Separation and Reattachment Points of a NACA0012 Airfoil in a Periodic Flow under Low Reynolds Number

Abstract

We observed two-dimensional vorticity fields on a NACA0012 airfoil in a periodic flow modeled as a gust flow with a sinusoidal velocity profile in the streamwise direction. Experiments were conducted by using particle image velocimetry in a water tunnel under conditions of Re=3.0 × 10³ and 15^∘ angle of attack. We found that phase-turbulence intensity fields illustrate the separation and reattachment points more quantitatively than do phase-averaged vorticity fields.