Measurement of vortex velocities over a wide range of vortex age, downstream distance and free stream velocity

A wind tunnel test was conducted to obtain vortex velocity signatures over a wide parameter range encompassing the data conditions of several previous researchers while maintaining a common instrumentation and test facility. The generating wing panel was configured with both a revolved airfoil tip shape and a square tip shape and had a semispan aspect of 4.05/1.0 with a 121.9 cm span. Free stream velocity was varied from 6.1 m/sec to 76.2 m/sec and the vortex core velocities were measured at locations 3, 6, 12, 24 and 48 chordlengths downstream of the wing trailing edge, yielding vortex ages up to 2.0 seconds. Wing pitch angles of 6, 8, 9 and 12 deg were investigated. Detailed surface pressure distributions and wing force measurements were obtained for each wing tip configuration. Correlation with vortex velocity data taken in previous experiments is good. During the rollup process, vortex core parameters appear to be dependent primarily on vortex age. Trending in the plateau and decay regions is more complex and the machanisms appear to be more unstable.