Airfoil response to periodic disturbances: the unsteady Kutta condition

Unsteady flow fields over a NACA 0012 at an angle of attack are investigated. The first is the classical pitching motion about the airfoil's quarter chord. The second is the flow over a fixed airfoil immersed in the wake of the pitching airfoil. Large reduced frequencies are considered. Measurements were obtained in a water tunnel by Laser-Doppler velocimetry. Ensemble-averaged velocity measurements were obtained in the vicinity of the trailing edges of both the pitching and the fixed airfoils. The flowfields in the wake and at the trailing edges of both airfoils were studied visually. The validity of the quasi-steady and an extension to an unsteady Kutta condition are examined. A new dynamic similarity parameter is proposed. An analytical method based on the dynamics of discrete vortices is employed. Numerical calculations of the flow over the fixed airfoil are compared with experimental results.