https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201818002040
Experimental Investigation of the Boundary Layer Transition on a Laminar Airfoil Using Infrared Thermography
VZLU – Czech Aerospace Research Centre, Beranových 130, 199 05 Prague, Czechia
* Corresponding author: jelinek@vzlu.cz
Published online: 4 June 2018
The transition in the boundary layer is investigated using infrared thermography (IRT). The study is carried out on a laminar airfoil in the transonic intermittent in-draft wind tunnel. The transition in the boundary layer is evocated using transition-generator strips of different thicknesses at two Mach numbers: 0.4 and 0.8. The tested transition-generators thickness to boundary layer displacement thickness ratio was from 0.42 to 1.25. The Reynolds number respect to the airfoil chord is: Re = 1.0 – 1.4·106. The six cases for different transition-generators thickness ratios were compared. The behaviours of laminar and turbulent boundary layers are discussed. The use of IRT has been proven to be an appropriate tool for detecting the transition of the boundary layer in high-speed wind tunnel testing.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2018
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).