RV-8 ldg gear intersection

[Curt Burris]

Noticed the RV-8's landing gear is different in location relative to the wing compared to the RV-4. This means it is immersed in the flow field of the wing, which changes with aoa. Has anybody looked at the top of the gear to see if there is any flow separation in that area. Would anybody like to do some flow viz and send me the pictures, or post them here. Haven't figured out how to post photos to the thread. Thanks! Curt

[drill_and_buck]

Astute observation.

Randy Lervold wrote up his findings on how flying the RV-8 without the upper intersection fairings effected stalls. You can find the posting here. I believe others have done some tuft testing in this area.

[Curt Burris]

Thanks! Concerned about whether the gear leg is separating up by the wing that could be fixed with local fairing reshaping. The article deals with stall and is informative. Would be best to get some oil flows at cruise and climb using a gopro with suction mount if anybody's up to it. Worth some knots, and we all know... knots are knots.

[dpansier]

Here?s a photo I took about 8 years ago of a gear intersection faring on a very fast RV8, I know the builder spent considerable time on speed improvements and this was the culmination of his efforts in this area.

[Curt Burris]

The fairing's cambered into the upwash field of the wing which is good. Without seeing the off design condition for climb, I'd recommend this approach for all RV-8's. The climb case would generate a favorable vortex due to the sweep. There's still a little interference drag with the fairing under the wing leading edge that could be addressed. Big improvement all-in-all. Still interested in climb and cruise oil flow if anybody's interested.

[DanH]

Originally Posted by Curt Burris

Still interested in climb and cruise oil flow if anybody's interested.

I'm curious. Tell me exactly what you want done.

[Curt Burris]

Hang loose, might have somebody locally.