EFFECT OF WALL SUCTION ON LEADING-EDGE CONTAMINATION

This paper is devoted to an experimental study of swept wing leading e dge contamination by the turbulence emanating from the wing-wall junct ion. The main objective is to delay the contamination onset by applyin g surface suction along the attachment line. Two series of experiments are described; the first one was performed in a small wind tunnel at CERT ONERA, the second one was carried out in the F2 wind tunnel at Le Fauga Mauzac centre. Hot film measurements showed that leading edge c ontamination could be delayed up to very large Reynolds numbers. We al so studied the behaviour of the relaminarized boundary layer downstrea m of the sucked region, along the span as well as in the chordwise dir ection.