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Effect of Gurney flap on flow separation and aerodynamic performance of an airfoil under rain and icing conditions

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Abstract

In the present study, special attention is paid to numerically investigate the aerodynamic performance of the NACA 0012 airfoil under rain and icing conditions with the aim to better understand the severe aerodynamic performance penalties of aircraft in flight. Furthermore, in order to control the flow separation and improve the aerodynamic performance of the airfoil under critical atmospheric conditions, the Gurney flap with different heights is attached to the trailing edge of the airfoil. The simulation is done at a Reynolds number of 3.1 × 105 under different atmospheric conditions including dry, rain, icing and coupling of rain and icing conditions. A two-way momentum coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian multiphase method is used to simulate the process of water film layer formed on the airfoil surface due to rainfall. According to the results, accumulation of water due to rainfall and ice accretion on the airfoil surface inevitably provides notable negative effects on the aerodynamic performance of the airfoil. It is concluded that icing induces a higher aerodynamic degradation than rain due to very intensive ice accretion. The Gurney flap as a passive flow control method with a favorable height for each condition is very beneficial. The maximum increment of the lift-to-drag ratio is achieved by Gurney flap with a height of 0.01 of airfoil chord length for dry and rain conditions and 0.02 of airfoil chord length for icing and coupling of rain and icing conditions, respectively.

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Abbreviations

μ :

Air dynamic viscosity

u :

Air velocity vector

c :

Airfoil chord length

θ :

Angle between airfoil chord length and Gurney flap

α :

Angle of attack

ρ w :

Density of water

D p :

Diameter of the rain particle

Y + :

Dimensionless wall distance

C D :

Drag coefficient

β :

Drag force

μ T :

Eddy viscosity

ρ :

Fluid phase density

\( U_{\infty } \) :

Free stream velocity

g i :

Gravitational acceleration

H :

Gurney flap height

\( E_{im} \) :

Impact energy

L i :

Injection line

LEV :

Leading edge vortex

C L :

Lift coefficient

\( LWC \) :

Liquid water content

\( M_{ex} \) :

Momentum exchange

\( C_{D,P} \) :

Particle drag coefficient

\( Re_{p} \) :

Particle Reynolds number

ρ D :

Particles density

u p :

Particles velocity vector

P :

Pressure

\( R \) :

Rainfall rate

ε :

Rate of dissipation

Re :

Reynolds number

U T :

Terminal velocity

\( \delta_{bl} \) :

Thickness of the boundary layer

t :

Time

TEV :

Trailing edge vortex

k :

Turbulent kinetic energy

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nour Branch, Islamic Azad University, Nour, Iran

    Hossein Fatahian, Hesamoddin Salarian & Jahanfar Khaleghinia

  2. Quality Engineering Research Center, Nour Branch, Islamic Azad University, Nour, Iran

    Hossein Fatahian, Hesamoddin Salarian & Jahanfar Khaleghinia

  3. Faculty of Engineering, Amol University of Special Modern Technologies, Amol, Iran

    Majid Eshagh Nimvari

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  1. Hossein Fatahian
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  2. Hesamoddin Salarian
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  3. Majid Eshagh Nimvari
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  4. Jahanfar Khaleghinia
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Correspondence to Hesamoddin Salarian.

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Fatahian, H., Salarian, H., Eshagh Nimvari, M. et al. Effect of Gurney flap on flow separation and aerodynamic performance of an airfoil under rain and icing conditions. Acta Mech. Sin. 36, 659–677 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-020-00938-3

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