Airfoil friction drag reduction based on grid-type and super-dense array plasma actuators

To improve the cruise flight performance of aircraft, two new configurations of plasma actuators(grid-type and super-dense array) were investigated to reduce the turbulent skin friction drag of a low-speed airfoil. The induced jet characteristics of the two actuators in quiescent air were diagnosed with high-speed particle image velocimetry(PIV), and their drag reduction efficiencies were examined under different operating conditions in a wind tunnel. The results showed that the grid-type plasma actuator was capable of producing a wall-normal jet array(peak magnitude: 1.07 m/s) similar to that generated in a micro-blowing technique, while the superdense array plasma actuator created a wavy wall-parallel jet(magnitude: 0.94 m/s) due to the discrete spanwise electrostatic forces. Under a comparable electrical power consumption level,the super-dense array plasma actuator array significantly outperformed the grid-type configuration,reducing the total airfoil friction drag by approximately 22% at a free-stream velocity of 20 m/s.The magnitude of drag reduction was proportional to the dimensionless jet velocity ratio(r), and a threshold r = 0.014 existed under which little impact on airfoil drag could be discerned.

Influence of Flap Parameters on the Aerodynamic Performance of a Wind-Turbine Airfoil

A numerical method has been used to analyze the flow field related to a NACA 0015 airfoil with and without a flap and assess the influence of the flap height and angle on the surface pressure coefficient,lift coefficient,and drag coefficient.The numerical results demonstrate that the flap can effectively improve the lift coefficient of the airfoil;however,at small attack angles,its influence is significantly reduced.When the angle of attack exceeds the critical stall angle and the flap height is 1.5%of the chord length,the influence of the flap becomes very evident.As the flap height increases,the starting point of the separation vortex gradually moves forward and generates a larger wake vortex.Optimal aerodynamic characteristics are obtained for 1.5%(of the chord length)flap height and a 45°flap angle;in this case,the separation vortex is effectively reduced.

Research on Leading Edge Erosion and Aerodynamic Characteristics of Wind Turbine Blade Airfoil

The effects of the erosion present on the leading edge of a wind turbine airfoil(DU 96-W-180)on its aerodynamic performances have been investigated numerically in the framework of a SST k–ωturbulence model based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations(RANS).The results indicate that when sand-induced holes and small pits are involved as leading edge wear features,they have a minimal influence on the lift and drag coefficients of the airfoil.However,if delamination occurs in the same airfoil region,it significantly impacts the lift and resistance characteristics of the airfoil.Specifically,as the angle of attack grows,there is a significant decrease in the lift coefficient accompanied by a sharp increase in the drag coefficient.As wear intensifies,these effects gradually increase.Moreover,the leading edge wear can exacerbate flow separation near the trailing edge suction surface of the airfoil and cause forward displacement of the separation point.

Fourier neural operator with boundary conditions for efficient prediction of steady airfoil flows

An efficient data-driven approach for predicting steady airfoil flows is proposed based on the Fourier neural operator(FNO),which is a new framework of neural networks.Theoretical reasons and experimental results are provided to support the necessity and effectiveness of the improvements made to the FNO,which involve using an additional branch neural operator to approximate the contribution of boundary conditions to steady solutions.The proposed approach runs several orders of magnitude faster than the traditional numerical methods.The predictions for flows around airfoils and ellipses demonstrate the superior accuracy and impressive speed of this novel approach.Furthermore,the property of zero-shot super-resolution enables the proposed approach to overcome the limitations of predicting airfoil flows with Cartesian grids,thereby improving the accuracy in the near-wall region.There is no doubt that the unprecedented speed and accuracy in forecasting steady airfoil flows have massive benefits for airfoil design and optimization.

Optimized Design of H-Type Vertical Axis Wind Airfoil at Multiple Angles of Attack

Numerical simulations are conducted to improve the energy acquisition efficiency of H-type vertical axis wind turbines through the optimization of the related blade airfoil aerodynamic performance.The Bézier curve is initi-ally used tofit the curve profile of a NACA2412 airfoil,and the moving asymptote algorithm is then exploited to optimize the design of the considered H-type vertical-axis wind-turbine blade airfoil for a certain attack angle.The results show that the maximum lift coefficient of the optimized airfoil is 8.33%higher than that of the original airfoil.The maximum lift-to-drag ratio of the optimized airfoil exceeds the maximum lift-to-drag ratio of the ori-ginal airfoil by 11.22%.Moreover,the power coefficient is increased by 12.19%and the torque coefficient of the wind turbine is significantly improved.

Design and Structure Optimization of Plenum Chamber with Airfoil Baffle to Improve Its Outlet Velocity Uniformity in Heat Setting Machines

The plenum chamber of a heat setting machine is a key structure for distributing hot air to different air channels.Its outlet velocity uniformity directly determines the heating uniformity of textiles,significantly affecting the heat setting performance.In a traditional heat setting machine,the outlet airflow maldistribution of the plenum chamber still exists.In this study,a novel plenum chamber with an airfoil baffle was established to improve the uniformity of the velocity distribution at the outlet in a heat setting machine.The structural influence of the plenum chamber on the velocity distribution was investigated using a computational fluid dynamics program.It was found that a chamber with a smaller outlet partition thickness had a better outlet velocity uniformity.The structural optimization of the plenum chamber was conducted using the particle swarm optimization algorithm.The outlet partition thickness,the transverse distance and the longitudinal distance of the optimized plenum chamber were 20,686.2 and 274.6 mm,respectively.Experiments were carried out.The experimental and simulated results showed that the optimized plenum chamber with an airfoil baffle could improve the outlet velocity uniformity.The air outlet velocity uniformity index of the optimized plenum chamber with an airfoil baffle was 4.75%higher than that of the plenum chamber without an airfoil baffle and 5.98%higher than that of the conventional chamber with a square baffle in a commercial heat setting machine.

Numerical Study on Low-Reynolds Compressible Flows around Mars Helicopter Rotor Blade Airfoil

High-speed rotor rotation under the low-density condition creates a special low-Reynolds compressible flow around the rotor blade airfoil where the compressibility effect on the laminar separated shear layer occurs. However, the compressibility effect and shock wave generation associated with the increase in the Mach number (M) and the trend change due to their interference have not been clarified. The purpose is to clear the compressibility effect and its impact of shock wave generation on the flow field and aerodynamics. Therefore, we perform a two-dimensional unsteady calculation by Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis using the CLF5605 airfoil used in the Mars helicopter Ingenuity, which succeeded in its first flight on Mars. The calculation conditions are set to the Reynolds number (Re) at 75% rotor span in hovering (Re = 15,400), and the Mach number was varied from incompressible (M = 0.2) to transonic (M = 1.2). The compressible fluid dynamics solver FaSTAR developed by the Japan aerospace exploration agency (JAXA) is used, and calculations are performed under multiple conditions in which the Mach number and angle of attack (α) are swept. The results show that a flow field is similar to that in the Earth’s atmosphere above M = 1.0, such as bow shock at the leading edge, whereas multiple λ-type shock waves are observed over the separated shear layer above α = 3° at M = 0.80. However, no significant difference is found in the Cp distribution around the airfoil between M = 0.6 and M = 0.8. From the results, it is found that multiple λ-type shock waves have no significant effect on the airfoil surface pressure distribution, the separated shear layer effect is dominant in the surface pressure change and aerodynamic characteristics.

Robust Airfoil Optimization with Multi-objective Estimation of Distribution Algorithm

A transonic airfoil designed by means of classical point-optimization may result in its dramatically inferior performance under off-design conditions. To overcome this shortcoming, robust design is proposed to find out the optimal profile of an airfoil to maintain its performance in an uncertain environment. The robust airfoil optimization is aimed to minimize mean values and variances of drag coefficients while satisfying the lift and thickness constraints over a range of Mach numbers. A multi-objective estimation of distribution algorithm is applied to the robust airfoil optimization on the base of the RAE2822 benchmark airfoil. The shape of the airfoil is obtained through superposing ten Hick-Henne shape functions upon the benchmark airfoil. A set of design points is selected according to a uniform design table for aerodynamic evaluation. A Kriging model of drag coefficient is constructed with those points to reduce computing costs. Over the Mach range from 0.7 to 0.8, the airfoil generated by the robust optimization has a configuration characterized by supercritical airfoil with low drag coefficients. The small fluctuation in its drag coefficients means that the performance of the robust airfoil is insensitive to variation of Mach number.

N-S EQUATION CALCULATIONS ON MULTI-ELEMENT AIRFOILS WITH ZONAL PATCHED GRIDS

For a complex flow about multi-element airfoils a mixed grid method is set up. C-type grids are produced on each element′s body and in their wakes at first, O-type grids are given in the outmost area, and H-type grids are used in middle additional areas. An algebra method is used to produce the initial grids in each area. And the girds are optimized by elliptical differential equation method. Then C-O-H zonal patched grids around multi-element airfoils are produced automatically and efficiently. A time accurate finite-volume integration method is used to solve the compressible laminar and turbulent Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations on the grids. Computational results prove the method to be effective.

TWO-DIMENSIONAL STOCHASTIC AIRFOIL OPTIMIZATION DESIGN METHOD BASED ON NEURAL NETWORKS

To avoid the aerodynamic performance loss of airfoil at non-design state which often appears in single point design optimization, and to improve the adaptability to the uncertain factors in actual flight environment, a two-dimensional stochastic airfoil optimization design method based on neural networks is presented. To provide highly efficient and credible analysis, four BP neural networks are built as surrogate models to predict the airfoil aerodynamic coefficients and geometry parameter. These networks are combined with the probability density function obeying normal distribution and the genetic algorithm, thus forming an optimization design method. Using the method, for GA（W）-2 airfoil, a stochastic optimization is implemented in a two-dimensional flight area about Mach number and angle of attack. Compared with original airfoil and single point optimization design airfoil, results show that the two-dimensional stochastic method can improve the performance in a specific flight area, and increase the airfoil adaptability to the stochastic changes of multiple flight parameters.

Robust design of natural laminar flow supercritical airfoil by multi-objective evolution method

Abstract A transonic, high Reynolds number natural laminar flow airfoil is designed and studied. The γ-θ transition model is combined with the shear stress transport （SST） k-w turbulence model to predict the transition region for a laminar-turbulent boundary layer. The non-uniform free-form deformation （NFFD） method based on the non-uniform rational B-spline （NURBS） basis function is introduced to the airfoil parameterization. The non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II （NSGA-II） is used as the search algo- rithm, and the surrogate model based on the Kriging models is introduced to improve the efficiency of the optimization system. The optimization system is set up based on the above technologies, and the robust design about the uncertainty of the Mach number is carried out for NASA0412 airfoil. The optimized airfoil is analyzed and compared with the original airfoil. The results show that natural laminar flow can be achieved on a supercritical airfoil to improve the aerodynamic characteristic of airfoils.

Effect of Cambering on the Aerodynamic Performance of Heaving Airfoils

In the present work,a parametric numerical study is conducted in order to assess the effect of airfoil cambering on the aerodynamic performance of rigid heaving airfoils.The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are solved in their velocity-pressure formulation using a second-order accurate in space and time finite-difference scheme.To tackle the problem of moving boundaries,the governing equations are solved on overlapping structured grids.The numerical simulations are performed at a Reynolds number of Re=1100 and at different values of Strouhal number and reduced frequency.The results obtained show that the airfoil cambering geometric parameter has a strong influence on the average lift coefficient,while it has a smaller impact on the average thrust coefficient and propulsive efficiency of heaving airfoils.

COMPRESSIBLE FLOW SIMULATION AROUND AIRFOIL BASED ON LATTICE BOLTZMANN METHOD

The flow around airfoil NACA0012 enwrapped by the body-fitted grid is simulated by a coupled doubledistribution-function （DDF） lattice Boltzmann method （LBM） for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. Firstly, the method is tested by simulating the low Reynolds number flow at Ma =0. 5,a=0. 0, Re=5 000. Then the simulation of flow around the airfoil is carried out at Ma：0. 5, 0. 85, 1.2; a=-0.05, 1.0, 0.0, respectively. And a better result is obtained by using a local refined grid. It reduces the error produced by the grid at Ma=0. 85. Though the inviscid boundary condition is used to avoid the problem of flow transition to turbulence at high Reynolds numbers, the pressure distribution obtained by the simulation agrees well with that of the experimental results. Thus, it proves the reliability of the method and shows its potential for the compressible flow simulation. The suecessful application to the flow around airfoil lays a foundation of the numerical simulation of turbulence.

Transonic Airfoil Design and Optimization for an Unmanned Air Vehicle Concept

Design,optimization and analysis of a new energy efficient 16%thick transonic airfoil were completed for a notional air vehicle concept.The airfoil specifications included a range of Reynolds number per foot from 1.7 million to 2.5 million and Mach number from 0.4 to 0.8.Shape optimization in geometry and inverse design modules of the airfoil analysis program MSES were used to design a new 16%thick reference airfoil.The performance of the reference airfoil was then optimized with an objective of minimizing drag coefficient for 7 design points with conflicting requirements in Reynolds and Mach number by using the MSES/LINDOP optimizer.The optimization results in an upward shift of drag bucket in the direction of higher lift coefficient.Both surface pressure distribution and Mach contour plots show that supersonic compression waves on airfoil surface are terminated at Mach 0.78 with a normal shock wave and associated flow separation,which causes not only a decrease of the maximum suction pressure,but also a decrease in lift and increase in drag coefficient.The new optimized airfoil shows robust performance when operating within the specified design constraints.

AERODYNAMIC FORCE AND FLOW STRUCTURES OF TWO AIRFOILS IN FLAPPING MOTIONS

Aerodynamic force and flow structures of two airfoils in a tandem configuration in flapping motions axe studied, by solving the Navier-Stokes equations in moving overset grids. Three typical phase differences between the fore- and aft-airfoil flapping cycles are considered. It is shown that: (1) in the case of no interaction (single airfoil), the time average of the vertical force coefficient over the downstroke is 2.74, which is about 3 times as large as the maximum steady-state lift coefficient of a dragonfly wing; the time average of the horizontal force coefficient is 1.97, which is also large. The reasons for the large force coefficients are the acceleration at the beginning of a stroke, the delayed stall and the 'pitching-up' motion near the end of the stroke. (2) In the cases of two-airfoils, the time-variations of the force and moment coefficients on each airfoil are broadly similar to that of the single airfoil in that the vertical force is mainly produced in downstroke and the horizontal force in upstroke, but very large differences exist due to the interaction. (3) For in-phase stroking, the major differences caused by the interaction are that the vertical force on FA in downstroke is increased and the horizontal force on FA in upstroke decreased. As a result, the magnitude of the resultant force is almost unchanged but it inclines less forward. (4) For counter stroking, the major differences are that the vertical force on AA in downstroke and the horizontal force on FA in upstroke are decreased. As a result, the magnitude of the resultant force is decreased by about 20 percent but its direction is almost unchanged. (5) For 90 degrees -phase-difference stroking, the major differences axe that the vertical force on AA in downstroke and the horizontal force on FA in upstroke axe decreased greatly and the horizontal force on AA in upstroke increased. As a result, the magnitude of the resultant force is decreased by about 28% and it inclines more forward. (6) Among the three cases of phase angles, inphase flapping produces the largest vertical force (also the largest resultant force); the 90 degrees -phase-difference flapping results in the largest horizontal force, but the smallest resultant force.

A STUDY ON THE MECHANISM OF HIGH-LIFT GENERATION BY AN AIRFOIL IN UNSTEADY MOTION AT LOW REYNOLDS NUMBER

The aerodynamic force and flow structure of NACA 0012 airfoil performing an unsteady motion at low Reynolds number (Re = 100) are calculated by solving Navier-Stokes equations. The motion consists of three parts: the first translation, rotation and the second translation in the direction opposite to the first. The rotation and the second translation in this motion are expected to represent the rotation and translation of the wing-section of a hovering insect. The flow structure is used in combination with the theory of vorticity dynamics to explain the generation of unsteady aerodynamic force in the motion. During the rotation, due to the creation of strong vortices in short time, large aerodynamic force is produced and the force is almost normal to the airfoil chord. During the second translation, large lift coefficient can be maintained for certain time period and (C) over bar (L), the lift coefficient averaged over four chord lengths of travel, is larger than 2 (the corresponding steady-state lift coefficient is only 0.9). The large lift coefficient is due to two effects. The first is the delayed shedding of the stall vortex. The second is that the vortices created during the airfoil rotation and in the near wake left by previous translation form a short 'vortex street' in front of the airfoil and the 'vortex street' induces a 'wind'; against this 'wind' the airfoil translates, increasing its relative speed. The above results provide insights to the understanding of the mechanism of high-lift generation by a hovering insect.

Numerical and experimental research of flow control on an NACA 0012 airfoil by local vibration

A flow control technique by local vibration is proposed to improve the aerodynamic performance of a typical airfoil NACA 0012. Both wind-tunnel experiments and a large eddy simulation(LES) are carried out to study the effects of local vibration on drag reduction over a wide range of angles of attack. The application parameters of local vibration on the upper surface of the airfoil are first evaluated by numerical simulations.The mounted position is chosen at 0.065–0.09 of chord length from the leading edge.The influence of oscillation frequency is investigated both by numerical simulations and experiments. The optimal frequencies are near the dominant frequencies of shear layer vortices and wake vortices. The patterns of shear vortices caused by local vibration are also studied to determine the drag reduction mechanism of this flow control method. The results indicate that local vibration can improve the aerodynamic performance of the airfoil. In particular, it can reduce the drag by changing the vortex generation patterns.

Experimental Investigation on Airfoil Shock Control by Plasma Aerodynamic Actuation

An experimental investigation on airfoil （NACA64-215） shock control is performed by plasma aerodynamic actuation in a supersonic tunnel （Ma -= 2）. The results of schlieren and pressure measurement show that when plasma aerodynamic actuation is applied, the position moves forward and the intensity of shock at the head of the airfoil weakens. With the increase in actuating voltage, the total pressure measured at the head of the airfoil increases, which means that the shock intensity decreases and the control effect increases. The best actuation effect is caused by upwind-direction actuation with a magnetic field, and then downwind-direction actuation with a magnetic field, while the control effect of aerodynamic actuation without a magnetic field is the most inconspicuous. The mean intensity of the normal shock at the head of the airfoil is relatively decreased by 16.33%, and the normal shock intensity is relatively reduced by 27.5% when 1000 V actuating voltage and upwind-direction actuation are applied with a magnetic field. This paper theoretically analyzes the Joule heating effect generated by DC discharge and the Lorentz force effect caused by the magnetic field. The discharge characteristics are compared for all kinds of actuation conditions to reveal the mechanism of shock control by plasma aerodynamic actuation.

Limit cycle oscillation suppression of 2-DOF airfoil using nonlinear energy sink

This paper presents a novel mechanical attachment, i.e., nonlinear energy sink （NES）, for suppressing the limit cycle oscillation （LCO） of an airfoil. The dynamic responses of a two-degree-of-freedom （2-DOF） airfoil coupled with an NES are studied with the harmonic balance method. Different structure parameters of the NES, i.e., mass ratio between the NES and airfoil, NES offset, NES damping, and nonlinear stiffness in the NES, are chosen for studying the effect of the LCO suppression on an aeroelastic system with a supercritical Hopf bifurcation or subcritical Hopf bifurcation, respectively. The results show that the structural parameters of the NES have different influence on the supercritical Hopf bifurcation system and the subcritical Hopf bifurcation system.

Numerical simulation of Gurney flap on SFYT15thick airfoil

A two-dimensional steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes （RANS） equation was solved to investigate the effects of a Gurney flap on SFYT15 thick airfoil aerodynamic performance. This airfoil was designed for flight vehicle operating at 20 km altitude with freestream velocity of 25 m/s, The chord length （C） is 5 m and the Reynolds number based on chord length is Re = 7.76 × 10^5. Gurney flaps with the heights ranging from 0.25%C to 3%C were investigated. The shear stress transport （SST） k-ω turbulence model was used to simulate the flow structure around the airfoil. It is showed that Gurney flap can enhance not only the prestall lift but also lift-to-drag ratio in a certain range of angles of attack. Specially, at cruise angle of attack （ω = 3°）, Gurney flap with 0.5%C height can increase lift-to-drag ratio by 2.7%, and lift coefficient by 12.9%, respectively. Furthermore, the surface pressure distribution, streamlines and trailing-edge flow structure around the airfoil are illustrated, which are helpful to understand the mechanisms of Gurney flap on airfoil aerodynamic performance. Moreover, it is found that the increase of airfoil drag with Gurney flap can be attributed to the increase of pressure drag between the windward and the leeward sides of Gurney flat itself.