Unsteady Propulsors in Ground Effect

Experimental and computational results are presented on an airfoil undergoing pitch oscillations in ground effect, that is, close to a solid boundary. The time-averaged thrust is found to increase monotonically as the mean position of the airfoil approaches the boundary while the propulsive efficiency stays relatively constant, showing that ground effect can enhance thrust at little extra cost for a pitching airfoil. Vortices shed into the wake form pairs rather than vortex streets, so that in the mean a momentum jet is formed that angles away from the boundary.