Transition prediction including turbulent wedges for a forward swept natural laminar flow wing

Abstract In the LuFo VI/2 project ULTIMATE, a forward swept natural laminar flow wing is tested in the European transonic wind tunnel. The high Mach and high Reynolds number wind tunnel test is intended to provide necessary data for transition model validation. This article gives an overview of the wind tunnel test and the associated validation activities for the DLR $$\gamma$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>γ</mml:mi> </mml:math> transition model. The accuracy in the prediction of aerodynamic forces in a transitional flow is shown for rigid and coupled CFD–CSM computations. For the coupled computations, the effect of turbulent wedges on the aerodynamic predictions is shown. Although turbulent wedges are often disregarded as a mere side effect of high Reynolds number wind tunnel testing, it is found that these wedges are important for the understanding of the overall aerodynamics of the wind tunnel configuration.