Boundary layer control

Boundary layer control refers to methods of controlling the behaviour of fluid flow boundary layers (BL).

A BL may be laminar, turbulent or separated. Separated flow is to be avoided although either a laminar or a turbulent BL may be a particular design requirement.

In nature separated flow is avoided to ensure good streamlining for underwater mammals and fish and to enhance lift for birds and winged insects.

Separated flow has to be minimised on fast vehicles to reduce the size of the wake (streamlining) which minimises the fuel used. It has to be avoided in aircraft high lift systems and jet engine intakes.

Laminar flow produces less skin friction than turbulent but a turbulent BL transfers heat better. A turbulent BL separates from a surface later producing a smaller wake.

The energy in a BL may need to be increased to keep it attached to its surface. Fresh air can be introduced through slots or mixed in from above. The low momentum layer at the surface can be sucked away through a perforated surface or bled away when it is in a high pressure duct. It can be scooped off completely by a diverter or internal bleed ducting. Its energy can be increased above that of the free stream by introducing high velocity air.

nature

Fish states that dolphins appear to have a turbulent BL to reduce the liklehood of separation and minimize drag and that mechanisms for maintaining a laminar BL to reduce skin friction have not been demonstrated for dolphins.

The wings of birds have a leading edge feature called the Alula which delays wing stalling at low speeds in a similar manner to the leading edge slat on an aircaft wing.

Thin membrane wings found on bats and insects have features which appear to cause favourable roughening at the Reynolds numbers involved enabling the creatures to fly better than would otherwise be the case.

sports

Balls may be given features which roughen the surface and extend the hit or throw distance. Roughening causes the BL to become turbulent and remain attached farther round the back before breaking away with a smaller wake than would otherwise be the case. Balls may be struck in different ways to give them spin which makes them follow a curved path. The spin causes BL separation to be biased to one side which produces a side force.

BL control (roughening)was applied to golf balls in the 19th century. The stitching on cricket balls and baseballs acts as a boundary layer control structure.

Boundary layer control on a cylinder

In the case of a freestream flow past a cylinder, three methods may be employed to control the boundary layer separation that occurs due to the adverse pressure gradient. Rotation of the cylinder can reduce or eliminate the boundary layer that is formed on the side which is moving in the same direction as the freestream. The side moving against the flow also exhibits only partial separation of the boundary layer. Suction applied through a slit in the cylinder near a separation point can also delay the onset of separation by removing fluid particles that have been slowed in the boundary layer. Alternatively, fluid can be blown from a faired slit such that the slowed fluid is accelerated and thus the point of separation is delayed.

maintaining a laminar BL on aircarft

Laminar flow airfoils were developed in the 1930's by shaping to maintain a favourable pressure gradient to prevent them becoming turbulent. Their low-drag wind tunnel results led to them being used on aircaraft such as the P-51 and B-24 but maintaining laminar flow required low levels of surface roughness and waviness not routinely found in service. Krag states that tests on the P-51 airfoil done in the high speed DVL wind tunnel in Berlin showed the laminar flow effect completely disappeared at real flight Reynolds numbers. Implementing laminar flow in high-Reynolds-number applications generally requires very smooth, wave-free surfaces, which can be difficult to produce and maintain.

Maintaining laminar flow by controlling the pressure distribution on the airfoil is today called Natural laminar flow(NLF) and has been achieved by sailplane designers with great success.

Supplementing the effect of airfoil shaping with boundary-layer suction is known as Laminar flow control(LFC)

The particular control method required for laminar control depends on Reynolds-number and wing leading edge sweep. Hybrid laminar flow control(HLFC) refers to swept wing technology in which LFC is applied only to the leading edge region of a swept wing and NLF aft of that. NASA-sponsored activities include NLF on engine nacelles and HLFC on wing upper surfaces and tail horizontal and vertical surfaces.

Aircraft design and boundary layer control

In aeronautical engineering, boundary layer control refers to a number of methods of controlling the boundary layer of air on the main wing of an aircraft. In doing so, parasitic drag can be greatly reduced and performance likewise increased, while the usable angle of attack can be greatly increased, thereby dramatically improving lift at slow speeds. An aircraft with a boundary layer control system thus has greatly improved performance over a similar plane without such a system, often offering the otherwise contradictory features of STOL performance and high cruising speeds. One method is to use a Splitter plate (aeronautics).

Much research was conducted to study the lift performance enhancement due to suction for aerofoils in the 1920s and 1930s at the Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt in Göttingen. An example of an aircraft which uses BLC is the Japanese sea plane the ShinMaywa US-1. This large four-engined aircraft is used for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and search and rescue (SAR). It is capable of STOL operation and very low air speeds, useful for both ASW and SAR.

See also

• Blown flap
• Coandă effect
• High-lift device
• Circulation control wing
• Leading edge slot
• Boundary layer suction
• Vortex generator
• Aerodynamics
• Turbulator