Direct Numerical Simulation of the Three-Dimensional Transition to Turbulence in the Incompressible Flow around a Wing

The onset of the secondary instability and the successive steps ofthe 3D transition to turbulence are examined in the flow around a wing of NACA0012 section, constant along the spanwise direction. The wing is placed in a uniform flow upstream, at 20° of incidence and at the Reynolds number of 800. The spanwise length is equal to four chords. The objectives of this study are the identification of the three-dimensional transition mechanism and the development of the early stages of turbulence in the present class of unsteady aerodynamic flows. A detailed processing of the DNS signals carried out by an appropriate conditional sampling allows the identification of the physical mechanisms related to the birth of turbulence and to the non-linear interaction with the 3D coherent structures in the near region.