A review of numerical and experimental studies of the anti-fairing
Z. Belligoli (TU Delft - Aerodynamics)
R.P. Dwight (TU Delft - Aerodynamics)
Georg Eitelberg (TU Delft - Flight Performance and Propulsion)
Sampath R. Raghunathan Srikumar (TU Delft - Wind Energy)
David Engler Faleiros (TU Delft - Transport Engineering and Logistics)
Michiel van Nesselrooij (TU Delft - Aerodynamics)
O. W.G. van Campenhout (TU Delft - Aerodynamics)
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Abstract
An anti-fairing is a concave deformation of the wall around a wing-body junction that can decrease the aerodynamic drag through the activation of a propulsive force generated by the interaction of the curved concave shape and the high-pressure region in proximity of the wing leading-edge. Although this mechanism is well understood, the dynamics of the interaction between the anti-fairing and the junction flow remain largely unexplored. This work brings together all the numerical and experimental studies of the anti-fairing to investigate its effect on turbulent quantities and the robustness of its design to changes to the incoming flow parameters, and to estimate the drag change with respect to a normal wing/flat-plate configuration. It is found that the interaction of the streamwise pressure gradient generated by the anti-fairing with the incoming boundary layer substantially reduces the shear responsible for viscous drag. Furthermore, no significant influence of the incoming boundary layer thickness on the anti-fairing performance is observed. However, a direct drag measurement with a force balance casts some doubts on the possibility to achieve large drag reductions.