FTELO BEHIND TRIANGULAR WINGS AND WING-BODY

The flow field behind triangular wings (aspect ratfos.of 0.67 to J) alone and in coribfnationwith a pointed cylindrical body has been investigated at ~ch xumibersof 1.5 and 2.0 through an angle-of-attack rsmge of 0 ° to 24. The character of the vortex wake was obsezwedby mesas of the vapor-screen flow-visualization technique, and certain * regions of the downwsh field.associs,tedwith the observed vortex systems were surveyed. Estimates of the downwash distributions were also made using a method based on existing theories, and the resultsb have been compared with experiment. The initial character smd subsequent behavior of the wing trailing vortex wake with or without the body present were observed to vary sig-nificantly with the wing aspect ratfo and with the angle of attack. For low-aspect-ratio wings at small angles of attack and for large-aspect-ratio wings throughout the test angle-of-attack range, the nature and behavior of the wake is in accord with theoretical predic-tions; that is, the vortex wake leaves the wing trailing edge as