A viscous flow analysis of the tip vortex generation process

Abstract

A viscous primary-secondary flow analysis designed for numerical solution by forward marching integration is applied to the tip vortex generation problem. Equations governing streamwise momentum, streamwise vorticity, and a gas law are solved in conjunction with equations governing scalar and vector surface potentials for the secondary velocities. The numerical method used combines a consistently split linearized block implicit (LBI) scheme for parabolic equations and a scalar iterative ADI scheme for elliptic equations. Computed results are presented for a wing of rectangular planform immersed in a high Reynolds number stream at 6 degrees incidence. The physical mechanism for generation of the tip vortex, as revealed by the analysis and computations, is discussed. Detailed flow results for the case of 6 degree incidence are included.