22nd Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Harrogate, UK, 28 August - 1st September, 2000
Paper ICAS 2000-3.10.4

STUDIES ON THE OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE OF TAPERED VORTEX FLAPS

K. Rinoie
University of Tokyo, Japan

Keywords: vortex flap, leading-edge separation vortex, delta wing

The effects of sweepback angles, leading-edge shapes and flap hinge-line positions over the performance of the leading-edge vortex flaps are discussed in this paper. As the sweepback angle decreases, improvements of the lift/drag ratio are attained over a wider lift coefficient range when compared with a slender delta wing. A rounded leading-edge vortex flap improves the lift/drag ratio at a relatively higher lift coefficient for both the 50° and 60° delta wings. The differences of the vortex flap hinge-line position also affect the performance of the vortex flap. The best lift/drag ratio is attained when the delta wing has vortex flaps with a relatively small spanwise length.

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