An investigation of the aerodynamics of an airfoil moving transversely through a uniform-shear approach flow

Aircraft commonly experience non-uniform approach flows, such as in wind shear or wake of other bodies. Yet, practically no studies exist on airfoils moving in the cross-stream direction of such flows, a situation that is encountered, for example, during landing through the air wake of an aircraft carrier. In this work, a NACA-0012 airfoil traverses steadily at fixed geometric angle of attack across a uniform-shear approach flow in a water tunnel. The lift force on the airfoil is measured with a load cell, and the streamwise flow velocity over the airfoil is measured with molecular tagging velocimetry. Results will be presented for the lift force on the moving airfoil as it traverses across the shear flow in comparison with the stationary airfoil in shear flow. Boundary-layer resolved streamwise velocity maps at various angles of attack will also be shown in order to illustrate the observed flow field differences.