Low-Speed Wall Interference Assessment/Correction with Vortex Flow Effect

A theoretical method based on the concept of wall pressure signatures for assessment/correction of wind-tunnel wall interference is presented. The effect of the tunnel wall in upflow and blockage corrections is evaluated by using a thin-layer Navier-Stokes solver. The results for a 65-deg delta wing and a wing-body-strake configuration in subsonic flow are presented. The present prediction of the effects of wall interference on the induced aerodynamic twist and the streamline curvature for the delta wing show a larger magnitude than those by a free vortex sheet method. Two correction charts for the upflow and blockage corrections for configurations with vortex flow are derived based on the computed results for the wing-body-strake configuration at a Mach number of 03. The present method shows consistent corrected results for different model sizes. In general, for a model with strong vortex flow, the present method provides larger corrections than the conventional attached flow theory. The present method can also provide guidelines on where the wall static pressures should be measured in the pressure signature method.

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