Experimental studies of the separated flow over a NASA GA(W)-1 airfoil

The separated flow over the 17-percent-thick blunt-trailing-edge NASA GA(W)-1 airfoil is investigated experimentally at angles of attack 10.3-18.4 deg and velocities up to 92 m/sec in the 1.09 x 0.76 x 1.22-m working section of a closed-circuit wind tunnel, with typical Reynolds numbers of the order 4 x 10 to the 6th. The results are presented graphically and characterized. Separated-flow velocity profiles and skin-friction distributions are obtained, and the boundary-layer integral properties are shown to be in good agreement with the separation criteria of Sandborn and Kline (1961). The chordwise development of the mean velocity is reduced to a universal curve, and some similarity is found in the outer-region velocity profiles downstream of the separation.