DIY Aerodynamics #2: Vortex Generators
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Volkswagen Beetle
You may remember one of our previous videos in which we analyzed the aerodynamics of a Volkswagen beetle, do it yourself style. We discovered that the airflow over the roof detached somewhere around the rear window. The theory was that the downward angle was too steep for the flow to stay attached.
Let’s dive into some theory on when this can happen.
Boundary layer
As air flows over a surface, it will stick to it, slowing down to zero. Away from the surface, air is moving at the free stream velocity. In between the two, you’ll get a velocity profile. This transition zone is called the boundary layer.As the air in the boundary layer is moving slower, it contains less energy and less momentum than the faster air above.
Flow separation
If the curvature of the surface is too strong, the air in the boundary layer will not have enough momentum to follow it. The more energetic flow above will be dominant, wanting to continue on its horizontal course, pulling away from the surface causing the flow to detach or separate.
Locally, the velocity profile close to the surface can even feature a reverse flow, caused by an adverse pressure gradient, creating a rotating separation bubble. We saw this in our previous beetle test, where the tufts at the top of the window would move in the opposite direction, towards the roof of the car.
Drag reduction
This separated flow increases the wake behind the car, causing unwanted drag. So how can we reduce this effect? One way of doing so is by simply reducing the curvature of the roof and rear window. You can see this on modern, streamlined cars like the Mercedes CLA. Another way is to install vortex generators.
Vortex generators
Vortex generators are little devices that improve the energy and momentum transfer from the free stream air to the boundary layer, giving it more momentum to follow the curvature. A very simple example is small vertical planes, placed at a slight angle with respect to the airflow. As the air hits the front side of these planes, pressure increases. At the rear side, the pressure decreases.
As you may remember from our video on wingtip vortices, the air wants to skip from the high-pressure side to the low-pressure side, creating a vortex at the top of the planes. This will cause part of the flow above the vortex generators to dive downwards, carrying momentum into the boundary layer. It will become more turbulent, stimulating energy mixing between the free stream air and the boundary layer.
Field test on the beetle
So we installed some high-tech paper vortex generators on the beetle to see if it works. It turned out the distance between the vortex generators and the rear window was quite crucial, but after a while, we found a position that worked.
Results
By analyzing the movement range of each tuft, we were able to compare both setups.
Without vortex generators, the tufts near the top of the window featured a lot of movement and reverse flow caused by the adverse pressure gradient. With the vortex generators installed, the movement was much reduced and the reverse flow was eliminated.
So that was it for this video! If you liked it, please click the like button and subscribe to stay tuned for more!
See ya soon!
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The AirShaper videos cover the basics of aerodynamics (aerodynamic drag, drag & lift coefficients, boundary layer theory, flow separation, reynolds number...), simulation aspects (computational fluid dynamics, CFD meshing, ...) and aerodynamic testing (wind tunnel testing, flow visualization, ...).
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