Flow over an airfoil [flow simulation SolidWorks]

Objective:

• Model the flow over a NACA0017 airfoil
• For the angle of attacks 0,2,4,6,8,10 compare the lift and drag forces
  
  

Procedure:

1. The geometry for the airfoil was created using the coordinates provided along with the challenge. Similar geometries can also be found at http://airfoiltools.com/search/airfoils
2. After creating the geometry, The sketch was closed and extruded to get the final airfoil.
3. Next step was to set up the flow simulation in such a way that it would be easy for us to complete our objective.
4. The sample space created was according to the norms provided in the video viz a viz 5-10times the airfoil length in front and 10-15 times the length of the foil at the backside.
5. Mesh of the airfoil was refined at the edges and size was appropriately adjusted to get the best results.
6. Cut Plots were introduced so as to understand how the flow was happening.

Results:

Here we can find the results for the different angles of attack. Force[x] denotes the drag force & Force[y] denotes the lift force.

1. 0degrees angle of attack:
   
   
   
   
   Lift & Drag force values:
   
   
   
   Lift & Drag force comparison:
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. 2 degree angle of attack
   
   
   Lift & Drag force values:
   
   
   
   Lift & Drag force comparison:
   
   
   
   
   
3. 4 degree angle of attack
   
   
   
   Lift & Drag force values:
   
   
   
   Lift & Drag force comparison:
   
   
   
   
   
4. 6 degree angle of attack
   
   
   
   Lift & Drag force values:
   
   
   
   Lift & Drag force comparison:
   
   
   
   
   
5. 8 degree angle of attack:
   
   
   
   Lift & Drag force values:
   
   
   
   Lift & Drag force comparison:
   
   
   
   
   
6. 10 degree angle of attack:
   
   
   
   Lift & Drag force values:
   
   
   
   Lift & Drag force comparison:
   
   
   
   
   

Observation:

• We can clearly see with the help of iteration vs Force graphs that the force becomes constant after a specific number of iterations. This means that this solution can be accepted.
  
  
• We can also see after comparing all the values for different angles of attack that the lift force increases with increasing angle of attack.
  
  `therefore` The angle of attack `prop` Lift force.
  
  
• Similarly, the drag force also increases with increasing angle of attack.
  
  `therefore` The angle of attack `prop` Drag force.