increase,
and the resulting dome-shaped L/D curve is shown in Fig. 10.22. In the same figure, L/D
associated with diaphragms and no forcing, open holes and no forcing, and pure internal
acoustic forcing at c0 = 0.1 are also plotted. The performance of the wing with open holes
only and with pure internal acoustic forcing are nearly the same, supporting the idea that
forcing through a passive Helmholtz resonator mechanism, and an equivalent active acoustic
source are equivalent. The L/D curves for these two cases lie between the two extremes
of closed holes without forcing and open holes with forcing. At Re = 40k, pure internal

166

Figure 10.22: Combined effect of open holes and acoustic forcing at Re = 40k.
acoustic excitation does not yield a completely high-lift state, but removing the diaphragms
allows the high-lift state to be achieved.

IV.
A.

Discussion
Localized Separation Control

Besides separating the phenomena associated with pure internal acoustic forcing from
those associated with acoustic resonance due to open holes, the results reported here provide
a study of spatially-localized acoustic forcing, which was not achievable with the wing-speaker
arrangements used previously. Here, local spanwise flow separation is evidently different in
locations where there are speakers, diaphragms or just a solid surface. The presence of a local
acoustic source changes the flow separation quasi-locally, and the amplitude and symmetry
of variations in L/D can be selected by appropriate selection of forcing pattern geometry.
Most previous internal acoustic forcing studies were for higher Re (> 2 105 ) [6, 7,
8, 9, 10], and none used wing profiles having bi-stable state behavior like the E387 airfoil.
However, the bi-stable state is actually common for many smooth airfoils for Re < 105 , and
during cruise conditions (at low, pre-stall ), these airfoils could naturally experience abrupt

167

changes in aerodynamic efficiency. This is why airfoil selection is so critical at moderate Re,
and this paper shows how the potentially catastrophic, abrupt changes in both L and D can
be controlled, locally on the wing.
Ultimately the purpose of the local acoustic forcing is to selectively amplify intrinsic
flow instabilities so as to efficiently exert a strong influence on the flow through a small
control amplitude, measured in acoustic power, or electrical drain on a battery. We are also
interested in using the local flow control to understand further which instability mechanisms
are most receptive and under which conditions. This paper presents the acoustic forcing
results only and further work needs to be done to link this more closely with the various
possible instability modes and amplification mechanisms.

B.

Facility Independence
The internal acoustic excitation results reported here differ from earlier reported external

acoustic excitation results on the same wing [4]. The most prominent differences in wing
performance can be seen in the L/D vs. fe graphs. At Re = 60k, the (L/D)(fe ) curve from
external forcing is discontinuous, showing particular preferential fe values that increase L/D,
while the equivalent curve from internal forcing is continuous, showing that all values of fe
within a given range will increase L/D. Results from the external forcing study determined
a dependence of optimum fe on wind tunnel resonances, which explains why only a selection
of fe values improve wing L/D. There is no such dependence for internal acoustic forcing,
so this efficiency enhancement and separation control technique can, in principle, be applied
to standard flying devices in open flight.

C.

Spanwise Slots
All previous studies of internal acoustic excitation have used a single speaker lying be-

neath an uncovered spanwise channel or slit in the wing [6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. Some of the wing
models [7] not only contained uncovered spanwise slits but also additional pressure taps
along the suction surface. In light of the study by Yang et al. on Helmholtz resonance from
open holes [5], there is reason to question the validity of the true nominal performance of

168

Figure 10.23: (L/D) of the E387 wing (a) with external acoustic forcing at = 8 (replotted from Yang et al. [4]) and (b) with internal acoustic forcing from 15 speakers at c0 = 0.1
at = 9 .
any wing with open cavities regardless of Re, since the resonance mechanism is independent
of flow speed.
The modifications in wing performance previously observed in the literature may have
originated, not from pure internal acoustic excitation, but from a combination of acoustic
resonance and internal forcing effects, as observed here (e.g. Fig. 10.22). Although most
previous studies were for airfoils and wings at large, post-stall , when Helmholtz resonance
would be unimportant, at lower , it is quite likely that a combined resonance and internal
forcing phenomenon would cause the observed changes in wing performance.

V.

Conclusion

There is a particular practical range of flight Reynolds number, 104 Re 105 , where,
at pre-stall , the flow over the suction surface of an airfoil or finite wing can suddenly

169

switch states that we call SI and SII. In SI the laminar boundary layer simply separates at
some point before the trailing edge. In SII, separation is closer to the leading edge, and
reattachment occurs following a laminar separation bubble. SII is associated with much
higher L/D than SI. Here we show that local acoustic forcing can be used to selectively
control local flow separation, and combinations of active and passive acoustic forcing allow
access to an envelope of L/D() curves. Special care must be taken to separate out these
two contributors, which have often been combined in the literature. Local acoustic forcing
appears to be effective in modifying the flow but the mechanism is not yet clear. Future
work on calculating unstable modes of both attached and separated flow profiles will help,
and further practical steps include measuring the roll moments on a wing under asymmetric
internal acoustic forcing. With proper spacing, frequency, and amplitude selection, small
embedded speakers could replace movable control surfaces for small-scale flying devices.

170

Paper IV References

[1] Marxen, O. and Rist, U., Mean flow deformation in a laminar separation bubble: separation and stability characteristics, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 660, pp. 37-54 (2010)
[2] Marxen, O. and Henningson, D.S., The effect of small amplitude convective disturbances
on the size and bursting of a laminar separation bubble, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 671,
pp. 1-33 (2011)
[3] Marxen, O. and Lang, M. and Rist, U., Discrete linear local eigenmodes in a separating
laminar boundary layer, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 711, pp. 1-26 (2012)
[4] Yang, S. L., and Spedding, G. R., Separation Control by External Acoustic Excitation
on a Finite Wing at Low Reynolds Numbers, American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics, 51, 6, pp. 1506-1515 (2013)
[5] Yang, S. L., and Spedding, G. R., Passive Separation Control by Acoustic Resonance,
Experiments in Fluids, 10, 54, pp. 1-16 (2013)
[6] Hsiao, F. B., Jih, J. J., and Shyu, R. N., The Effect of Acoustics on Flow Passing a
High-AOA Airfoil, Journal of Sound and Vibration, 199, 2, pp. 177-188 (1997).
[7] Hsiao, F. and Liu, C. and Shyu, R., Control of Wall-Separated Flow by Internal Acoustic
Excitation, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 28, 8, pp. 1440-1486
(1989).
[8] Chang, R. C., Hsiao, F. B., Shyu, R. N., Effect of Acoustics on Flow Passing a HighAOA Airfoil, Journal of Sound and Vibration, 199, 2, pp. 177-188 (1997).
[9] Huang, L.S., Maestrello, L., Bryant, T. D., Separation Control Over an Airfoil at High
Angles of Attack by Sound Emanating From the Surface, AIAA Paper No. 87-1261,
(1987).
[10] Huang, L.S. and Bryant, T. D. and Maestrello, L., The Effect of Acoustic Forcing on
Trailing Edge Separation and Near Wake Development of an Airfoil, American Institute
of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1st National Fluid Dynamics Congress, (1988).

171

[11] Zabat, M., Farascaroli, S., Browand, F., Nestlerode, M., Baez, J., Drag Measurements
on a Platoon of Vehicles, Research Reports, California Partners for Advanced Transit
and Highways (PATH), Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley (1994)
[12] McArthur, John. Aerodynamics of Wings at Low Reynolds Numbers, Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, CA (2007)
[13] Spedding, G. R. and McArthur, J., Span Efficiencies of Wings at Low Reynolds Numbers, Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 47, No. 1, 2010, pp. 120-128.
[14] Gaster, M. and Grant, T., An experimental investigation of the formation and development of a wave packet in a laminar boundary layer, Proceedings of the Royal Society
of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 347, pp. 253-269 (1975).
[15] Schlichting, H., Boundary-Layer Theory, 539, (1968).
[16] Lin, J. C. M., Pauley, L. L., Low-Reynolds Number Separation on an Airfoil, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 34, 8, (1996).
[17] McAuliffe, B. R. and Yaras, M. I., Transition Mechanisms in Separation Bubbles Under
Low and Elevated Free Stream Turbulence, Proceedings of the ASME Turbo Expo 2007,
(2007).
[18] Diwan, S. S. and Ramesh, O. N., On the Origin of the Inflectional Instability of a
Laminar Separation Bubble, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 629, pp. 263-298 (2009).
[19] Jones, L.E. and Sandberg, R.D. and Sandham, N.D., Stability and receptivity characteristics of a laminar separation bubble on an aerofoil, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 648,
pp. 257-296 (2010).

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Paper V

173

Chapter 11

Stability Analysis of Experimental Velocity

Profiles Using an Orr-Sommerfeld Solver

Yang, S. L.
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California 90089-1191

Empirically-acquired velocity profiles of separated flow and sound-induced reattached

flow over a wing are examined for their initial instability properties. The most unstable
frequencies at various streamwise (chordwise) stations across the wing surface are obtained
by numerical analysis of the Orr-Sommerfeld equation. The velocity profiles come from wind
tunnel experiments on an airfoil that is particularly sensitive to small external disturbances
which can promote an originally separated, low-lift state flow into a reattached, high-lift
state. Numerical results of the initial instability developments are compared to experimental
results for separation control by acoustic excitation as a further step in determining the
mechanism by which sound affects boundary layer fluid flow.

174

I.

Introduction
In aeronautics, when the chord-based Reynolds number Re = U C/ (where U is the

freestream velocity, C is the wing chord, and is the kinematic viscosity) lies in the particular
regime 104 Re 105 , fluid flow over a surface undergoes complex and complicated flow
phenomena. In this Re regime, fluid flow in a boundary layer is extremely sensitive to
small environmental or geometry variations, causing fluid flow to be prone to separation
with possible turbulent reattachment. The sensitivity to small disturbances and changes is
a result of the onset and amplification of instabilities in the boundary layer.
A developing boundary layer contains several stages through which initially laminar flow
can transition to a fully turbulent flow. Slightly downstream of the leading edge, smallamplitude, viscous instabilities, commonly referred to as Tollmien-Schlichting (T-S) instabilities dominate the still laminar boundary layer. When amplified, T-S waves can grow
into larger, three-dimensional instabilities. When the T-S instabilities reach large enough
amplitudes, the flow no longer remains attached to the surface, and the boundary layer
becomes a separated shear layer dominated by inviscid separated shear layer instabilities.
Also referred to as Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instabilities, they cause the shear layer to roll up
and have been shown in experiments to be responsible for shear layer and separation bubble
unsteadiness [1]. Secondary instabilities can continue to grow into turbulent spots, which
can then initiate the transition to fully turbulent boundary layer flow [2].
The linear transition to turbulence involves receptivity, linear stability, and nonlinear
breakdown. In the receptivity stage, where the local Re is low, T-S instabilities are generated
when a disturbance of longer wavelength (i.e., sound or vorticity) enters the boundary layer
and disturbs the resulting flow [6]. Since receptivity involves the generation, rather than the
evolution, of instability waves in the boundary layer, a wavelength conversion mechanism
is required to transfer energy from the longer free stream disturbance to the shorter T-S
instability [7]. The linear stability stage of transition involves the slow (viscous), linear
growth of disturbances, where T-S waves propagate down the boundary layer and are either

175

amplified if the flow is unstable, or attenuated. Sometimes the disturbance might decay over
a considerable distance before being amplified [8].
The present study is directed towards extracting properties of the initial growth of instabilities in the boundary layer of a wing at Re = 6 104 from experimentally-obtained
velocity profiles. Wind tunnel studies on separation control by acoustic excitation for the
Eppler 387 airfoil at low Re [3, 5] showed that certain sound source distributions, forcing
frequencies, and sound amplitudes can generate up to 70% increases in lift-to-drag ratio,
L/D, by shifting the location of the separation point on the wing surface and prompting
transition from an initially low-lift, separated state into a high-lift, reattached state. While
results indicated that local separation control was achievable, the mechanism by which the
acoustic disturbances were affecting the intrinsic flow over the wing was unclear. Attempts
were made to experimentally measure the most amplified frequencies in the boundary layer
over the wing surface, but the presence of a measurement probe in the shear layer affected the
nominal performance of the wing, inhibiting flow reattachment and the expected transition
from low- to high-lift states. Previous experiments in the literature also used measurement
probes to obtain the most amplified instabilities, but there was little validation reported on
the effects of the probes on the nominal performance of the wing models.
The study reported here is a continuation of the experimental work in the Dryden wind
tunnel on separation control of wings at low Re [3, 5, 4]. Here, details are reported on
a numerical approach to solve for the initial growth of boundary layer instabilities of the
E387 airfoil using empirical data from non-intrusive particle imaging velocimetry (PIV).
The stability problem is a that of a boundary layer flow that is assumed to be parallel and
2-dimensional. An Orr-Sommerfeld solver based on the solver described in [17] and used
in [11] and [10] solves the spatial stability problem for the initial behavior of the flow, and
the amplified frequencies are extracted and compared to the optimum forcing frequencies
observed from experimentation.

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II.

Empirical Velocity Profiles

Velocity profiles U (z) for the E387 wing at Re = 60k and = 9 are obtained by nonintrusive PIV methods described in [3, 4, 5]. In this coordinate system, x is streamwise, y is
spanwise, and z is normal to the wing surface, and the origin is defined to be at the leading
edge and midspan of the wing (Fig. 11.1).

Figure 11.1: Coordinate system is defined as: x is streamwise, y is spanwise, and z is normal
to the wing.
Flow field images, which are taken with a 210-mm lens, have approximately 200 pixels/cm
image resolution. The flow field data are processed on a grid that yields 80 points per velocity
profile from a customized algorithm described in [13] and [14]. The free stream velocity can
be subtracted out of the total velocity profiles to leave only the fluctuating velocity, u. Figure
11.2 depicts the total and fluctuating velocity profiles, U (z) and u(z), respectively, at various
chordwise stations for the wing at Re = 60k and wing incidence = 9 . Figure 11.2a shows
velocity profiles over the wing in its nominal state (without acoustic excitation). Points of
inflection occur at x/C = x0 0.4. For x0 > 0.4, the flow is separated, and reverse flow
occurs where

U
x

< 0. Figure 11.2b shows velocity profiles over the wing with internal forcing

from five speakers located at x0 = 0.1, all forced in phase at fe = 900 Hz. Under internal
acoustic forcing, inflection points occur much closer to the leading edge (x0 0.1) where a
laminar separation bubble begins to forms over the front half of the airfoil, and the flow is
mostly attached over the back half.
For each velocity profile, the second derivative U 00 (z) is numerically solved for by a finite
difference scheme. The value of U 00 (z = 0) is not clear from the current PIV data due
177

Figure 11.2: Total and fluctuating velocity profiles, U and u, respectively, for the wing (a)
without forcing and (b) with internal forcing from 5 speakers at fe = 900 Hz at x0 = 0.1.
Re = 60k and = 9 . Velocity values are arbitrarily scaled.
to inadequate image resolution near the boundary. Therefore, a 1-d linear interpolation
must be done on U 00 (z), and the value of U 00 (z = 0) is initially extrapolated to zero. It
should be noted that the extrapolation to U 00 = 0 at z = 0 is a simple assumption; an
accurate extrapolation requires more information about the flow at the boundary, which is
later discussed. Figure 11.3 shows an example profile, U (z), and corresponding interpolated
second derivative, U 00 (z), taken at midspan and x0 = 0.1 for the unexcited wing at Re =
60,000 and = 9 . U (z) and U 00 (z) are normalized by the free stream velocity, U , and the
vertical distance z is normalized by the displacement thickness given by

=
0



U
1
dz.
U

(11.1)

178

Figure 11.3: Empirical velocity profile U (z) (left) and second derivative U 00 (z) with interpolation to U 00 (z = 0) = 0 (right) at x0 = 0.1 for the unexcited wing at Re = 60,000, = 9 .
The original profile U (y) is obtained from PIV data taken at midspan.

III.

Orr-Sommerfeld Solver

The linear instability properties of the empirical velocity profiles are determined by numerical solutions of the Orr-Sommerfeld equation [12],

(U (z) c) 00 (z) k 2 (z) U 00 (z)(z) =

1
0000 (z) 2k 2 00 (z) + k 4 (z) .
ikRe

(11.2)

In Eq. (11.2), (z) is the amplitude function, k is the wave number, and c is the phase
speed. k and c are related by the frequency, :

c=

.
k

(11.3)

The Reynolds number in Eq. (11.2) is based on from Eq. (11.4), such that

Re =

U
.

(11.4)

179

A.

Numerical Integration of the Orr-Sommerfeld Equation

The Orr-Sommerfeld numerical solver is based on the solver described in [9]. The Orr-

Sommerfeld solver uses a shooting technique for the two-point valued boundary problem.
The asymptotic boundary condition far from the wall (z +) can be obtained using the
asymptotic nature of U (z). When the form of the solution is known, the Orr-Sommerfeld
equation is cast in terms of a set of first order differential equations that are integrated
towards a matching point above the wing surface. Here, a matching condition is satisfied
with proper choices of k and c.
The current study is a spatial stability analysis, whereby the wave number k is complex
and the particle frequency is real. The spatial instability growth rate is given by ki , the
imaginary part of the wave number. ki > 0 signifies that the flow is initially contained
and stable, while ki < 0 signifies that the flow is initially unbounded and unstable, so the
condition associated with the minimum value of ki (or maximum ki ) is the most unstable
condition where the instability has the fastest initial growth rate. Note that this study
extracts initial instability properties and not the fully developed properties.

B.

Boundary Conditions
Far from the boundary, derivatives in the velocity field are small, whereby the term in

Eq. (11.2) containing U 00 (z) can be neglected as z . Then, the asymptotic form of the
eigenfunction (z) can be found:

(z) = Aekz + Bekz + Cez + Dez .

(11.5)

The exponential solutions in k are homogeneous (inviscid) solutions, and the exponential
solutions in are the particular (viscous) solutions, where is given by

1/2
= k 2 + (ikRe) (U c)
.

(11.6)

180

Far above the boundary (z +), only the decaying solutions may exist, so that A = C =
0. At the boundary (or wall),
z = zwall = 0,
(11.7)

(zwall ) = 0,
(zwall )0 = 0.

C.

A Shooting Method
A shooting method is implemented to solve the two-point boundary valued problem.

Integration of the ordinary differential equation starts from an initial point z = +zi far
above the boundary (ie, the surface of the airfoil), proceeding downward, as well as from the
boundary at z = 0, proceeding upward. The fourth-order o.d.e. is simplified into a set of
first order o.d.e.s


~
d
~ Re ,
= F ;
dz

(11.8)

~ = [ 0 00 000 ] .

(11.9)

where

The solution vectors at z = zi are

kz

kekz
~
i =
2 kz
k e

k 3 ekz

and

ez
~
v =
2 z
e

3 ez

(11.10)

and the solutions at z = 0 are

181

0


0

~i =

1

1

0


0

~v =
,
1

i

and

(11.11)

where the subscript i corresponds to the inviscid (homogeneous) solution, and the subscript
v corresponds to the viscous (particular) solution.
The solution vectors are integrated towards the matching point, z = zm , above the boundary, and a fourth order Runge-Kutta integration scheme is used for marching the solutions
towards the matching point. At the matching point, the Wronskian of the eigenvectors must
vanish with proper choices of c and k. The Wronskian is obtained from the four eigenvectors
in Eqs. (11.10) and (11.11),

 +
i

 +
v
W = 

 i

v

+
i

+
v

+
i
+
v

00

00

00

00


000 
+
i 
000 
+
v 
,
000 


i 
000 
v

(11.12)

where the + corresponds to solutions marched downward from z = zi (Eq. (11.10)),

and the - corresponds to solutions marched upward from z = 0 (Eq. (11.11)). When the
absolute value of the Wronskian is small, for example |W | < 1107 , then the eigenvalue has
been chosen correctly. If the eigenvalue has not been properly chosen, an iterative technique
that expands a Taylor series for the Wronskian is employed, whereby

Wn+1 = Wn +

Wn
|n (cn+1 cn ) + ...
c

(11.13)

where n corresponds to the current estimate of c, and n+1 corresponds to the next calculation
based on the updated estimate of c.
In order to converge on the eigenvalue, Wn+1 = 0, so an updated estimate of c is found
from the Taylor series expansion as

182

cn+1 = cn

Wn
.
W
|
c n

(11.14)

This iteration process continues until the convergence criterion for W is met.

D.

Iteration Process
The iteration process for determining the eigenvalues is described here. A value of fre-

quency, f , is first provided, which is converted into by the relation = 2f . An initial

guess is made for k = kr + iki , which is taken from pre-defined {kr , ki } pairs. These pairs
are formed by the relations
kr = r cos ,

(11.15)

ki = r sin ,
where r is a radius and is an angle. 10 arbitrary values of r between 0.0011.0 and 10
arbitrary values of between 0 360 yield a total of 100 {kr , ki } pairs that are the initial
guesses for k. Each guess for k corresponds to an initial guess for c from the relation in
Eq. (11.3). For each k, an iteration process is performed on c until the convergence criterion
on W is met. For each , 100 values of k are computed. The value of interest is the {kr , ki }
pair containing min(ki ) for kr > 0. The general iteration process is as follows:
Input f (in Hz) and compute = 2f
Make first guess for k = k1 using (r1 , 1 ) from Eq. (11.15)
Calculate c1 = /k1 ; compute W1
Make second guess for c = c2 ; compute W2 and

W
|
c 2

Estimate a new guess for c = c3

Iterate on c until the convergence criterion for W is met, at which point a final
value c = cf is found
Calculate kf,1 = /cf , the final k value for the first guess
183

 Make a new guess for k = k2 using (r1 , 2 )

Iterate on c; calculate kf,2
Repeat process for all (r, ) pairs to obtain {kf,1 , kf,2 , ..., kf,100 }
Find min(ki ) for kr > 0

This process is then repeated for various values of f .

E.

Loss of Linear Independence

As pointed out in [9], the loss of linear independence is common to o.d.e.s which have

exponential eigenvalue solutions with real parts that vary greatly. In the Orr-Sommerfeld
equation, the inviscid eigenfunction i has exponential solutions away from the boundary
with growth rates k, which are of order O(1), while the viscous eigenfunction v has
exponential solutions away from the boundary of order O(Re1/2 ), such that

Re()  Re(k).

(11.16)

The linear independence of the two eigenfunctions is lost as the slower growing solution, i , becomes contaminated through truncation error by the faster growing solution,
v . The contaminated growth occurs when explicit integration methods are used, so a
pseudo-orthogonalization technique is implemented to maintain the uniqueness of the two
eigenvectors. At each time step of the integration solver during the Runge-Kutta marching
process, each i and v undergo the pseudo-orthogonalization process.
The norms of the eigenvectors are given by

||Ni || = 00i

000
i
00v
000
v

(11.17)

and

184

||Nv || = 000
v

00v 000
.
00i i

(11.18)

Each of the four components of the eigenvector undergo pseudo-orthogonalization such

that

~i =

~i

000
i ~
v
000
v

||Ni ||

(11.19)

(11.20)

and

~v =

~v

00
v ~
i
00
v

||Nv ||

whereby the new eigenvectors have the form

~ i = (i

0i

0) ,

(11.21)

~v = (v

0v

1) .

(11.22)

and

The dot product of Eqs. (11.21) and (11.22) is close to zero so that the linear independence of the two eigenvectors is maintained at each time step of integration. The values of
~ for the next integration step.
~ then become the new values of

IV.

Results

Profiles for the unexcited wing located at x0 = {0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4} (the red-colored profiles
in Fig. 11.4) were used in the Orr-Sommerfeld solver. At each value of f , a final value of k
meeting the condition min(ki ) for kr > 0 was obtained. Figure 11.5 shows the spatial growth
rate, ki , as a function of frequency, f , for profiles at the different x locations. The first
observation to note is that ki > 0 in all cases, indicating that the flow is initially bounded
and stable. The least stable frequencies can be determined by finding the minima in the
185

ki vs. f curves shown in Fig. 11.5. At x0 = 0.1 and 0.2, the ki vs. f curves are quite
flat. Fewer points were generated for the x0 = 0.1 profile due to the elimination of obviously
incorrect, singular results. More points were generated for the x0 = 0.2 profile, for which a
local minimum in ki occurs around f = 500Hz, and even lower values of ki at f > 1000 Hz.
At x0 = 0.3, min(ki ) occurs between 200300 Hz, and at x0 = 0.4, min(ki ) occurs around
200 Hz.

Figure 11.4: Velocity profiles U (z) for the wing without forcing at Re = 60k and = 9 .
Red-colored profiles are at x0 = {0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4}.

Figure 11.5: Velocity profiles U (z) for the wing without forcing at Re = 60k and = 9 .
Red-colored profiles are at x0 = {0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4}.

186

V.
A.

Discussion
Initial Comparisons of Experimental and Numerical Results

In the internal acoustic forcing experiments reported in [5], the largest range of effective
forcing frequencies (200 Hz f 1500 Hz) occurred at x0 = 0.1, as shown in Fig. 11.6,
replotted from Yang et al. At x0 = 0.2 and 0.3, a single value of effective forcing frequency
at f = 300 Hz exists, followed by a range of effective frequencies (800 Hz f 1200 Hz).
For x0 > 0.4, the effective range of frequencies is narrower (900 Hz f 1100 Hz). Of
particular interest are the empirical and numerical results at x0 = 0.3. The single effective
frequency at 300 Hz that was left unexplained in the internal forcing experiments is the
frequency where the minimum ki occurs in the present numerical analysis. If this frequency
is in fact the initially least stable frequency, then in the experiments the flow was excited
into a high-lift state when the acoustic frequency matched the initial, naturally occurring,
least stable frequency at x0 = 0.3. It should also be noted that x0 = 0.3 is the location of
the natural separation location for the wing at the given Re and .
Correlation of experimental and numerical results are less obvious at pre-separation x0
locations, although aft of the natural separation point (x0 = 0.4) it seems that the values of f
include a harmonic of the initially least stable frequency in the boundary layer. Previously
reported studies on internal acoustic forcing claim that when the acoustic source is near
the separation point, the values of f match the separated shear layer instabilities, fs , or
sub harmonics of fs [19, 20]. The present analysis and comparison to experimental results
suggests that the wing is excited into a high-lift state when there is a direct matching of
f with the naturally-occurring, least stable frequency in the boundary layer at the natural
separation location. Aft of the natural separation point, the flow is excited into a high-lift
state when f matches a harmonic of the naturally occurring, least stable boundary layer
frequency.

187

Figure 11.6: (L/D) for various fe from internal acoustic forcing at different x/c locations
at Re = 60k, and = 9 , from Yang et al. [5].

188

B.

Oversimplified Problem
The present comparisons are merely speculations as there are several possible sources of

inaccuracy in particular, improper flow assumptions and oversimplification of the problem.

First, a parallel and 2-dimensional flow was assumed for the experimental velocity profiles
when the actual flow is over a curved surface that has a growing boundary layer with increasing streamwise location. The wing model is also finite in span, so three-dimensional flow
behavior, especially with external disturbances, is likely to occur. For each velocity profile,
the second derivative U 00 (z) was extrapolated to zero. However, U 00 (z) is more than likely
non-zero at the boundary. Since the image resolution is inadequate to resolve the velocity at
the boundary, other means to obtain the actual velocity information at z = 0 are required.
One method is to use the relationship between velocity and pressure from the momentum
equation. For a two-dimensional flow without external forces, the momentum equation gives
U
U
1 P
U
+W
=
+
x
z
x

2U
2U
+
x2
z 2


.

(11.23)

At the boundary, z = 0,
U = 0,
(11.24)

W = 0,
2U
x2

= 0.

Then, the two terms on the left-hand side and the

2U
x2

term on the right-hand side of Eq.

(11.23) go to zero, which leaves the relation

2U
1 P
=

.
z 2
x

(11.25)

If the pressure at different x locations on the wing surface is known, then Eq. (11.25) can
be used to solve for U 00 (z = 0), and a proper extrapolation can be done. No pressure data
was taken in the Dryden wind tunnel experiments, nor could it be; however, pressure on the

189

E387 airfoil has been measured at the same Re in other facilities (i.e., [15, 16, 17, 18]), which
could be implemented into the interpolation procedure.

C.

Refined Test Parameters

The current analysis only used 100 different (r, ) pairs to solve for k at each f . Sev-

eral computational runs at x0 = 0.1 gave obviously incorrect, singular values, which were
discarded. The incorrect values most likely occurred because even after 100 (r, ) pairs, the
proper values k were still not found. Increasing the number of (r, ) pairs, although increasing computational time, would expand the locus of {kr , ki } values, most likely improving the
accuracy of the final k values.

D.

Falkner-Skan Profile Matching

Another approach for solving the initial stability properties is using Falkner-Skan profiles

instead of the experimental velocity profiles in the numerical solver. For example, a family
of velocity profiles with perturbation terms to independently vary the strength of backflow
velocity and depth of reserved-flow region, as used in [11], is given by

U () = f 0 (; ) ae(0 )/0 ,

(11.26)

where f (; ) is determined by the Falkner-Skan equation

f 000 + f f 00 + [1 (f 0 )2 ] = 0,

(11.27)

with boundary conditions

f (0) = 0,
f 0 (0) = 0,

(11.28)

f 0 () = 1.
Equations (11.26)(11.28) produce a family of profiles for various a, 0 , and values. The
experimental velocity profiles can be compared to the family of Falkner-Skan profiles, and the

190

closest matching Falkner-Skan profile to the experimental profile can then be used in the OrrSommerfeld solver. An obvious problem with this method is that there are likely no closely
matching profiles simply due to the nature of empirical results, but if experimental profiles
do closely match Falkner-Skan profiles, issues such as having inadequate flow information at
the boundary would be eliminated.

VI.

Conclusion

Stability analysis is performed on empirical velocity profiles using a numerical OrrSommerfeld solver. The results of the spatial stability problem describe only the initial
behavior of the boundary layer flow, rather than the fully developed flow behavior. Preliminary results from the numerical analysis indicate that the flow is initially bounded and stable
in the boundary layer. Comparisons of the numerical results to the experimental results from
which the velocity profiles are taken suggest that internal acoustic excitation at frequencies
matching the initially least stable frequencies in the boundary layer trigger the flow from a
separated, low-lift state into a reattached, high-lift state. These preliminary findings are still
questionable due to improper flow assumptions and an oversimplified problem. Further tests
can be done to obtain more accurate second derivative interpolations of the velocity profiles,
vary the test parameters in the solver, or compare experimental profiles with Falkner-Skan
profiles. The results reported here are from a preliminary attempt to numerically determine
the least stable frequencies in the initial development of the boundary layer and only serve
as a basis for further investigation and verification.

Acknowledgments
This report could not have been generated without the help of Dr. Larry Redekopp, Eric
Lin, Tawan Tantikul, and Debbie Hammond. Special thanks go to Eric Lin for dedicating
much appreciated time and effort to help develop and test the solver.

191

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193

Chapter 12

Concluding Remarks

The aim and objectives of the current research were to experimentally investigate the laminar
separation and reattachment process on a finite wing at low Reynolds numbers. In particular,
acoustic excitation was chosen as the method for boundary layer and separation control. Both
external and internal acoustic excitation were found to successfully control flow separation
and improve the aerodynamic performance of an Eppler 387 wing. Acoustic resonance was
further discovered to passively control flow separation. Numerical analysis of the instabilities
of the experimental flow profiles suggest that the mechanism by which sound interacts with
boundary layer flow and improves wing performance is related to amplifying the least stable
instabilities in the shear layer of the wing. Findings from the current research also force
one to question the validity of many existing literature results on wing performance at low
and moderate Reynolds numbers. A logical next step would be to investigate the effects of
internal acoustic forcing on the stability characteristics of low Reynolds numbers wings and
small-scale flying devices.

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199

Appendix A

Derivation of Sound and Fluid Flow Equation

For flow in the x-direction only, the mass conservation equation is

+
(u) = 0
t x

(A.1)

and the Navier-Stokes equation for incompressible flow without external forces is
u
u
1 p
2u
+u
=
+ 2.
t
x
x
x

(A.2)

Assume an initially unperturbed state at rest (u0 = 0) and small perturbations in density,
pressure, and velocity:
= 0 + 0

(0  0 ),

p = p 0 + p0

(p0  p0 ),

(A.3)

u = u0 .
Substituting the relations from Eq. (A.3) into Eqs. (A.1) and (A.2), neglecting all high-order
0 and u0 terms, and using the relationship

c2 =

p0
0

(A.4)

yields

200

u0
0
+ 0
=0
t
x

(A.5)

0
u0
2 u0
2
0
+c
= 0 2 .
t
x
x

(A.6)

and

Taking the divergence of Eq. (A.5), and applying

0
=
x

0 and

0
=
t

0, gives

2 0
2 u0
+ 0 2 = 0.
xt
x
Taking the time derivative of Eq. (A.6), and applying
2 u0
2 0

0 2 + c2
= 0
t
xt
t

(A.7)

0
=
x

2 u0
x2

0 and

0
=
t

0, gives


.

(A.8)

Multiplying Eq. (A.7) by c2 and subtracting it from Eq. (A.8) gives

2 0

2 u0
2 u

c
=
2
2
t
x
t

2 u0
x2


.

(A.9)

The pressure perturbations, p0 , can also be related to velocity perturbations, u0 . The

time derivative of Eq. (A.5) is
2 0

+ 0
2
t
t

u0
x


= 0,

(A.10)

and taking the divergence of Eq. (A.6) is

0
t

u0
x

+ c2

2 0
3 u0
=

.
0
x2
x3

(A.11)

Subtracting Eq. (A.11) from Eq. (A.10) and relating pressure and density by Eq. (A.4)
gives the relation

201

1 2 p 0 2 p0
3 u0

.
0
c2 t2
x2
x3

(A.12)

For a pure sound wave, the wave equation is

2 0
2 u0
2 u

c
= 0.
t2
x2

(A.13)

u0 = exp [ikz it] .

(A.14)

0
2 u0
2
=

u,
t2

(A.15)

0
2 u0
2
=
k
u,
x2

(A.16)

Take u0 to be of the form

It follows that

and

2 u0
x2

= ik 2 u0 .

(A.17)

Use the fact that

= r + ii ,

(A.18)

where r and i are the real and imaginary parts of , respectively. Substituting Eqs.
(A.15)(A.17) into Eq. (A.9) and separating real and imaginary components yields
1
i = k 2
2

(A.19)

202

and

r2 i2 = c2 k 2 + i k 2 .

(A.20)

Substituting Eq. (A.19) into Eq. (A.20) then gives

r2
1
= c2 2 k 2 .
2
k
2

(A.21)

203