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Pratik Mitra
Indian Institute of Science
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Abstract
The flow characteristics over a symmetrical airfoil are studied experimentally in a low speed wind tunnel. The
pressure distribution on the airfoil surface was obtained, lift and drag forces were measured and mean velocity
profiles were obtained over the surface. Experiments were carried out by varying the angle of attack, from 0 o to 120o
and ground clearance of the trailing edge from the minimum possible value to free stream velocity region. It was
found that high values of pressure coefficient are obtained on the lower surface when the airfoil is close to the
ground. This region of high pressure extended almost over the entire lower surface for higher angles of attack. As a
result, higher values of lift coefficient are obtained when the airfoil is close to the ground. The flow accelerates over
the airfoil due to flow diversion from the lower side, and a higher mean velocity is observed near the suction peak
location. The pressure distribution on the upper surface did not change significantly with ground clearance for higher
angles of attack. The upper surface suction causes an adverse pressure gradient especially for higher angles of attack,
resulting in rapid decay of kinetic energy over the upper surface, leading to a thicker wake and higher turbulence
level and hence a higher drag. The lift was found to drop at lower angles of attack at some values of ground clearance
due to suction effect on the lower surface as the result of formation of a convergent–divergent passage between the
airfoil and the ground plate.
1
point move down, hence more air flows above the
wing; thus there is a decrease in velocity and an
increase in pressure below the wing. An air cushion is
created by the high pressure that builds up under the
wing when it is approaching the ground. For very
small clearances, the air tends to stagnate under the
wing, which will give the highest possible pressure, so
called ram pressure. Simultaneously, the induced drag
for a wing is lowered as the induced downwash
1.1.5 DRAG AND LIFT ON AN AIR FOIL: velocity diminishes close to the ground. The
The blade section employed for airplane wings and streamline patterns over the leading and trailing edges
propeller are of such geometrical configuration as to of a wing in ground effect can be seen. The streamline
produce high lifts and low drag value. This state of modification has interesting consequences––the
affair is possible with the so called lifting vanes which effective angle of attack increases, resulting in an
include bodied such as kite, air foil, hydro-foil and increase in lift force; on the other hand, the absence of
propeller blade. An air foil is a stream line body that is downwash reduces the drag, which otherwise increases
it has a rounded leading edge, is elongated and is given with angle of attack. The L/D value is a measure of the
a gradual curvature in the flow direction. efficiency of an aircraft which can be expressed as the
amount of power (thrust) that is required to propel an
aircraft of a certain weight. Since thrust is equal to
drag and weight is equal to lift in steady flight, this
efficiency can be expressed as L/D. The increased lift
and reduced drag obtained when the ground clearance
is reduced, give much higher efficiency, which helps
to increase the flight range at a reduced specific fuel
consumption compared to the conventional aircraft.
Besides, the WIG vehicle has other advantages over a
conventional mode of air transport such as less energy
consumption during take-off, no need of pressurized
For an air foil oriented with relatively small angle of cabin, smaller infrastructure and safer runway as it is
attack, the zone of separation is limited to a small near the ground. The great potential of the WIG
region close to the rear or trailing edge. The turbulent vehicles for possible application in both overwater and
wake region and consequently the pressure drag are overland transport necessitates a thorough
quite small. Obviously the skin friction contributes investigation of the flow characteristics over the wing.
maximum to the total drag. Drag co-efficient of an air
foil depends necessarily on Reynolds’s number and 1.1.6 METHOD TO MEASURE DRAG AND LIFT
geometry/counter of the air foil. However, unlike FORCE
sphere and cylinders, the transition from laminar to There is a variety of ways to measure lift. In this
turbulent boundary layer state does not bring about any experiment, the lift force, L, on the airfoil will be
marked drop in the drag co-efficient. determined by integration of the measured pressure
Favorable aerodynamic characteristics are obtained distribution over the airfoil’s surface. Typical pressure
when a wing is in close proximity to ground. Works on distribution on an airfoil and its projection on the
development of Wing-in-Ground-effect (WIG) airfoil normal are shown in figure 2.
vehicles for large transport purpose can benefit
immensely if the advantages of ground proximity are
fully utilized. The effects of proximity to ground for an
airfoil on the lift and drag characteristics were studied
as early as in 1920s [1,2]. For small angles of attack,
the lift force is found to increase with decreasing flight
altitude. The flow around an airfoil or a wing is
considerably modified under the influence of ground
effect. The dividing streamline and the stagnation
2
A body immersed in a flowing fluid is exposed to both clearance of the trailing edge on an airfoil in context of
pressure and viscous forces. The sum of the forces that a WIG vehicle and generating data for use of vehicle
acts normal to the free-stream direction is the lift, and designer and for designing the runway of airplane. The
the sum that acts parallel to the free-stream direction is main objectives of the present work are to study the
the drag. This experiment is concerned with pressure distribution over the wing surface at different
computation of the lift on a stationary airfoil mounted ground clearances and angles of attack and the
in the test section of a wind tunnel. We will consider objectives of the experiment are also to examine the
only two-dimensional airfoils where tip and root surface pressure distribution and to compute the drag
effects are neglected. and lift force acting on the airfoil.
Because the velocity of the flow over the top of the Our work also included making the wind tunnel
airfoil is greater than the free-stream velocity, the functional, which was lying unused and nonfunctional
pressure over the top is negative. This follows directly for a long time. We re wired the whole setup so that it
from the application of Bernoulli’s equation. Similarly can be used for future research purposes and practical
the velocity along the underside of the airfoil is less experiments for students in our department.
than the free-stream velocity and the pressure there is
positive. Hence, both the negative pressure over the 3. WIND TUNNEL:
top and the positive pressure along the bottom Aerodynamicists use wind tunnels to test models of
contribute to the lift. proposed aircraft. In the tunnel, it can be carefully
The lift force is customarily expressed as a dimension- control the flow conditions which affect forces on the
less lift coefficient per unit span length aircraft. By making careful measurements of the forces
on the model, it can be predicted the forces on the full
scale aircraft.
Wind tunnels are designed for a specific purpose and
speed range and there is a wide variety of wind tunnel
Where L is lift force on the airfoil obtained by types and model instrumentation. The model to be
integration of the measured pressure distribution over
tested in the wind tunnel is placed in the test section of
the airfoil’s surface, b is the airfoil span, and c is the
airfoil chord, as shown in Figure. the tunnel. The speed in the test section is determined
by the design of the tunnel. The choice of speed range
affects the design of the wind tunnel due to
1.2 EXISTING EMPERIMENTAL compressibility effects and the boundary layer formed
EQUIPMENTS: by the walls.
A nonfunctional wind tunnel was present in the fluid
mechanics lab. We had to modify it to make it
functional in line with our experimental objective. The
3
end of the contraction section and upstream of the remain constant throughout the test section (throat)
diffuser. and increase at diffuser.
4
216m3/min at the total pressure of 101.172 kPa and
driven by a thyristor controlled 3.75kW DC motor
having a maximum speed of 2800rpm. A smooth
variation in velocity from 5m/s to 40m/s can be
achieved in the test section having dimensions of
300mm · 300mm · 1000mm. The test section is
provided with perspex windows on both sides. A
traversing mechanism is provided on top of the test
section for moving the pitot tube and the hot-wire
anemometer probe along its length. A settling
chamber, provided with honeycomb gauges and four
MS screens of 18, 30, 50 and 100 mesh, was used for
correcting the flow. A bell-mouthed inlet section
ensured smooth entry of the air to the settling chamber.
The airflow was discharged into the test section
through the square outlet of the contraction, having a
width of 900mm at the inlet. The area ratio of the
contraction nozzle is 9:1. The free stream turbulence
In fig.4 it is clearly shown that the airfoil is placed at intensity in the test section at the above velocity was
the middle position of the test section of wind tunnel. found to be 0.8%.
When an angle of attack is given to the airfoil, the
leading edge of airfoil becomes nearer to top wall and
trailing edge of airfoil becomes nearer to bottom wall.
By giving maximum angle of attack (100), some gap
will be there in between the trailing edge of airfoil and
the bottom plane. That gap is the maximum boundary
layer thickness at that length (from leading edge of the
plate to trailing edge of air foil). Now it is required to
calculate the velocity by applying blausiou’s solution
with using of that maximum boundary layer thickness
discussed.
Again from the FIG. 4, it can be watched some gap is There are fourteen numbers of ports are made on the
there in between the airfoil sides and the side wall. The surface of the air foil shown in fig5555. Ports 1 to 14
gap is same for both the sides of the wall, because the are connected to the corresponding pressure taps
airfoil is placed at the middle. located on the airfoil and each pipe are connected to
Now the gap in between the side wall and airfoil
the different U-tube manometer. The system gives the
should be the maximum boundary layer thickness for
pressure perpendicular to the surface of the air foil,
that plane. Again we have to calculate the another
velocity by using boundary layer thickness at length of which is measured by the U-tube manometer. The
leading edge of the plate to trailing edge of the airfoil. pressure obtained from particular pipe is now
This velocity is also calculated by using blausiou’s multiplied by the elemental area of air foil. Now this
solution. gives the normal force to the surface of airfoil. The
But it is not possible to take different velocity at the vertical component of that force is the lift fore for that
same place and same time, so that, from the calculated particular strip. Now the summation of the entire
values of two velocities, we have to take the least one vertical force component gives the total lift force. The
to avoid the influence of the boundary layer formed by manometric liquid is the water mixed with some color
the walls. for better visibility.
5
through a hole on the stand. The stand is placed over
the wind tunnel. When less ground clearance required,
the nut should be loosen, so the airfoil holder comes
down near to the face of the wind tunnel. Again to
increase the ground clearance reverse action is to be
taken. The length of the plate was 400mm and it was
as wide as the test section.
6
Coefficient of lift
CL=FL/0.5 x A x ρ x U2
FL=Lift force A=Projected area of aerofoil body (0.05m2)
ρ=Density of air at 340 C (1.16 kg/m3)
U= Velocity of air (16.5 m/s)
7
7 and point 14 shows some reading because now they side of the air foil shows the same profile because it is
are not still stagnation points. The bottom of the air a symmetrical air foil and angle of attack is zero.
foil has less velocity as compare to top. Thus bottom But at point 1, again the normal force is zero
portion of the air foil shows higher pressure. But like because it is the leading edge and it is the
discussion of series1 the velocity from point 1 to point stagnation point. The air stream bifurcates equally
6 velocity decreases and from point 13 to point 8 to top and bottom side of the airfoil. That is why the
velocity increases. profile of normal force distribution from point 14 to
7 at the top and from point 7 to 14 at the bottom is
nearly same in nature.
8
less at angle of attack 3 degree as compare to the The next observation made was concerned with the
angle of attack 6 degree. ground clearance effect on the lift. We observed that
nearer the object is to the ground, the lift force will
be more as compared to the same object at a higher
The lift force Vs the angle of attack graph shows the elevation from the ground. There is a very useful
effect of lift force with increasing of angle of attack. application which can be deduced from the above
Each line shows the variation of lift force with angle of observation. We suggest that the runway strips used
attack at different ground clearance. for takeo ff purposes be constructed with a slight
When angle of attack is zero, the lift force is also zero slope in its contour. This will result in the aircraft
for different ground clearance. Because as we are doing being closer to the ground for a longer time, thus
the experiment with a symmetrical air foil body. The increasing the lift as observed from our experiment.
pressure force both the sides of the air foil are same. This will not only help in saving the costly jet fuel
When we increase the angle of attack to 3 degree the lift which is used during the takeoff procedure but it
force increases. Because already we discussed that the will also make runways shorter in length as the
pressure force at the top of the air foil body decreases aircrafts will have higher lift force.
due to the increase in the velocity. And the reverse is
happening at the bottom of the airfoil body. The same
thing is happening when we increase the angle of 7.References
attack to 6 degree. Now the lift force increases more
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body. Technical Note 67, 1921.
But further increasing of angle of attack, the lift [2] E.G. Reid, A full scale investigation of ground effect,
NACA Technical Report 265, 1927.
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