Experiments with a wing from which the boundary layer is removed by pressure or suction

Abstract

With an unsymmetrical wing and a rotating Magnus cylinder, the lift is produced by the superposition of parallel and circulatory flows. An explanation of the circulatory flow is furnished by the boundary-layer theory of Prandtl and the consequent vortex formation. According to this explanation, it must evidently be possible to increase the circulation either by increasing the size of the stronger (lower) vortex or by decreasing the size of the weaker (upper) vortex. In this sense, according to Professor H. Zickendraht, we have a new type of wing from which the boundary layer is removed by forcing air out or sucking it in through openings in the upper surface of the wing near its trailing edge.