Thrust generation and wake structure for flow across a pitching airfoil at low Reynolds number

In this work, we present detailed particle image velocimetry (PIV) based investigation of wake structure of a pitching airfoil. PIV measurements have been carried out for NACA0015 airfoil at Re = 2900 with reduced frequency range of 1.82–10.92 and pitching angle of 5∘. Two different wake structures (reverse Kármán shedding and deflected vortex shedding) are observed over this parameter range. The vorticity decreases substantially over a distance of two chord-lengths. The velocity profile indicates a jet-like flow downstream of the airfoil. It is shown that the jet-like flow downstream of the airfoil is however not a sufficient condition for the generation of thrust. The vortex strength is found to be invariant of the pitching frequency. Certain differences from the reported results are noted, which may be because of difference in the airfoil shape. These results can help improve understanding of the flow behavior as the low Reynolds number range is not well studied.