Laminar flow control laminarization

Abstract

A practical aerodynamically and structurally reasonably efficient laminar flow control (LFC) suction method, removing the slowest boundary layer particles through many closed spaced fine slots, was developed and subsequently applied to a second F94 LFC wing glove in flight: 100 percent laminar flow was observed up to the F94 test limit. Laminar flow on LFC wings in flight is thus possible at a much higher Reynold's number than even in the best low turbulence tunnels as a result of the negligible influence of the atmospheric microscale turbulence on transition. The F94 LFC glove comparison experiments, with suction starting at 0.03c and 0.4c, verified the theoretically predicted boundary layer stabilization by suction starting at 0.08c, thus maintaining laminar flow at substantially higher C sub L numbers as compared to boundary layer stabilization by flow acceleration; i.e., geometry alone without suction upstream of 0.4c.