NACA Airfoil Simulation Using SolidWorks.

PROJECT TITLE: NACA AIRFOIL SIMULATION.

OBJECTIVE:

                            NACA Airfoil Simulation


1. This project will deal with the variation of lift and drag forces for different angle 
   of attacks.
2. The medium used is air.
3. The velocity of air is taken as 600m/s in the positive direction of x-axis flowing 
   over the foil.
4. The problem is dealt with time dependency neglecting the effect of gravity.
5. For better and accurate results mesh refinement has been done on the surface of the 
   airfoil.
6. The cut plots and the forces in the X and Y directions are then observed and plotted 
   with respect to the angle of attack.

RESULTS:

Now the Pressure and the Velocity cut plots for different angle of attack are shown below:

For Angle Of Attack= 0 degree:

For Angle Of Attack= 2 degree:

For Angle Of Attack= 4 degree:

For Angle Of Attack= 6 degree:

For Angle Of Attack= 8 degree:

For Angle Of Attack= 10 degree:

Now the data for the Lift forces and the Drag Forces for different angle of attack:

Now the plots for the variation of lift and drag forces with the change in the angle of attack:

Conclusion:

 First of all if we take the drag force vs angle of attack plot we can see that the drag force is very less and is almost constant for very small angles(+/-4 degrees). As the angle of attack increases the drag force also increases as we can see from the plot.

This happens because of increased frontal area and increased boundary layer thickness. As an object moves through the air, air molecules stick to the surface. This creates a layer of air near the surface called a boundary layer which, in effect, changes the shape of the object.

Also at 0 degree angle, there is a slight value of the drag force the is the result of the skin friction and airfoil shape.

Now,talking about the lift force vs angle of attack plot,the magnitude of the lift generated by an object depends on the shape of the object and how it moves through the air. For thin airfoils, the lift is directly proportional to the angle of attack for small angles (within +/- 10 degrees) which is clearly seen over here.
Another interesting fact is that the boundary layer may lift off or "separate" from the body and create an effective shape much different from the physical shape. The separation of the boundary layer explains why aircraft wings will abruptly lose lift at high angles to the flow. This condition is called a wing stall.