Vortex generator | EPFL Graph Search

Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?

Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.

A vortex generator (VG) is an aerodynamic device, consisting of a small vane usually attached to a lifting surface (or airfoil, such as an aircraft wing) or a rotor blade of a wind turbine. VGs may also be attached to some part of an aerodynamic vehicle such as an aircraft fuselage or a car. When the airfoil or the body is in motion relative to the air, the VG creates a vortex, which, by removing some part of the slow-moving boundary layer in contact with the airfoil surface, delays local flow separation and aerodynamic stalling, thereby improving the effectiveness of wings and control surfaces, such as flaps, elevators, ailerons, and rudders. Vortex generators are most often used to delay flow separation. To accomplish this they are often placed on the external surfaces of vehicles and wind turbine blades. On both aircraft and wind turbine blades they are usually installed quite close to the leading edge of the aerofoil in order to maintain steady airflow over the control surfaces at the trailing edge. VGs are typically rectangular or triangular, about as tall as the local boundary layer, and run in spanwise lines usually near the thickest part of the wing. They can be seen on the wings and vertical tails of many airliners. Vortex generators are positioned obliquely so that they have an angle of attack with respect to the local airflow in order to create a tip vortex which draws energetic, rapidly moving outside air into the slow-moving boundary layer in contact with the surface. A turbulent boundary layer is less likely to separate than a laminar one, and is therefore desirable to ensure effectiveness of trailing-edge control surfaces. Vortex generators are used to trigger this transition. Other devices such as vortilons, leading-edge extensions, and leading-edge cuffs, also delay flow separation at high angles of attack by re-energizing the boundary layer. Examples of aircraft which use VGs include the ST Aerospace A-4SU Super Skyhawk and Symphony SA-160. For swept-wing transonic designs, VGs alleviate potential shock-stall problems (e.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related publications (2)

Evolution of the vorticity distribution in vortex rings

Guillaume de Guyon-Crozier

Vortex rings are very efficient at transporting fluid on long distances and can generate large forces, either thrust or drag. These abilities are influenced by the vorticity distribution within the vo

EPFL2021

A Comparative Study of the Local Heat Transfer Distributions Around Various Surface Mounted Obstacles

Peter Ott, Alexandros Terzis, Dirk Ullmer, Robert Wyssmann

In many engineering applications, heat transfer enhancement techniques are of vital importance in order to ensure reliable thermal designs of convective heat transfer applications. This study examines

Science Press2014

Related people (3)

Karen Ann J Mulleners, Peter Ott, Alexandros Terzis

Related concepts (4)

Vortex generator

Wing

A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expressed as its lift-to-drag ratio. The lift a wing generates at a given speed and angle of attack can be one to two orders of magnitude greater than the total drag on the wing. A high lift-to-drag ratio requires a significantly smaller thrust to propel the wings through the air at sufficient lift.

Boundary layer

In physics and fluid mechanics, a boundary layer is the thin layer of fluid in the immediate vicinity of a bounding surface formed by the fluid flowing along the surface. The fluid's interaction with the wall induces a no-slip boundary condition (zero velocity at the wall). The flow velocity then monotonically increases above the surface until it returns to the bulk flow velocity. The thin layer consisting of fluid whose velocity has not yet returned to the bulk flow velocity is called the velocity boundary layer.

Vortex generator

Wing

Boundary layer