Study of Flow around a Trapezoidal Model of a Small-Sized UAV into Turbulent Wake

Investigations of the structure of the flow near the surface of a trapezoidal model of a small unmanned aerial vehicle were carried out when it enters a narrow turbulent wake. All experimental data were obtained in a wind tunnel at subsonic flow velocities. A feature of the work was that the study of the flow around the model was carried out at full-scale (flight) Reynolds numbers. Using the soot-oily visualization method, data on the features of the flow around the model were obtained, taking into account such factors as the angle of attack, the presence and absence of a source of external disturbances that generated a turbulent wake. The experiments were carried out in two flow regimes: at a zero angle of attack, when there are local separation bubbles on the wing, and at a large (supercritical) angle of attack of 18 degrees, when there is a global stall of the flow from the leading edge. It was shown that the turbulent wake has a significant effect on the nature of the flow near the model surface in both cases. Local separation bubbles gradually decrease in size with a decrease in the distance between the sources of disturbances and the wing. Large-scale vortices significantly decrease in geometrical dimensions and shift towards the side edges in the event of a global stall of the flow, thereby increasing the region of the attached flow on the model surface.

CFD analysis of variable geometric angle winglets

Purpose Winglets play a major role in saving fuel costs because they reduce the lift-induced drag formed at the wingtips. The purpose of this paper is to obtain the best orientation of the winglet for the Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA) M6 wing at Mach number 0.84 in terms of lift to drag ratio. Design/methodology/approach A computational fluid dynamics analysis of the wing-winglet configuration based on the ONERA M6 airfoil on drag reduction for different attack angles at Mach 0.84 was performed using analysis of systems Fluent. First, the best values of cant and sweep angles in terms of aerodynamic performance were selected by performing simulations. The analysis included cant angle values of 30°, 40°, 45°, 55°, 60°, 70° and 75°, while for the sweep angles 35°, 45°, 55°, 65° and 75° angles were used. The aerodynamic performance was measured in terms of the obtained lift to drag ratios. Findings The results showed that slight alternations in the winglet configuration can improve aerodynamic performance for various attack angles. The best lift to drag ratio for the winglet was achieved at a cant angle of 30° and a sweep angle of 65°, which caused a 5.33% increase in the lift to drag ratio. The toe-out angle winglets as compared to the toe-in angles caused the lift to drag ratio to increase because of more attached flow at its surface. The maximum value of the lift to drag ratio was obtained with a toe-out angle (−5°) at an angle of attack 3° which was 2.53% greater than the zero-toed angle winglet. Originality/value This work is relatively unique because the cant, sweep and toe angles were analyzed altogether and led to a significant reduction in drag as compared to wing without winglet. The wing model was compared with the results provided by National Aeronautics and Space Administration so this validated the simulation for different wing-winglet configurations.

A Validation Study of the Aerodynamic Behaviour of a Wind Turbine: Three-Dimensional Rotational Case

Numerical modelling and simulation of a rotating, tapered, and twisted three-dimensional blade with turbulent inflow conditions and separating flows is a challenging case in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The numerical simulation of the fluid flow behaviour over a wind turbine blade is important for the design of efficient machines. This paper presents a numerical validation study using the experimental data collected by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). All the simulations are performed on the sequence S of the extensive experimental sequences conducted at the NASA/Ames wind tunnel with constant RPM and variable wind speeds. The results show close agreement with the NREL UAE experimental data. The CFD model captures closely the totality of the defining quantities. The shaft torque is well-predicted pre-stall but under-predicted in the stall region. The three-dimensional flow and stall are well captured and demonstrated in this paper. Results show attached flow in the pre-stall region. The separation appears at a wind speed of 10 m/s near the blade root. For V>10m/s, the blade appears to experience a deep stall from root to tip.

Experimental study on the effect of bionic flap parameters on airfoil aerodynamic performance

The effects of bionic flap on airfoil performance were experimentally studied to provide theoretical support for the application of the bionic flap in aeronautical engineering. Seven kinds of bionic flaps were used to study the effects of the key flap parameters, including the flap angle, length, shape, and position, at a Reynolds number of Re = 0.8 × 106. At small angle of attacks (AoAs), the drag and pitching moment increased and the lift reduced when using the bionic flap. While at high AoAs, the lift increased and the drag reduced, which improved the airfoil stall characteristics. The configuration of deflection bionic flap had the smallest initial AoA for improving the airfoil stall characteristics in the seven kinds of bionic flaps. More than eight degrees of the effective AoA range for improving lift characteristics could be achieved. The maximum lift coefficient could be increased by 3.9%. Additionally, the control mechanisms of the flap under different flow conditions (attached flow and separated flow) were deeply studied. In the attached flow, the effective camber and thickness of the basic airfoil could be changed by the flap, resulting that the flow around the airfoil was affected, which in turn affected the Cl and the slope of the lift line. In the separated flow, the flap affected the flow around the airfoil by controlling the development of the trailing edge separation vortex. These research results confirmed the aerodynamic mechanisms for the formation of double layered feathers when birds land, and provided insight into application of bionic flaps in aeronautical engineering.

Sparse identification of nonlinear unsteady aerodynamics of the oscillating airfoil

Reduced-order models are widely used in aerospace engineering. A model for unsteady aerodynamics is desirable for designing the blades of wind turbines. Recently, sparse identification of nonlinear dynamics with control was introduced to identify the parameters of an input-output dynamical system. In this paper, two models for attached flows and one for separated flows are identified through this technique. For the unsteady lift of the attached flow, Model I is a linear model that presents the dynamic change of an unsteady lift to a static lift. Model II was built based on Model I in order to obtain a more general system with closed-loop control. It has a first-order inert element that delays the overall input of the static lift. The Model II results replicate the training data very well and give an accurate prediction of other oscillating cases with different oscillation amplitudes, reduced frequency or mean angle of attack. For the unsteady lift of the separated flow, Model III is identified as a nonlinear model, which also has a first-order inert element. This model captures the nonlinear aerodynamics of the separated flow and replicates the training cases well. In addition, the prediction of Model III has good agreement with the numerical results.

The influence of yaw on the unsteady surface pressures over a two-wheeled landing-gear model

Landing-gear noise is an increasing issue for transport aircraft. A key determinant of the phenomenon is the surface pressure field. Previous studies have described this field when the oncoming flow is perfectly aligned with the gear. In practice, there may be a cross-flow component; here its influence is investigated experimentally for a generic, two-wheel, landing-gear model. It is found that yaw angles as small as 5° cause significant changes in both overall flow topology and unsteady surface pressures. Most notably, on the outboard face of the leeward wheel, large-scale separation replaces predominantly attached flow behind a leading-edge separation bubble. The effect on unsteady surface pressures includes marked shifts in the content at frequencies in the audible range, implying that yaw is an important parameter for landing-gear noise, and that purely unyawed studies may not be fully representative of the problem.

Effects of Transpiration on the Unsteady Separated Stagnation-Point Flow and Heat Transfer Over a Moving Porous Plate

The combined influence of normal transpiration and tangential movement of a porous surface on the unsteady separated stagnation-point flow and heat transfer of a viscous fluid is studied. This study is based on five physical parameters, namely (i) flow strength parameter a, (ii) suction/injection parameter d, (iii) plate velocity parameter λ, (iv) unsteadiness parameter β, and (v) Prandtl number Pr. This analysis shows an interesting relation β = 2a which allows us to derive some closed-form analytic solutions depending upon the unlikely values of d. For suction d > 0, two attached flow solutions (AFS) without point of inflection are found in the range (−ad2/4−3<λ<−3), whereas for λ > −3 only one solution of the same type is found for any given value of d. Besides them, the numerical computations reveal two types of AFS—one without and the other with a point of inflection in the range (−1.24658 ≤λ≤ −1.07) when d = β = 0. The present analysis confirms the nonexistence of the second attached flow solution after a certain value of suction d depending upon the choice of the values of λ in this range. A reverse flow solution (RFS) along with the above two solutions is found for a negative value of β which continues even for large rate of suction d. The asymptotic solutions of this flow problem have also been derived for large values of d which provide with the exact results after a certain value of d depending upon the values of the other parameters.

Metaheuristic Optimization of Dual-Element Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Using Genetic Algorithm

This paper presents a framework for the optimization of Dual-Element Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) Blade configurations for improvement in power generation. Multi-element nature of the turbine was specifically chosen as this configuration offers better-attached flow over a conventional single element H-type turbine. The framework was based on a genetic evolutionary algorithm which is a metaheuristic optimization technique based on the principle of survival of the fittest. The class of genetic algorithm used was Invasive Weed Optimization. The geometry of the turbine consists of a rotor with three sets of dual-element airfoil oriented symmetrically. Effective chord length and relative chord angle were taken as modifying parameters for generating new configurations. The fitness of each individual was evaluated by performing two-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations. OpenFOAM was used for performing numerical simulations. Qualitative data of torque, pressure, velocity, and turbulence kinetic energy of best configuration is shown. A considerable increase in torque in the final geometry. The model was found ideal for optimizing multi-element VAWT configuration.