Boundary Layer Measurements on an Axisymmetric Body with Spin and Yaw

Author: Thorman, Herman Carl

Year: 1958

Degree: Dissertation (Ph.D.)

Advisors: Stewart, Homer Joseph; Millikan, Clark Blanchard; Roshko, Anatol

Committee Member: Unknown, Unknown

Option: Aeronautics; Mathematics

DOI: 10.7907/R54D-S906

Abstract

A directionally-sensitive hot-wire anemometer was developed for measuring the three-dimensional boundary-layer flow on a spinning, axisymmetric body in a low-speed wind tunnel. Boundary-layer velocity profiles at numerous positions around the body are presented for several spin rates at incidence angles of zero and 3 degrees. Displacement thickness distributions, based on integration of the velocity profiles, are also included.

The asymmetries in the azimuthal distribution of the boundary layer around the spinning body at a small angle of incidence (3°) are examined by means of a Fourier analysis of the experimental data. The experimental results are compared with the results of certain theoretical analyses (BRL 870 (Revised), NAVORD 5036) which provide a method for determining Magnus force (and also normal force) due to the displacement effect of the boundary layer.

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