ORIGINAL: JKEpps
I believe I read somewhere that it's better to have a trailing edge end with some thickness and a squared off edge, rather than a knife edge. It apparently causes enough "disturbance" to allow the upper and lower airflows to rejoin, whereas a knife edge doesn't promote the rejoining.
Is this an urban legend or useful information?
Thanks
-Jorden
Interesting idea, but the air above and below is going to rejoin no matter what. Our models simply do not have the energy and speed to create pure vacuum in their wakes. And with the air already turbulated, it's going to become a turbulent combination, not suddenly become laminar.
The argument for thick trailing edges being a cure for flutter really runs headon into the fact that flutter is a fluctuating phenomenon, and with a wider TE there actually is more room for the wake to fluctuate. And more room gives more leverage and more momentum to the airflow.
The thick TE on some designs is often more the result of the designer wishing to reduce the angle the surface moves away from the airflow than it is a desire to have a larger blunt TE.