Calculation of Boundary Layers Near the Stagnation Point of an Oscillating Airfoil.

: The results of an investigation of boundary layers close to the stagnation point of an oscillating airfoil are reported. Two procedures for generating initial conditions - the characteristics-box scheme and a quasi-static approach - were investigated, and the quasi-static approach was shown to be appropriate provided the initial region was far from any flow separation. With initial conditions generated in this way, the unsteady boundary-layer equations were solved for the flow in the leading-edge region of a NACA 0012 airfoil oscillating from 0 degrees to 5 degrees. Results were obtained for both laminar and turbulent flow, and, in the latter case, the effect of transition was assessed by specifying its occurrence at different locations. The results demonstrate the validity of the numerical scheme and suggest that the procedures should be applied to calculation of the entire flow around oscillating airfoils. (Author)