Experimental investigation of the vorticity amplification on a swept wing with a blunt leading edge

A high level of turbulence is generated in the region upstream of the leading edge of a wing. The phenomenon has been investigated on two-dimensional wings and the existence of coherent structures at the stagnation point has been observed. The present paper deals with the flow upstream of the leading edge of a swept wing. A swept wing with a blunt leading edge has been used as a model in order to have a relatively thick boundary layer on the attachment line. The experiment has been carried out in a low turbulence wind tunnel and the freestream turbulence has been changed through a metallic string positioned ahead of the model. Two different configurations for the same string have been studied and compared to the clean case