Author(s)

Shigeru Ogawa, Jumpei Takeda

Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Kure College, Hiroshima, Japan.

The purpose of the paper is to clarify the mechanism of generation and collapse of a longitudinal vortex system induced around the leading edge of a delta wing. CFD captured well characteristics of flow structure of the vortex system. It is found that the vortex system has a cone-shaped configuration, and both rotational velocity and vorticity have their largest values at the tip of the vortex and reduce downstream along the vortical axis. This resulted in inducing the largest negative pressure at the tip of the delta wing surface. The collapse of the vortex system was also studied. The system can still remain until the tip angle of 110 degrees. However, between 110 degrees and 120 degrees, the system becomes unstable. Over 120 degrees, the characteristics of the vortex are considered to have converted from the longitudinal vortex to the transverse one.

Delta Wing, Longitudinal Vortex, Vortex Breakdown, CFD

Ogawa, S. and Takeda, J. (2015) Mechanism of Generation and Collapse of a Longitudinal Vortex System Induced around the Leading Edge of a Delta Wing. Open Journal of Fluid Dynamics, 5, 265-274. doi: 10.4236/ojfd.2015.53028.