Interaction of multiple vortices over a double delta wing

Interaction of strake and wing vortices over a 70°/50° double delta wing were studied experimentally in a wind tunnel using particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements. The upstream effect of the wing vortex on the formation of the strake vortex was identified. A dual-vortex structure of the strake vortices was observed before the wing vortex developed. Further downstream, wing and strake vortices rotated around each other slowly initially, and then faster with downstream distance, at an increasing rate with increasing incidence. Prior to vortex breakdown, both wing and strake vortices were found meandering in relatively small regions. The correlation between the instantaneous locations of the vortices increases if the vortices become sufficiently close to each other. The proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis of the instantaneous velocity fields suggested that, for both wing and strake vortices, the most energetic mode was displacement in the first helical mode. The most energetic mode reveals out-of-phase displacements when the vortices are close to each other.