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Design of a Novel Aerofoil of a Light Aircraft for Robust Aerodynamic Performance at High Reynolds Number Regime Using XFLR5

  • Research Article-Mechanical Engineering
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Abstract

Airplanes stay lifted into the air due to the pressure difference exerted on their wings. Wings of aircraft are designed to generate lift by directing airflow such that it accelerates over the top and presses down more intensely on the underside. Although there exists a substantial body of literature that delves into the significance of airfoil design for improving aerodynamic efficiency, there is a conspicuous dearth of research pertaining to the development of a new airfoil derived from the NACA 23012 aerofoil. To bridge this critical gap in the current body of knowledge, this investigation aims to introduce innovation by crafting an original airfoil, building upon the foundational principles of the NACA 23012 aerofoil. The high-fidelity panel method was used to investigate an operating range of high Reynolds number, Re = 2 × 106. Many reconfigured airfoils have been designed and analyzed using a parametric study in XFLR5. The numerical setup's validity is established through a comparative analysis with Miley's experimental findings, revealing that the setup exhibits errors of less than 4% across all tested cases. Additionally, in a panel dependency test, the setup demonstrates minimal variation, with discrepancies remaining under 1%. To improve the aerodynamic performance of the new airfoils, geometrical parameters, such as, the leading-edge radius, trailing-edge radius, maximum thickness, and maximum chamber of the NACA 23012 were modified. After analyzing multiple cases, the optimum results for each geometric parameter are combined to generate three new airfoils. The final airfoil with the highest lift-to-drag ratio is further analyzed using flaps. The results show that the new airfoil exhibits a 7% higher lift, 5.2% higher sliding ratio than the base foil, and a 46% lower coefficient of moment than the base foil. An analysis performed on a 3D wing constructed with the new airfoil shows its applicability in constructing a light aircraft. This study contributes to providing a proper overview of effective airfoil design and outlines the necessary short procedures.

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Abbreviations

C d :

Coefficient of drag

C l :

Coefficient of lift

C m :

Coefficient of moment

C l /C d :

Lift to drag ratio

Re:

Reynolds number

N :

Number of panels

S i :

Source strengths

K i :

Doublet strengths

n i :

Normal vector to the i-th panel

ds :

Differential arc length along the panel

α :

Angle of attack

Ф :

Velocity potential

∇ :

Laplacian operator

NACA:

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

CFD:

Computational Fluid Dynamics

VAWT:

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

BEM:

Blade Element Momentum

UAV:

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

GIT:

Grid Independence Test

LR:

Leading-edge Radius

TR:

Tailing-edge Thickness

MC:

Maximum Camber

MT:

Maximum Thickness

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, 141-142 Love Road, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Farzana Akter, Md. Araful Hoque, Kazi Ahasan Ekram & Badhan Saha

  2. Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering (MPE), Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Board Bazar, Gazipur, 1704, Bangladesh

    Md. Jahid Hasan

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  1. Farzana Akter
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Correspondence to Md. Jahid Hasan.

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Akter, F., Hoque, M.A., Ekram, K.A. et al. Design of a Novel Aerofoil of a Light Aircraft for Robust Aerodynamic Performance at High Reynolds Number Regime Using XFLR5. Arab J Sci Eng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-024-08837-6

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