Excitation of a Separated Flow by a Series of Protuberances Near the Leading Edge of a Model Aerofoil

This article documents the manifestation of a shear layer under the excitation of a series of hemispherical protuberances near the leading edge of a constant-thickness airfoil. The experiments are performed at a Reynolds number of 1.6 × 10⁵ based on the chord length and inlet velocity, where freestream turbulence is 1.2%. The hotwire and particle image velocimetry data are analyzed to appreciate the flow feature, illustrating the growth of perturbations, vortex dynamics, intermittency, and spectral response. A laminar separation bubble (LSB) appears near the leading edge for a smooth surface, and the shear layer is inviscidly unstable. The evolution of the shear layer significantly changes with a series of protuberances. The breakdown of the shear layer occurs almost immediately, triggering local turbulence resulting in a considerable reduction of the bubble length. However, a separation bubble of varying spanwise lengths is formed in this case. Although the power spectra of velocity fluctuations reveal the selective amplification of frequencies even with protuberances, the immediate augmentation of turbulence followed by faster decay suggests the transient growth of turbulence. The study has documented insight into features of a separation bubble subjected to leading-edge perturbations and might influence future studies on separation control over an airfoil.