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A Review on Aerodynamic Behavior of Airfoil when Surface Modified

Article in International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research · March 2016

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 International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 7, Issue 3, March-2016 516
ISSN 2229-5518

A Review on Aerodynamic Behavior of Airfoil

when Surface Modified
Amit Kumar Saraf, Dr. Mahendra Pratap Singh, Dr. Tejsingh Chouhan

Abstract— There are limitations of engines of aircraft to decrease drag and increase efficiency. Efficiencies requirement is increasing day
to day. Airfoil plays an important role in efficiency of aircraft. Modification in the shape of airfoil is also important in aircraft. General airfoil
behavior has been analyzed by many researchers. In this paper airfoil characteristics given by many researchers are studied while
surfaces of airfoils were modified. Modification on surface of airfoil gives significant changes in result. Without consuming much amount of
fuel in aircraft drag can be decreased with simple modification on airfoil surface..

Index Terms— Airfoil, CFD, Aerodynamic behavior, Coefficient of Lift & Drag,angle of attack,flow separation,Dimple .

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION

I N early days with the help of powerful engines effort was

made to reduce drag and increase lift and velocity of air-
plane. Importance of aerodynamics came in role in the
rough airfoil were compared. It was observed that aerodynam-
ic losses were increased at high Reynolds no and losses were
decreased at low Reynolds no. in rough airfoil. Separation
twelfth century. Modification in airfoil shape plays an im- bubble becomes weak due to roughness of surface at low
portant role in aerodynamics. Various types of airfoil series Reynolds no [3].
were developed. Every series has its own aerodynamics char- NACA00012 airfoil was tested under different turbulent

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acteristics. Such approach is still used. The flow separation on models i.e. [Spalart-Allmaras, Realizable k-ε and k-ω shear
airfoil increases pressure drag. During flight, increases or de- stress transport (SST)].These turbulent models were compared
creases in lift will cause incremental starting or stopping vorti- and validated with experimental data. It was found that k-ω
ces, always with the effect of maintaining a smooth parallel shear stress transport (SST) gives the best result for given air-
flow at the trailing edge. At a low angle of attack, the rear sur- foil. 80000 cells were taken for simulation. Air velocity was
faces have an adverse pressure gradient but not enough to taken constant. Before solving it the main important work was
cause significant boundary-layer separation. As the angle of to find out the transition point. Transition point should be
attack is increased, the upper-surface adverse gradient be- modeled to get more accurate result. Here commercial CFD
comes stronger, and generally a separation bubble begins to software was used. According to this if much amount of nodes
creep forward on the upper surface. At a certain angle α = 150 are used, result will be more accurate, but huge amount of
to 20°, the flow is separated completely from the upper sur- nodes take much time in computation. Here C type grid to-
face. pology was used and 80000 quadrilateral cells were taken.
Transition point was determined by hit and trial method. If the
value of simulated C D is greater than experimental value, it
2 LITERATURE REVIEW means that transition point chosen is wrong, turbulent region
2.1 Review Stage is larger. SO author have to shift it in right side and according-
NACA4315 model was used to analyze the aerodynamic ly he can determine transition point. In result there was a dis-
properties. Bumps were used at upper surface on trailing side. agreement between the data at near stall. The predicted drag
The bumps were created 80% from leading edge. Regular and coefficient was higher than experimental data. This is because
bumped airfoils were compared. It shows that stall angle in- the actual airfoil has laminar over the half of leading side.
creased due to controlling on flow separation [13]. Turbulent model consider turbulent boundary layer through-
Airfoil four digit nomenclatures tell camber and thickness out its length [12].
of airfoil. From this, we can find airfoil series. This helps to Two row and eight rows dimples on flat surface were inves-
change the camber of airfoil and location of maximum thick- tigated and observed that dimples were effective to convert
laminar into turbulent at low Reynolds no. Multiple rows in-
creases strength of mixing flows. The analysis was also done
———————————————— on sphere where it was found that drag were decreased in
• Amit Kumar Saraf is Phd Scholar in Jagannath University Jaipur, Rajasthan dimpled sphere compared to smooth sphere [4].
India. (Phone: +919928396705; e-mail: [email protected]) There were various experiments going on with various
• Dr.Mahendra Pratap Singh, is with Jagannath University Jaipur, Rajasthan
India. He is now with the Department of Mechanical Engineering (e-mail: methods to reduce drag and to improve efficiency of wind
[email protected]) turbine, airfoil of flight vehicle etc. A detailed study was done
• Dr. Tejsingh Chouhan is with the Mechanical Engineering Department, Raj- on airfoil to reduce drag on the trailing side. Since one of the
dhani Institute of Technology & Management,Jaipur Rajasthan, India (e-mail:
main reason of drag or pressure drag is the formation of tur-
[email protected])
bulent on the trailing side. Roughness was created in turbulent
ness [2].
region of the smooth airfoil. This result in decrease in drag
At various Reynolds no aerodynamic property of smooth and and gives better aerodynamic efficiency. Experimental work
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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 7, Issue 3, March-2016 517
ISSN 2229-5518
was done using a wind tunnel and it was found that lower dimples [11].
roughness gives the better result than upper roughness com- Maximum thickness location of the airfoil has been optimized
pared to smooth airfoil. Triangular roughness was gives better by using Genetic Algorithm on NACA 0012 airfoil. For changing
result than others and roughness was placed on 60% from the the angle of attack microcontroller has been designed. Airfoil
leading edge on the lower surface. The drag was reduced at characteristics have been studied i.e pressure, drag, lift and mo-
negative angle of attack -200,-150,-100 when the roughness at ment under subsonic condition. Mat Lab was used to validate the
the lower side of the airfoil, but at the positive angle of attack results. Eight different best designs have been considered out of
200,150,100 the drag was reduced when the roughness at the various designs according to Genetic Algorithm. Composite ma-
upper side of the airfoil. CFD analysis was also done and terial was used for wind tunnel test. Design no.6 gives the best
found that lift and drag altered. [1].
results out of the eight designs. Result shows that 1% hike in lift
Surface modification was done by using inward and outward
and 26% fall in drag observed at Mach no 0.7. There was 28%
dimples using 2-D CFD with k-ω turbulent model. CFD analysis
hike in L/D at Mach No.0.4. Design no six fails in stability due to
was done on various types of shapes of dimples and tested in 2-D
much variation in momentum as angle of attack increased [19].
and on 3-D CFD analysis. The result shows that dimples affect
NACA 2412 dimpled and smooth 3d printed airfoil was tested
the drag much more, since it delays boundary separation and re-
at various angles of attack. Velocity varies 5, 10 m/s with differ-
duce wake formation by increasing turbulent. The study was done
ent angle of attack that varies from 60 to 180. The complete eval-
on NACA-0018 airfoil and flow condition taken subsonic. Cati-
uation was at low angle of attack. Printed 3D model of airfoil was
aV5 R18 was used for CAD model and simulation was done on
cured with acetone vapour bath for smoothness of surface.3-D
Comsol 3.4 and Comsol 4.2a. The result shows that there is in-
printer was used to save time & money. After experiment it was
crease in lift and decrement in drag. Vortex generators also used
observed that dimpled airfoil give increase in stall then smoothed
to create turbulence by creating vortices. Turbulence result shows
airfoil. Stall angle of attack is increased by 2.10 [8].
that it delay in boundary layer separation, hence it leads to in-
A low pressure turbine blade was investigated to examine dif-
crease in stall and decrease in pressure drag and therefore in-

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ferent dimple pattern. Three different pattern were tested with
crease in lift. Dimples on airfoil work as a vortex generator. At
experimental and computational basis. Dimple pattern were lo-
stall condition flow separation dominates and decrease in lift.
cated at 65% and 76% on the axial cord of the airfoil. One pattern
Here 2-D Model were computed with inward and outward dim-
of single row with 2.22 and 4.44 cm spacing was investigated.
ples and it was found that outward dimple perform better at posi-
Second pattern of double row staggered with 4.44 cm spacing
tive angle of attack and is suitable for further study. On the basis
was investigated. All patterns were also investigated on CFD
of this a new matrix of outward dimple can be made. In complete
tool. In this spacing in single row pattern was 2 cm and in double
study it was to determine the sustainability of dimples to act as
staggered row was 4 cm investigated.CFD software FLUENT
vortex generator [26].
v6.1, Gridgenv15 and FIELDVIEW v9.1 was used. All experi-
Computational fluid dynamics was used to study of airfoil.
ments were performed at 25K, 45K and 100K Reynolds no. It has
Other researcher’s drawbacks were the motivation to do study of
been observed that loss efficiency was increased by 35% at 25K.
passive device to improve the lift and decrease in drag of airfoil.
Induced turbulent did not play a significant role in flow separa-
Most efficient position of the dimple and cylinder was found out.
tion. Experimental & computation result were approximately
The dimple model shows good result than cylinder. Modeling
identical [6].
was done in CATIA V5 R20, preprocessing was done on ANSYS
On the bluff body roughness stimulates turbulence hence leads
ICEM CFD 14.0 and post processing done on ANSYS FLUENT
to delay in separation of boundary layer. Since old golf ball runs
14.0. If the location of dimple or cylinder was at the optimum
faster than new golf ball because of roughness on old ball. Inspir-
position, then it gives better outcomes. NACA 4412 studied and
ing from these phenomena some researcher made golf ball with
model prepared in CATIA V5 R20. Both models were analyzed
dimple. Chear take a car model with different dimples on it. Flow
but it was found that dimple model gives better result. Fine mesh-
was considered turbulent and simulation done with k-ε turbulent
ing give more accurate result, but computer memory and time are
model. Aim was to reduce drag on car. Dimple ratio (depth to
the limitations. Result showed that dimple airfoil gives the better
diameter) was designed on the car body. Five different dimple
result compared to cylinder [10].
ratio used and simulation was done on ANSYS simulation tool.
Wing was designed with dimples on the upper surface of the
With the addition of dimples turbulent kinetic energy generates
wing. Analysis was done using ANSYS. It was found that skin
within the dimple and manages the flow separation. C D was re-
frictions increased but drag reduced in such an amount that effect
duced by 1.95% when the DR is 0.4 used [9].
of skin friction can be neglected [20].
Vortex generator was provided on NACA 0015 airfoil to im-
Turbulence was created by using dimples due to generation of
prove lift and decrease drag. Vortex generator placed on 10%
vortices. This result in decreased pressure drags and improves
from the leading edge. Experimental model developed for analy-
maneuverability. Different shapes of dimples were used. A com-
sis. VG height, space between them was also considered. The
parative study was done between inward and outward dimple. A
vortex generator height plays an important role in analysis. The
combination of two (semi spherical followed by square) dimple
optimized geometry improves result by 14% in lift and 16% in
with constant height and depth ratio studied. Inward dimpled
drag [15].
shape gives better lift coefficient in both single and compound
Advanced computational fluid dynamics models are focused
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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 7, Issue 3, March-2016 518
ISSN 2229-5518
which are capable of capturing the micro scale flow physics asso- airfoil. It was observed that flow is periodic with temporal fre-
ciated with passive vortex generator. VG are used on wind tur- quency of 1.27. In two dimensional flows it was observed that
bine blade. So many research has been performed on vortex gen- monotonic energy increases with interval of time and it can reach
erator the device ranges from 10%-50% of the boundary layer up to around six order of larger [18].
thickness [28].
Whenever airplane stall and suddenly lose lift required, in that Design of Natural Laminar Flow on airfoil can be used to in-
case dimples on airfoil used to increase lift. Material used for this crease in the percentage of laminar flow and to decrease drag by
purpose was balsa wood 4 feet long. Comparison was done on using Boundary Layer Mixing Devices. Vortex generators were
dimpled and without dimpled airfoil 15 times. Second airfoil was used as a boundary layer mixing device in current uses through-
again tested to validate data. Result showed that dimpled airfoil out aircraft industries. Vortex generators are passive flow control
performed well [21]. device and do not require any additional power to operate. In
A high lift airfoil at low Reynolds no has been designed and order to reduce laminar bubble several airfoil section were de-
the experiment has been performed and validated at NASA Lang- signed. Code was modified to design airfoil at the upper and low-
ley Research Center’s Low Turbulence Pressure Tunnel. It was er surface with the help of vortex generator [17].
observed that airfoil become more cambered when the pitching A car model was used and dimple ratio (depth to diameter) al-
moment increases. Wind tunnel model S1223 was tested at so designed on the car body. In this paper 5 different dimple ratio
Reynolds no 2 X 105. Experiment was done using VG and Gur- were used. Simulation was done on ANSYS simulation tool [9].
ney Flap [24]. Sphere is a bluff body and dimple pattern on the spherical
Aerodynamics characteristics were measured and flow separa- body was studied by understanding the flow of hydrodynamics.
tion is determined.NACA0015 model airfoil is used and C- Experimental and numerical investigation was performed. By
Programming is used. Cp and x/c graph was analyzed and found using various turbulent models, K-w turbulent model gives good
that at 120 AOA there is no flat area and at an AOA 200 it seems results and k-ε is not useful for curved body. Geometry of dimple

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that value of Cp was approx smooth, showing boundary later also affects significantly aerodynamic characteristics. Formation
separation. It is clear from this paper that flow separation cannot of small separation bubble leads to delay of the flow separation
be controlled or delayed with conventional ways [16]. [5].
Dimpled surface augmentation and grit is used on NACA0011 With the help of nose flap, slas, variable camber can increase
and NACA16611.Surface augmented dimple taken at 50% chord, lift coefficient but these are mechanically complex. The addition
23% chord and 8% chord from leading edge to trailing edge. A of roughness or vortex generator is the simplest technique to in-
grit tape was also used. Different test was done and finally it was crease lift coefficient. Vortex generator can be taken at 10% of
observed in every test that from 8% chord to the trailing edge had chord from leading edge, its height and length is about 1% of
reduced separation [27]. chord and 2-3% of chord respectively [14].
Vortex generators used to delay flow separation. The main fac- Riblets are also used to reduce skin friction, ultimately re-
tors considered was chord wise position, size, aspect ratio, incli- duced drag up to 6-10%. Use of riblet is as a passive flow con-
nation of VG and inter and intra spacing. In this research VG are trol technique. Though roughness reduces drag but increases
placed at x/c=0.15, x/c = 0.20 and x/c = 0.3 from leading edge. skin friction so riblet is the best method to control skin friction
Stalling angle is increased when VG moved towards leading edge [23]..
[25].
Air jet vortex generator also used to suppress the flow separa- 4 CONCLUSION
tion. A passive vortex generator jet flow control system was used
Though surface modification has been done in previous studies
from leading edge attachment line fed the upper surface air jet. In
but in some studies there is a gap and there may be further scope
this we do not require any active energy input. Air jet vortex gen-
of modification to increase the efficiency of airfoils. This study
erator (AJVG) located at 12% of chord. NACA 23012C model is
shall be useful in aircraft industry and wherever the airfoils are
compared with active and passive AJVG. The result shows that
used. This study has huge scope as per previous researches.
span wise array of passive air jet vortex generator can effectively
Combination of two types of modification is still not done. The
delay separation [22].
main objective of this review is to analyze the behavior of airfoil
In this paper active flow control system was used. The vortex
when its surface is modified. Computational fluid dynamics is
generator jet added to the main wing to suppress the separation.
carried out for analysis of flow aiming to enhance aerodynamic
Slatless high lift airfoil was used with a flap. VG location was on
characteristics by reduction in drag. By modification on surface,
the pressure side close to leading edge. Two test were performed
airfoil characteristics of aerodynamic will change. Thus it is pre-
with constant mach no. Reynolds no varies during study. It was
dicted that lift is increased and stall angle of the airfoil is in-
found that lift is inversely proportional to Reynolds no. Dynamic
creased and drag will be reduced with modification.
blowing results higher lift [7].
NACA 0012 airfoil used to study transient growth in laminar
separation bubble. Laminar separation bubble formed due to sep-
aration of flow, the flow convert from transition to turbulent and
reattached to surface. This LSB can affect the performance of
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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 7, Issue 3, March-2016 519
ISSN 2229-5518
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