Showing papers on "Airfoil published in 2013"

Dynamic stall development

Abstract: Dynamic stall on an oscillating airfoil was investigated by a combination of surface pressure measurements and time-resolved particle image velocimetry. Following up on previous work on the onset of dynamic stall (Mulleners and Raffel in Exp Fluids 52(3):779–793, 2012), we combined time-resolved imaging with an extensive coherent structure analysis to study various aspects of stall development. The formation of the primary dynamic stall vortex was identified as the growth of a recirculation region and the ensuing instability of the associated shear layer. The stall development can be subdivided into two stages of primary and secondary instability with the latter being the effective vortex formation stage. The characteristic time scales associated with the primary instability stage revealed an overall decrease in dynamic stall delay with increasing effective unsteadiness of the pitching airfoil. The vortex formation stage was found to be largely unaffected by variations of the airfoil’s dynamics.

Experimental and numerical investigation of turbulence-airfoil noise reduction using wavy edges

Abstract: A passive leading-edge treatment based on sinusoidal serrations aimed at reducing turbofan interaction noise has been recently studied in the framework of a European project (FLOCON). The turbulence-airfoil interaction mechanism is achieved using a turbulence grid located upstream of an isolated NACA airfoil tested in the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research anechoic open jet wind tunnel. The experimental setup with several airfoils designed and manufactured by ONERA is first presented with main acoustic results, highlighting the sound power level reductions obtained for all studied flow speeds (about 3–4 dB reduction) without altering the aerodynamic performances (as shown by available measurements and Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes calculations). The experimental investigations are supplemented by numerical predictions in order to assess the acoustic performances of the serrations. The method described in the second part of the paper is based on a computational aeroacoustics code solving the nonli...

Wing morphing control with shape memory alloy actuators

Abstract: Aircraft morphing is referred to as the ability for an aircraft to change its geometry in flight. Formally, flaps, spoilers, and control devices are considered morphing, but in general, morphing in aerospace is associated with geometrical changes using smart materials such as shape memory alloys. Shape memory alloy is a material that changes shape under heating and produces force and deflections, which make it potential actuator for a wing morphing system. The motivation behind this study is the application to small-sized and medium-sized unmanned air vehicles and the potential to increase range or endurance for a given fuel load through improved lift-to-drag ratio. The camber line of an airfoil section, the predominant parameter affecting lift and drag, is changed by resistive heating of a shape memory alloy actuator and cooling in the surrounding air. Experiments were conducted under wind tunnel conditions to verify analysis and to investigate the effects of its application on the aerodynamic behavior o...

An unsteady airfoil theory applied to pitching motions validated against experiment and computation

Abstract: An inviscid theoretical method that is applicable to non-periodic motions and that accounts for large amplitudes and non-planar wakes (large-angle unsteady thin airfoil theory) is developed. A pitch-up, hold, pitch-down motion for a flat plate at Reynolds number 10,000 is studied using this theoretical method and also using computational (immersed boundary method) and experimental (water tunnel) methods. Results from theory are compared against those from computation and experiment which are also compared with each other. The variation of circulatory and apparent-mass loads as a function of pivot location for this motion is examined. The flow phenomena leading up to leading-edge vortex shedding and the limit of validity of the inviscid theory in the face of vortex-dominated flows are investigated. Also, the effect of pitch amplitude on leading-edge vortex shedding is examined, and two distinctly different vortex-dominated flows are studied using dye flow visualizations from experiment and vorticity plots from computation.

Reduction of airfoil turbulence-impingement noise by means of leading-edge serrations and/or porous materials

Abstract: The paper is about the sound produced as turbulence impinges on the leading edge of an airfoil and its reduction by means of either leading-edge serrations (tubercles) or the use of porous materials. The first part describes a series of experiments performed on a NACA-12 airfoil in a low-speed open-jet anechoic wind tunnel. The airfoil is held between end-plates and the sound is measured in the far field in the mid-span plane The chord-based Reynolds number ranges from 1.3 105 to 2 105. Various versions of the airfoil are tested and compared to the baseline. Sound reduction is achieved by both serrations and porosity in a wide frequency range. The second part is devoted to dedicated prediction techniques. A new analytical model of the response of a serrated leading-edge is proposed, extending Amiet's theory, in the limit of arbitrary large chord. Preliminary numerical modeling is also discussed for the response of a porous aifoil to incident disturbances, based on a panel method combined with a locally-reacting impedance model.

Aerodynamic Control of Low-Reynolds-Number Airfoil with Leading-Edge Protuberances

Abstract: This paper presents an experimental investigation of the control of airfoil aerodynamics at a low Reynolds number of 5×104 within a wide range of attack angle α using a leading-edge-protuberance technique. The essence of the technique is to manipulate flow around the airfoil by replacing the straight leading edge of a baseline airfoil with a sinusoidal wavy airfoil. Whereas the lift and drag forces and the lift-to-drag ratio were measured using a three-component force balance, the flow was mainly measured using a particle-image velocimetry. The sinusoidal protuberances effectively suppressed airfoil stall, and the corresponding aerodynamic performance was impaired to some extent. Meanwhile, control significantly improved the airfoil aerodynamics in the poststall α region, for example, 16<α<70 deg, leading to a maximum 25.0 and 39.2% increase in lift coefficient and lift-to-drag ratio, respectively, and a maximum 20.0% decrease in drag coefficient. The protuberances may influence control performance in a ...

Reduced-order unsteady aerodynamic models at low Reynolds numbers

Abstract: In this paper we develop reduced-order models for the unsteady lift on a pitching and plunging aerofoil over a range of angles of attack. In particular, we analyse the pitching and plunging dynamics for two cases: a two-dimensional flat plate at using high-fidelity direct numerical simulations and a three-dimensional NACA 0006 aerofoil at using wind-tunnel measurements. Models are obtained at various angles of attack and they are verified against measurements using frequency response plots and large-amplitude manoeuvres. These models provide a low-dimensional balanced representation of the relevant unsteady fluid dynamics. In simulations, flow structures are visualized using finite-time Lyapunov exponents. A number of phenomenological trends are observed, both in the data and in the models. As the base angle of attack increases, the boundary layer begins to separate, resulting in a decreased quasi-steady lift coefficient slope and a delayed relaxation to steady state at low frequencies. This extends the low-frequency range of motions that excite unsteady effects, meaning that the quasi-steady approximation is not valid until lower frequencies than are predicted by Theodorsen’s classical inviscid model. In addition, at small angles of attack, the lift coefficient rises to the steady-state value after a step in angle, while at larger angles of attack, the lift coefficient relaxes down to the steady-state after an initially high lift state. Flow visualization indicates that this coincides with the formation and convection of vortices at the leading edge and trailing edge. As the angle of attack approaches the critical angle for vortex shedding, the poles and zeros of the model approach the imaginary axis in the complex plane, and some zeros cross into the right half plane. This has significant implications for active flow control, which are discussed. These trends are observed in both simulations and wind-tunnel data.

Stability-Constrained Aerodynamic Shape Optimization of Flying Wings

Abstract: The optimal shape of flying wings for subsonic and transonic speeds is examined using a suite of tools developed around a three-dimensional, time-spectral, Euler computational fluid dynamics solver. The first result in the study is a lift-constrained drag minimization, performed on an unswept, rectangular wing. When the spanwise twist distribution of the wing is varied, the elliptic optimum predicted by the low-speed inviscid theory can be reproduced. With this result as a reference, three different optimization formulations are explored. These formulations consider the addition of bending moment constraints, static-stability constraints, and dynamic-stability constraints. In each case, the design space of the problem is explored using both planform and shape variables to determine the optimal shape. These techniques are used to show that the addition of stability constraints has a significant impact on the optimal surface shape of the wing. In particular, it is shown that at lower speeds, the airfoil sha...

An analytical and experimental investigation into limit-cycle oscillations of an aeroelastic system

Abstract: We perform an analytical and experimental investigation into the dynamics of an aeroelastic system consisting of a plunging and pitching rigid airfoil supported by a linear spring in the plunge degree of freedom and a nonlinear spring in the pitch degree of freedom. The experimental results show that the onset of flutter takes place at a speed smaller than the one predicted by a quasi-steady aerodynamic approximation. On the other hand, the unsteady representation of the aerodynamic loads accurately predicts the experimental value. The linear analysis details the difference in both formulation and provides an explanation for this difference. Nonlinear analysis is then performed to identify the nonlinear coefficients of the pitch spring. The normal form of the Hopf bifurcation is then derived to characterize the type of instability. It is demonstrated that the instability of the considered aeroelastic system is supercritical as observed in the experiments.

Lift evaluation of a two-dimensional pitching flat plate

Abstract: Several previous experimental and theoretical studies have shown that a leading edge vortex (LEV) on an airfoil or wing can provide lift enhancement. In this paper, unsteady two-dimensional (2D) potential flow theory is employed to model the flow field of a pitching flat plate wing. A multi-vortices model is developed to model both the leading edge and trailing edge vortices (TEVs), which offers improved accuracy compared with using only single vortex at each separation location. The lift is obtained by integrating the unsteady Blasius equation. It is found that the motion of vortices contributes significantly to the overall aerodynamic force on the flat plate. A Kutta-like condition is used to determine the vortex intensity and location at the leading edge for large angle of attack cases; however, it is proposed to relax this condition for small angle of attack cases and apply a 2D shear layer model to calculate the circulation of the new added vortex. The results of the simulation are then compared with classical numerical, theoretical, and experimental data for canonical unsteady flat plat problems. Good agreement with these data is observed. Moreover, these results suggested that the leading edge vortex shedding for small angles of attack should be modeled differently than that for large angles of attack. Finally, the results of vortex motion vs. lift indicate that the slow convection of the LEV creates less negative lift while the rapid shedding of the TEV creates more positive lift. The difference between these two contributions of lift results in a total positive lift that lasts for about two chord-length travel of the plate. It is therefore concluded that the lift enhancement during the LEV “stabilization” above the wing is a combined effect of both the LEV and TEV motion. This also provides the insights for future active flow control of micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) that the formation and shedding process of LEVs and TEVs can be manipulated to provide lift enhancement.

Symmetric airfoil geometry effects on leading edge noise.

Abstract: Computational aeroacoustic methods are applied to the modeling of noise due to interactions between gusts and the leading edge of real symmetric airfoils Single frequency harmonic gusts are interacted with various airfoil geometries at zero angle of attack The effects of airfoil thickness and leading edge radius on noise are investigated systematically and independently for the first time, at higher frequencies than previously used in computational methods Increases in both leading edge radius and thickness are found to reduce the predicted noise This noise reduction effect becomes greater with increasing frequency and Mach number The dominant noise reduction mechanism for airfoils with real geometry is found to be related to the leading edge stagnation region It is shown that accurate leading edge noise predictions can be made when assuming an inviscid meanflow, but that it is not valid to assume a uniform meanflow Analytic flat plate predictions are found to over-predict the noise due to a NACA 0002 airfoil by up to 3 dB at high frequencies The accuracy of analytic flat plate solutions can be expected to decrease with increasing airfoil thickness, leading edge radius, gust frequency, and Mach number

The effect of undulating leading-edge modifications on NACA 0021 airfoil characteristics

Abstract: In spite of its mammoth physical size, the humpback whale's manoeuvrability in hunting has captured the attention of biologists as well as fluid mechanists. It has now been established that the protrusions on the leading-edges of the humpback's pectoral flippers, known as tubercles, account for this species’ agility and manoeuvrability. In the present work, Prandtl's nonlinear lifting-line theory was employed to propose a hypothesis that the favourable traits observed in the performance of tubercled lifting bodies are not exclusive to this form of leading-edge configuration. Accordingly, a novel alternative to tubercles was introduced and incorporated into the design of four airfoils that underwent wind tunnel force and pressure measurement tests in the transitional flow regime. In addition, a Computation Fluid Dynamics study was performed using the Shear Stress Transport transitional model in the context of unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes at several attack angles. The results from the numerical investigation are in reasonable agreement with those of the experiments, and suggest the presence of features that are also observed in flows over tubercled foils, most notably a distinct pair of streamwise vortices for each wavelength of the tubercle-like feature.

Self-Noise Produced by an Airfoil with Nonflat Plate Trailing-Edge Serrations

Abstract: This paper represents the results of an experimental study aimed at reducing the airfoil self-noise by the trailing-edge serration of four different sawtooth geometries (defined in the serration angle and length). These serrations have a common feature: all of the sawtooth patterns are cut directly into the trailing edge of a realistic airfoil. This configuration offers better structural strength and integrity. For the sawtooth trailing edges investigated here, the radiation of the extraneous vortex shedding noise in a narrowband frequency due to the partial bluntness at the serration roots is unavoidable. However, this narrowband component tends to be less significant provided that the serration angle is large and the serration length is moderate. Sound power was measured, and some of the sawtooth geometries have been shown to afford significant boundary-layer instability tonal noise and moderate turbulent broadband noise reductions across a fairly large velocity range. This paper demonstrates that a non...

Electroaeroelastic analysis of airfoil-based wind energy harvesting using piezoelectric transduction and electromagnetic induction

Abstract: The concept of transforming aeroelastic vibrations into electricity for low-power generation has received growing attention in the last few years. The goal is to convert airflow energy into electricity for powering small electronic components employed in wireless applications. The potential applications for aeroelastic energy harvesting range from aircraft structures to several engineering problems involving wireless electronic components located in high wind areas. The use of a typical airfoil section is a convenient approach to create instabilities and persistent oscillations in aeroelastic energy harvesting. This article analyzes two airfoil-based aeroelastic energy harvesters using (a) piezoelectric transduction and (b) electromagnetic induction. An airfoil with two degrees of freedom is investigated by adding piezoelectric and electromagnetic couplings to the plunge degree of freedom in two separate cases. The governing dimensionless electroaeroelastic equations are given in each case with a resistiv...

Dynamic Stall Control by Passive Disturbance Generators

Abstract: Passive cylindrical disturbance generators mounted near the leading edge of an airfoil significantly improved its performance under dynamic stall conditions. Time-resolved particle image velocimetry and simultaneous pressure measurements were conducted at the midchord of a pitching airfoil equipped with passive disturbance generators. The disturbance generators were effective in reducing the strength of the dynamic stall vortex and therefore the negative pitching moment peak and hysteresis effects. When the disturbance generators were applied, the flow separation type was altered from leading- to trailing-edge stall. In contrast to the clean case, reattachment was initiated immediately after the separation reached the leading-edge region. In addition to the circular shape, also backward- and forward-wedge-shaped disturbance generators were investigated. Although the backward wedge also showed favorable results, the forward wedge was less successful. The shape of the disturbance generators appears to have a strong influence on the effectiveness of reducing the negative impact of dynamic stall, depending on the sense of rotation of a pair of weak trailing vortices.

Surrogate-Based Aerodynamic Shape Optimization by Variable-Resolution Models

Abstract: A surrogate-based optimization algorithm for transonic airfoil design is presented. The approach replaces the direct optimization of an accurate, but computationally expensive, high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics model by an iterative reoptimization of a physics-based surrogate model. The surrogate model is constructed, during each design iteration, using the low-fidelity model and the data obtained from one high-fidelity model evaluation. The low-fidelity model is based on the same governing fluid flow equations as the high-fidelity one, but uses coarser mesh resolution and relaxed convergence criteria. The shape-preserving response prediction technique is utilized to predict the high-fidelity model response, here, the airfoil pressure distribution. In this prediction process, the shape-preserving response prediction employs the actual changes of the low-fidelity model response due to the design variable adjustments. The shape-preserving response prediction algorithm is embedded into the trust reg...

Comparison of Adaptive Sampling Methods for Generation of Surrogate Aerodynamic Models

Abstract: A surrogate modeling strategy, using effective interpolation and sampling methods, facilitates a reduction in the number of computational fluid dynamics simulations required to construct an aerodynamic model to a specified accuracy. In this paper, two adaptive sampling strategies are compared for generating surrogate models, based on Kriging and radial basis function interpolation, respectively. The relationships between the two model formulations are discussed, and three test cases are considered, including analytic functions and recovery of aerodynamic coefficients for two example applications: longitudinal flight mechanics analysis for the DLR-F12 aircraft and structural loads analysis of an RAE2822 airfoil. For the airfoil example, models of CL, CD, and CM were constructed with the two sampling strategies using Euler/boundary-layer-coupled computational fluid dynamics and a three-dimensional flight envelope of incidence, Mach, and Reynolds number. The two sampling approaches direct some samples toward...

Induced-Drag Calculations in the Unsteady Vortex Lattice Method

Abstract: α angle of attack, rad Γ circulation, m2s−1 λ wake wavelength, m ρ∞ free-stream air density, kgm −3 τ panel tangential vector ω angular velocity, rad s−1 a non-dimensional distance between aerofoil mid-chord and centre of rotation A panel area, m b semi-chord, m ∆b panel span, m B wingspan, m c aerofoil chord, m ∆c panel chord, m C Theodorsen’s function, C(k) = F (k) + iG(k) Cd sectional drag coefficient CD wing drag coefficient Cl sectional lift coefficient Cs sectional leading-edge suction coefficient ∗Graduate Student, Department of Aeronautics. AIAA Student Member. †Senior Lecturer, Department of Aeronautics. E-mail: rpalacio@imperial.ac.uk. AIAA Member. ‡Lecturer, Department of Mechanical Engineering Sciences. AIAA Member.