An experimental study has been performed on water droplet deformation in the shoulder region of an airfoil. The experiments\nhave been carried out in a rotating arm facility 2.2m long and able to rotate up to 400 rpm (90 m/s). A blunt airfoil model\n(chord length equal to 0.468 m) was placed at the end of the arm. A droplet generator was used to generate a stream of water\ndroplets with an initial diameter of 1000 �¼m. An imaging system was set up to record the trajectories and deformations of the\ndroplets in three different regions close to the airfoil shoulder. The base flow field was characterized using a particle image\nvelocimetry system. The experiments show that droplet deformation results in the shoulder region of the airfoil are different\nfrom those pertaining to the leading edge region. In particular, droplets in the shoulder region tend to rotate to the direction\nof the incoming airfoil which generates an interference effect between the droplets that make up the stream. These differences\nhave been quantified applying an existing theoretical model specifically developed for the leading edge region to the results\nobtained in the present study.
Loading....