Onset of condensation effects with an NACA 0012-64 airfoil tested in the Langley 0.3-meter transonic cryogenic tunnel
The onset of condensation effects as determined by varying the stagnation temperature was found to correlate better with the amount of supercooling in the free stream than it did with the supercooling in the region of maximum local Mach number over the air foil. Effects in the pressure distribution over the air foil were seen to appear over its entire length at nearly the same total temperature. Both observations suggest that heterogeneous nucleation does occur in the free stream. The benefits realized from supercooling are presented in terms of increased Reynolds number capability at a given tunnel total pressure and reduced drive-fan power and liquid nitrogen consumption if Reynolds number is held constant. Depending on total pressure and free-stream Mach number, these three benefits are found to vary respectively from 8 to 19 percent, 12 to 24 percent, and 9 to 19 percent. The data analysis and error estimates are given.