Surface Topology on the Wheels of a Generic Four-Wheel Landing Gear

The analysis of shear stress lines in surface oil flow can provide attachment and separation characteristics on three-dimensional configurations about which flowfield data are often difficult or time consuming to acquire. This technique, in conjunction with mean surface pressure data, was utilized to determine the surface topology on a fore and aft wheel of a generic four-wheel landing gear model. Tests were performed at a Reynolds number of 6 × 10 5 based on wheel diameter. Because noise is produced when fluid attaches to or separates from a surface, the detailed analysis highlights regions on the wheels where further investigation may be warranted. The surface characteristics on the wheels determined in this study correlate well with the mean flowfield data acquired in a previous study. A relationship is hypothesized between observed changes in the state of separation on the ground side of the fore wheel in the present study, with the changing streamwise location of a midwheel vortex discovered in a previous study