Low-speed measurements of skin-friction on a slender wing

Abstract

Summary. Extensive measurements have been made with surface pitot-tubes of the skin friction on the upper surface of a slender wing. The surface pitot-tubes took the form of razor-blade segments attached magnetically to the model. This new method of mounting improves on the conventional technique, particularly in coping with a flow whose direction changes with incidence. The results confirmed that high levels of skin-friction are present beneath a leading-edge vortex. The spanwise distributions of skin-friction at different chordwise locations were correlated successfully at a given incidence. The sensitivity to yaw of surface pitot-tubes in areas of three-dimensional flow was found to agree with previous determinations in two-dimensional flow.