Flow field analysis and experimental investigation on gust generator

It is necessary to obtain the disturbance flow field characteristic of a gust generator beforehand in order to efficiently arrange experiment and analyze data. A variety of factors that had effects on the intensity and distribution of the gust were discussed based on a certain type of gust device, with emphasis on the vane amplitude, the oscillation frequency, the freestream speed, and the vane lateral spacing. The numerical simulation results show that the mentioned sensitive parameters influence gust intensity measured at points on the centerline more or less. The gust peak values at lateral sections downstream from the vanes have similar distribution shape, and vary linearly with the vane oscillation amplitude within a range of small angle of attack. Therefore, the anticipant gust intensity can be achieved expediently by adjusting the vane oscillation amplitude under the selected freestream speed and frequency. The wind tunnel experiment demonstrates that the performance analysis of the gust generator is of practical value.