FLOW ANALYSIS OF A NACA0017 AIRFOIL (using SOLIDWORKS)

AIM:

To analyse the velocity flow simulation over a NACA0017 airfoil using SOLIDWORKS

OBJECTIVES:

1. To analyse the drag and lift force over the airfoil for different angles of attack
2. To analyse the velocity over the domain in which the airfoil is placed
3. To understand the aerodynamic properties of the used airfoil using the above parameters

INTRODUCTION:

An airfoil or aerofoil is the cross-sectional shape of a wing, blade (of a propellor, rotor, or turbine), or sail (as seen in cross-section).

The lift on an airfoil is primarily the result of its angle of attack. When oriented at a suitable angle, the airfoil deflects the oncoming air (for fixed-wing aircraft, a downward force), resulting in a force on the airfoil in the direction opposite to the deflection. This force is known as aerodynamic force and can be resolved into two components: lift and drag. The component of this force perpendicular to the direction of motion is called lift. The component parallel to the direction of motion is called drag.

Different parts of an airfoil is as shown below:

The lift and the drag can be shown as below:

NACA airfoil:

The NACA airfoils are airfoil shapes for aircraft wings developed by the National Advisory Committee for Aviations (NACA). The shape of the NACA airfoils is described using a series of digits following the word "NACA".

The NACA four-digit wing sections define the profile by:

1. First digit describing maximum camber as percentage of the chord.
2. Second digit describing the distance of maximum camber from the airfoil leading edge in tenths of the chord.
3. Last two digits describing maximum thickness of the airfoil as percent of the chord.

The NACA airfoil can be generated online through the following link:

http://airfoiltools.com/airfoil/naca4digit

PROCEDURE OF COMPLETION:

1. The NACA0017 airfoil was generated using the NACA airfoil generator.
2. Then, the data of the coordinates were saved and were inserted in SOLIDWORKS for making a solid body of the airfoil of thickness `0.1m`.
3. Then, the flow simulation was created having a time dependent flow with air as fluid and its velocity along x-direction as `600` m/s.
4. Then, a computational domain of `14m X 10m` was formed in the `2D` plane.
5. Then, the flow analysis was done using the flow simulation solver for different angles of attack i.e `0`,`2`,`4`,`6`,`8`,`10`.

OBSERVATIONS:

• For angle of attack = `0` degrees

The velocity flow across the airfoil is as follows:

A more magnified look into the airfoil:

The drag force experienced by the airfoil is as follows:

The lift experienced by the airfoil is as follows:

The solver for the above scenario was as follows:

SG Force (X) corresponds to the drag and (Y) corresponds to the lift.

• For angle of attack = `2` degrees,

The velocity flow across the airfoil is as follows:

The magnified version of the above is as follows:

The drag experienced by the airfoil is as follows:

The lift experienced by the airfoil is as follows:

The solver for the above scenario is as follows:

SG Force (X) corresponds to drag and (Y) corresponds to lift.

• For angle of attack = `4` degrees,

The velocity flow across the airfoil is as follows:

The magnified version is as follows:

The drag experienced by the airfoil is as follows:

The lift experienced by the airfoil is as follows:

The solver for the above scenario is as follows:

SG Force (X) corresponds to drag and (Y) corresponds to lift.

• For angle of attack = `6` degrees,

The velocity flow across the airfoil is as follows:

A more magnified view is as follows:

The drag experienced by the airfoil is as follows:

The lift experienced by the airfoil is as follows:

The solver for the above scenario is as follows:

SG Force (X) corresponds to drag and (Y) corresponds to lift.

• For angle of attack = `8` degrees,

The velocity flow across the airfoil is as follows:

A magnified view is as follows:

The drag experienced by the airfoil is as follows:

The lift experienced by the airfoil is as follows:

The solver for the above scenario is as follows:

SG Force (X) corresponds to drag and (Y) corresponds to lift.

• For angle of attack = `10` degrees,

The velocity flow across the airfoil is as follows:

A more magnified look into the above picture:

The drag experienced by the airfoil is as follows:

The lift experienced by the airfoil is as follows:

The solver for the above scenario is as follows:

SG Force (X) corresponds to drag and (Y) corresponds to lift.

CONCLUSION:

1. In the first case, the lift is kind of an oscillating one as the force tries to keep the airfoil in an equilibrium position. As it's angle of attack = `0`, so, the force becomes kind of oscillating but not oscillating.
2. The lift experienced by the airfoil increases as the angle of attack increases and so as the drag force as well.
3. In the last two cases where the angle of attack = `8` & `10` degrees, the lift force becomes very high as compared to the previous cases because the air has to lift the body more compared to the above cases.
4. The drag near the curvature is very high compared to the other part of the foil which is trivial.
5. The velocity of tha air is very high on the upper part of the airfoil than the lower part as the velocity tends to cover more area there and due to the streamlined property, the air passes over it very quickly allowing the body to cut through the air smoothly without facing much drag.