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High Swept-Back Delta Wing Flow

Article  in  Advanced Materials Research · August 2014

DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.1016.377

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Advanced Materials Research Vol. 1016 (2014) pp 377-382
© (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.1016.377

High Swept-back Delta Wing Flow

HOANG Thi Kim Dung1, a, NGUYEN Phu Khanh2,b and NAKAMURA Yoshiaki3,c
1, 2
Department of Aeronautical and Space Engineering, Hanoi University of Science and
Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam
3
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
a b
dung.hoangthikim@hust.edu.vn, khanh.nguyenphu@hust.edu.vn and
c
nakamura@nuae.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Keywords: Delta Wing; Low Speed; Vortex; High Swept-back Angle; Rolling Angle.

Abstract. In this study, an experimentally and numerically investigation was carried out to obtain
characteristics (lift force, drag force …) on 74.5 degree Delta wing. The experiment tests were
conducted at Hanoi University of Science and Technology low-speed wind tunnel facility, whereas
the numerical tests were performed using the commercial computational fluid dynamics software
ANSYS/FLUENT. The apparition of the vortices upon the Delta wing caused the negative pressure
distribution on the wing which reached a maximum absolute value at the vortex core. The
characteristics of high swept-back Delta wing were investigated at air velocity of 10 m/s and attack
angle of 20 degree in changing the rolling angle of the wing from 0 to 20 degree.

Introduction
Many supersonic aircrafts used delta wing and they often flied at high angles of attack [1-7]. For
example, in landing or taking off phase, they needed to fly at very high angle of attack due to their
poor aerodynamic performance at low speeds. When an aircraft with delta wing flied at high attack
angle in low speeds, there appeared two large counter-rotating leading edge vortices which induced an
important lift force [1, 4, 5, 6, 7]. However, when an aircraft with delta wing flies at much higher
speeds, the flow became complicated because there appeared shock waves which interacted with
vortices.
Oyama et al [2] remarked that the change of flow type did not significantly change the aerodynamic
characteristics of the delta wing such as normal force, pitching and rolling moments [2]. Recently,
Al-Garni et al [3] computed flow fields of a 65 degree delta wing and 65/40 degree double-delta
wings using low-speed wind tunnel and commercial computational fluid dynamics software FLUENT
to obtain the aerodynamics characteristics of these delta wings. The numerical results were in good
agreement with experiments. Jones et al [4] observed the vortex breakdown over a highly swept delta
wing. The existence of breakdown was associated with the presence of a change in sign of the
pressure. Sideslip angle, attack angle and rolling angle had an important role to the characteristics of
delta wing [5-7]. The stall angle of the delta wing was higher than that of high aspect ratio wing. The
stall angle of delta wing was above 30 degree [6, 7].
The aim of present study is to examine fundamentals of high sweep-back angle delta wing flow at
different rolling angle. To make the analysis simple, only a main wing was chosen as a target (delta
wing had swept-back angle of 74.5°, span length of 200 mm, root chord length of 360 mm and
thickness of 5 mm). To understand the basic characteristics of delta wing flow, static aerodynamic
force measurement and numerically flow visualization had been carried out by using Hanoi
University of Science and Technology low-speed wind tunnel facility and ANSYS/FLUENT software
respectively. The considered parameters were: air velocity of 10m/s, attack angle of 20 degree and
rolling angle varied from 0 to 20 degree.

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378 Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering V

Delta wing model

The delta wing had a swept-back angle, Λ, of 74.5 deg, a span length, b, of 200 m, a root chord length,
cr, of 360 mm, and a thickness ratio, τ, of 1.4% (Fig. 1b).
For experimental study, the wing model had 45 pressure taps, which were located on the port side
(Fig. 1 a). These pressure taps were connected to an external digital manometer via stainless and
silicon tubes. Each pressure tap was measured, using Keygence pressure measurement, one time with
waiting time of 5 seconds (average of about 1000 instant values). The standard deviation of
measurement errors was within ±0.001Pa.
Experiments were conducted at the low speed blow-down wind tunnel, which belongs to
Department of Aeronautic and Space Engineering at Hanoi University of Science and Technology
(HUST), Vietnam. The maximum free stream velocity in the empty test section was 30m/s
corresponding to Reynolds numbers 106 and the turbulence level was slightly less than 1%. The wind
tunnel was operated continuously and a centrifugal blower was driven by an 8kW electric motor. The
free-stream velocity was kept constant within ±2%. The free-stream total and dynamic pressures were
measured by Pitot tube within ±2%. The air temperature was measured within ±1%.

Positions of pressure taps Delta wing model in wind tunnel

a. Experimental model

Delta wing Calculation domain

b. Meshing of numerical model
Fig. 1 Delta wing model
For numerical study, the Delta wing was simulated using ANSYS/FLUENT software. The
computational mesh was composed of 106 elements (Fig. 1b).
The turbulence model was SST (Shear Stress Transport) k-ω model. This model was two-equation
eddy-viscosity model. The use of a k-ω formulation in the inner parts of the boundary layer made the
model directly usable from the wall through the viscous sub-layer. Hence, the SST k-ω model could
be used as a Low-Reynolds turbulence model without any extra damping functions. The SST
formulation also switched to a k-ε behavior in the free-stream and thereby avoided the common k-ω
 Advanced Materials Research Vol. 1016 379

problem that the model was too sensitive to the inlet free-stream turbulence properties. The SST k-ω
model was often merited for its good behavior in adverse pressure gradients and separating flow.
380 Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering V

-1 -1
Windward Leeward Windward Leeward

-0.8
-0.8

-0.6
∆Cp,W < ∆Cp,L
-0.6

Cp
Cp

-0.4 ∆Cp,L
∆Cp,W
-0.4
-0.2
-1 -0.6 -0.2 0.2 0.6 1
-0.2
0
-1 -0.6 -0.2 0.2 0.6 1
0 0.2
y/(b/2) CFD EXP y/(b/2) ϕ=0
EXP_R0 ϕ=5
EXP_R5

a. Rolling angle ϕ = 00 b. Rolling angle ϕ = 50

Fig. 5 Spanwise pressure at x/cr = 0.9

Results
Vortex breakdown. There was no remarkable phenomenon on the lower surface while on the upper
surface, there were two different parts. One was the vortices which were shed from the leading edges
of the wing. This part created a large pressure difference that induced a lift for delta wing. Other was
attached flow on the wing. This attached flow caused another lift for delta wing. These remarks due to
the lift force theory of delta wing that lift force of delta wing included potential lift force and vortices
lift force [4]. This numerical study captured well appearance of vortices upon delta wing [6, 7].
At zero rolling angle, these vortices were symmetric (Fig. 2a and Fig. 3a). But at rolling angle of 20
degree (the wing was rotated from windward wing-haft to leeward wing-haft), the vortices were
asymmetric (Fig. 2b and Fig. 3b). The intensities of vortices at symmetric case were stronger than
those of the windward vortex of asymmetric case, but weaker than those of leeward vortex of the
asymmetric case (Fig. 2 and Fig. 3).
At rolling angle of 20 degree, the core of windward vortex was displaced far from the upper surface
of delta wing, while the core of leeward vortex seemed close to the upper surface of delta wing (Fig.
3a, b). The vortices affected strongly to the surface pressure on the wing [4-7], that would predict a
stronger effect of vortex at leeward side than at windward side.

Pressure distribution
In regard Fig. 4, the pressure on the upper surface of delta wing was negative and had a maximum near
the leading edge. The maximum –Cp presented the center of vortex. It seemed that the maximum
value of –Cp could be the origin of apparition of vortex [4-7].
At zero rolling angle, symmetry case, the pressure on the upper surface was symmetric (Fig. 4a),
while at rolling angle of 20 degree, the pressure was asymmetric (Fig. 4b). At rolling angle of 20
degree, the maximum value of –Cp at windward side was lower than that at leeward side and lower
than that of symmetric case. While the maximum –Cp at leeward side was stronger than that of
symmetric case. This remark confirmed the prediction that effect of vortex at leeward side was
stronger than at the windward side when the wing rotated from windward side to leeward side (cf.
precedent paragraph).
There were a good accord between experimental results and numerical results. We found the same
tendency of pressure distribution above and on the wing. The vortices affected pressure on upper
surface and caused two negative pressure zones. The aerodynamic characteristics of Delta wing had a
good accord between numerical and experimental results within ±20% (Fig. 5a). The main reasons of
the error were the quality of mesh, accuracy of used model, experimental set-up … In comparing with
 Advanced Materials Research Vol. 1016 381

the experimental and numerical results of ref. [6] and [7], the same tendency of spanwise pressure
upon the wing was found. In the region near the center line of the wing, the pressure difference
between upper and lower surfaces, ∆Cp, was low, while the values of ∆Cp near the leading edge were
much different. There were maximum values of negative pressures on the upper surface near the
leading edge (Fig. 5b).
On the other hand, by rotating (Fig. 5b), the pressures on the upper surface of windward wing-haft
became lower than those of the leeward wing-haft. More specifically, compared with the case with no
rotating, the pressures on the leeward side increased about 5%, while those on the windward side
decreased about 25%. At rolling angle of 20 degree, the values of pressure difference between upper
and lower surfaces, ∆Cp, on the leeward side became larger than those on the windward side. This
asymmetric aerodynamic force distribution caused from a counter clock-wise rotation of the wing,
when viewed from upward.
Aerodynamic characteristics. The lift and drag coefficient force of zero rolling angle were 0.83
and 0.32 respectively. These values slightly decreased with the increasing of rolling angle (Fig. 6).
The decrease of aerodynamic characteristics was explained by the more complex of vortices when the
wing was rotated. [2]
1

0.8

0.6
CL CD

0.4

0.2

0
0 5 10 15 20
Rolling angle (Deg) CL CD

Fig. 6 Aerodynamic characteristics

Summary
Both experimentally and numerically studies capture well the delta wing flow field within ±20%. The
main results are summarized as follows:
• Vortex breakdown appeared upon the delta wing. That caused two negative pressure zones on
upper surface of delta wing. The center of vortex could be determined by the maximum of
negative pressure.
• The lower surface had no remarkable change.
• The aerodynamic characteristics slightly decreased with increasing of rolling angle. With
rotating from windward to leeward, the intensities of vortex at windward side decreased,
while those at leeward side increased. The effect of leeward vortex to the distribution of
pressure on the wing was stronger than that of windward vortex.
References
[1] Gursul M. Allan and K. Badcock, in: Delta wing aerodynamics, Requirements from CFD and
experiments (September 2003).
[2] A. Oyama, G. Imai, A. Ogawa and K. Fujii, in: Characteristics of a Delta wing at Hight angles of
Attack, 15th AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies
Conference, Dayton, Ohio, (2008).
[3] A. Z. Al-Garni, F. Saeed and A. M. Al-Garni, in: Experiment and Numerical Investigation of 65
degree Delta and 65/40 degree Double Delta wings, Journal of Aircraft, Vol.45, No.1, (2008).
 382 Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering V

[4] M. Jones, A. Hashimoto and Y. Nakamura, in: Criteria for vortex breakdown above high-sweep
delta wings, AIAA Journal, Vol.47, No.10, (2009).
[5] Y. Nakamura and T. Yamada, in: Aerodynamic characteristics of spin phenomenon for Delta
wing, ICAS 2002-3.8.2, (2002).
[6] T. K. D. Hoang and Y. Nakamura, in: Characteristics of Delta wing flow, The 4th
AUN/SEED-Net RC MeAe 2012, HCMUT - Vietnam, (2012).
[7] D. T. Tran, T. K. D. Hoang and P. K. Nguyen, in: Numerical study of high swept-back angle
Delta wing, Conference on Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, (2013).

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