WING IN HEAVING OSCILLATORY MOTION

A wing in steady night near a wavy surface, such as in the case of a l arge, transoceanic wingship, is simulated by a wing oscillating in hea ve near a nat surface. In accord with the wingship, small AR and sligh t camber are considered, In the present study, consideration is limite d to the case when the wavelength of the surface is much greater than the chord of the wing and the slope of the surface is much less than u nity. The numerical simulation predicts that the mean aerodynamic load s on a wing executing a simple-harmonic heaving motion are higher than the corresponding loads on the same wing in steady flight at the mean height and the same angle of attack. These preliminary results sugges t that it would be beneficial to fly near the waves and that doing so would improve the aerodynamic efficiency. Also included in the present results are numerical simulations of the wakes that show the strong i nfluences of the ground and the oscillations on their behavior.