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Old 07-09-2011, 05:45 PM
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mithrandir
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Default RE: crazy roll

"Turbulators" as they were applied to RC Sailpolanes way back in the day were simply edged irregularities added to the airfoil to force the boundary layer to transition from Laminar to turbulant.

RC sailplanes (Back then) flew at speeds that were very low reynolds numbers... an Rn of less than say 100,000 ish (That would be about a 10 inch cord at 15 mph) were prone to persistant laminar flow... and the bad part is that a laminar boundary layer seperates more easily than a turbulant boundary layer...

There are also devices called "VG's" or Vortex generators... you see'em alot on full size aircraft... the F86 has'em on the bottom of the stab ahead of the elevator...

VG's basically add energy into the boundary layer so it is less likely to seperate... also you will see'em in "S" shaped inlet ducts to turbofan engines.. (L10-11 I think)

generally speaking, turbulators and VG's are bandaids to fix a problem.