Counter-Rotating Tip Vortex Experimental Data

Parent Publication: W J Devenport, J S Zsoldos and C M Vogel, "The structure and development of a counter-rotating wing-tip vortex pair", Journal of Fluid Mechanics, vol. 332, pp. 71-104, 1997.

For a summary description of this work see "Counter-rotating tip-vortex pair " under "Projects", or click here. To download a zipped up copy the experimental data (data.zip) from this study, including a postscript copy of this page (readme.ps) click here. Total file size is around 230KBytes zipped and 1.4MByte extracted.

Data format

Velocity measurements were made at two streamwise locations 10 and 30 chordlengths downstream of the generating wings. At each location a sequence of radial profiles was measured through each vortex, so as to form approximately polar grids so as to reveal the whole cross section of the tip vortex flow and the properties of the un-rolled-up sections of the wake. The following table lists the name of the data files containing the traverses made at x/c=10 along with the start and end locations of each profile.
File name Start Point End Point
y/c z/c y/c z/c
154B.DAT 1.289e+000 2.344e-001 -1.211e+000 2.344e-001
084B.DAT 2.500e+000 0.000e+000 2.500e+000 5.313e-001
083B.DAT 8.618e-002 -6.527e-001 -1.196e+000 -6.527e-001
081B.DAT 8.398e-002 -4.896e-001 -9.800e-001 -1.104e+000
080B.DAT 9.057e-002 -1.468e-001 -6.991e-001 -1.514e+000
078B.DAT -1.061e+000 -1.619e-001 8.568e-002 -8.236e-001
077B.DAT -7.040e-001 1.992e-001 7.168e-002 -1.144e+000
076B.DAT -2.081e-001 3.401e-001 -2.081e-001 -1.661e+000
075B.DAT 4.038e-003 -1.665e+000 4.096e-002 3.349e-001
074B.DAT 1.242e+000 -6.564e-001 -4.015e-002 -6.564e-001
073B.DAT 1.125e+000 -1.529e-001 -1.155e-002 -8.090e-001
072B.DAT 7.503e-001 2.071e-001 -1.445e-002 -1.118e+000
071B.DAT -1.895e-002 -4.993e-001 9.621e-001 -1.065e+000
070B.DAT -1.375e-002 -1.875e-001 7.620e-001 -1.531e+000
069B.DAT 2.632e-001 3.308e-001 2.632e-001 -1.669e+000

The following figure also shows the profile names and locations at x/c=10

The following table lists the name of the data files containing the traverses made at x/c=30 along with the start and end locations of each profile.
File name Start Point End Point
y/c z/c y/c z/c
156B.DAT 1.290e+000 -4.021e-001 -1.210e+000 -4.021e-001
053B.DAT 2.500e+000 8.541e-002 2.500e+000 8.354e-001
051B.DAT -3.440e-002 -3.233e+000 3.639e-002 -5.515e-001
050B.DAT 5.437e-003 -1.728e+000 -1.187e+000 -1.728e+000
049B.DAT 8.437e-003 -1.567e+000 -1.410e+000 -2.386e+000
048B.DAT 2.284e-002 -1.246e+000 -9.162e-001 -2.872e+000
046B.DAT -1.586e+000 -9.624e-001 -4.156e-002 -1.853e+000
044B.DAT -1.018e+000 -4.269e-001 -1.906e-002 -2.156e+000
041B.DAT -2.551e-001 -2.279e-001 -2.551e-001 -2.910e+000
040B.DAT 1.036e+000 -4.520e-001 1.240e-002 -2.224e+000
038B.DAT 1.574e+000 -9.964e-001 9.300e-003 -1.899e+000
037B.DAT 1.764e+000 -1.732e+000 2.200e-003 -1.732e+000
036B.DAT 2.620e-002 -1.589e+000 1.436e+000 -2.404e+000
034B.DAT 3.460e-002 -1.299e+000 1.034e+000 -3.029e+000
031B.DAT 2.640e-001 -2.400e-001 2.640e-001 -2.790e+000

The following figure also shows the profile names and locations at x/c=30

The files referred to are ASCII data files each with 25 columns. For an explanation of the conditions and symbols see the parent publication (Devenport et al., 1996). The following table lists the contents of each column.
Column number Variable
1 Unused or x/c
2, 3 y/c, z/c respectively
4 Free-stream velocity (m/s) Uinf
5 Reynolds number based on chord Rec
6 Flow temperature (deg. F)
7-9 Velocity components U, V, W respectively, normalizedon free stream velocity
10-15 Turbulence stresses u2, v2, w2, uv, vw, uwrespectively, normalized using free-stream velocity
16-25 Triple products u3, v3, w3, u2v, uv2, v2w, w2v,u2w, uw2, uvw respectively, normalized on free-stream velocity

The coordinate system used here is defined in figure 1. x is measured downstream from the leading edge of the wing tip, y inboard parallel to the wing span and z completes a right handed system. Coordinates y and z are measured from the apparent vortex center. Velocity components U, V and W are defined in the directions of x, y and z respectively.

None of these measurements are corrected for the effects of wandering which are significant in and immediately surrounding the vortex cores. See Devenport et al. (1996) for details on the likely magnitude of errors. Mean velocity profiles in the core regions corrected for wandering effects are presented in two files, 'vt.dat', containing tangential velocity profiles vtheta/Uinf vs. r/c, and 'ud.dat', containing axial velocity deficit profiles (U-Uinf)/Uinf vs. r/c, where the coordinate r is measured radially from the core center. Both files contain 4 pairs of columns. In each pair of columns, the first column is the radial coordinate, and the second is the mean velocity. The first and second pair of columns contain profiles through the -y and +y vortex cores respectively at x/c=10. The third and fourth pair of columns contain the same for x/c=30.

Uncertainties in the measurements are given in table 3 of Devenport W J, Rife M C, Liapis S I and Follin G J, "The structure and development of a wing-tip vortex", Journal of Fluid Mechanics, vol. 312, pp 67-106.

Please direct any questions or comments concerning the data or other aspects of this work to William Devenport at devenport@aoe.vt.edu.