An Experimental Study on the Turbulence Structure of Tip Vortices Generated by a Rotor Blade at the Initial Wake Age

회전익 끝와류의 초기 난류 구조에 관한 실험적 연구

The evolutionary structure of a tip vortex in the initial period have been investigated by the two-dimensional LDV system. Circumferential and axial components of mean velocities, their turbulences and Reynolds stresses were measured by the phase averaging technique at seven different wake ages within one revolution of the rotor. Core growth was also analyzed. It was resulted that circumferential velocity components showed a Rankine combined vortex shape and their circulation profiles viewed in the radial direction were close to the n = 2 model of Vatistas' algebraic formula, while axial velocity components seemed to have the Gaussian profiles In these measured ranges with the base width of three times of core radii. Peaks of circumferential velocities and core radii showed distinct asymmetric behaviors before the wake age of $150^{\circ}$ over inboard and outboard sides of the slipstream, but they became symmetric afterwards. Turbulence profiles which had two peaks Inside the core radii in the earlier wake age were also changed to single peaks after $150^{\circ}$. These trends imply that the tip vortex was barely mature at this wake age.