Flow Simulation and Experimental Comparative Study of Aerodynamic Forces on NACA 2415 Airfoil Scaled Model

Abstract

Aerodynamic force, which would be brought upon by the relative motion of an object and the airflow, is the force that the air in which the body is submerged exerts on the body. The normal force resulting from force on the body's surface and the shear force resulting from airflow viscosity, also known as skin friction, are the two sources of aerodynamic force. Shear force is applied locally and parallel to the surface whereas pressure acts locally and perpendicular to its surface. Pressure and shear forces combined over the full revealed body area result in the net aerodynamic force acting on the body. Lift coefficient CL and drag coefficient CD are also only parameters of the approach angle at given free-stream Mach numbers (the proportion of flow velocity to the speed of sound) and Reynolds numbers (the proportion of inertial forces to viscous forces). In this work, Ansys fluent software is used to analyze the flow over a NACA 2415 airfoil (4-digit series). The results will be compared with the experimental results. For experimentation a low subsonic wind tunnel is utilized C_L to C_D ratios are tabulated for airfoil at specified angles of attack where the flow velocity is kept constant for all testing. With the obtained plots, the finite wing with NACA 2415 airfoil design can be optimized. Also, from this analysis an optimized angle of attack with better aerodynamic characteristics can be predicted.