Flow Transition Effects on a Laminar Transonic Airfoil in Periodic Gusts

This paper investigates the impact of periodic transverse gusts on a supercritical, laminar CAST10-2 airfoil operating at transonic conditions ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]). High-order implicit large-eddy simulations are employed to analyze the unsteady flow structure, including significant excursions of boundary-layer transition, shock motion, and laminar separation, which are directly compared to inviscid solutions. These phenomena are reminiscent of those previously observed on a pitching airfoil with several distinct changes. The simulations reveal a strong dependence of boundary-layer response and pitching moment on gust frequency, with lower frequencies resembling the effects of increased gust amplitude. Additionally, frequency variations induce phase shifts in shock motion and pitching moment oscillations. These findings highlight the potential for sensitivity of laminar supercritical airfoils to atmospheric disturbances.