Investigation on adding local flow devices on airfoil performance

Abstract

Stall is a common problem on airfoil performance which is the main problem in aviation. Several methods have been studied to mitigate stall occurrence with variety of methods. It has been proven that there are many actuators that have the capability to delay stall, either by vortex shedding, adding an external velocity or by dialetic barriers plasma actuators. Present studies investigate the new addition of flow devices with higher speeds and Reynolds numbers to delay stall. In this research, simulations using Ansys Computational Fluid Dynamics software were conducted to investiagate the effect of adding a local flow device on the airfoil which was chosen to be the NACA0015 model. The paper aims at investigating the effect of adding an actuator over an airfoil. The method involves adding a thin device before the trailing edge of the airfoil where the boundary layer separation starts. The study was focused on adding the actuator on a NACA 0015 airfoil for aerodynamic enhancements. All the simulations and numerical work were done using Computational Fluid Dynamics software called Ansys. The objective was to delay separation of the boundary layer and thus to delay stall. The work done by using an inlet speed of 50m/s and standard sea level conditions, the device placed has a width of 1.614 mm and a length of 3 mm. Results indicated that stall occurred at an angle of attack of 19 degrees without the actuator installed. With the device, the airfoil stalled at 23 degrees as well as a higher lift coefficient was obtained.