Journal of The Institution of Engineers (India): Series C

Investigation on the Magnus Effect on a symmetric NACA 0021 Airfoil: A Numerical

and Experimental Study
--Manuscript Draft--

Manuscript Number: IEIC-D-20-00500

Full Title: Investigation on the Magnus Effect on a symmetric NACA 0021 Airfoil: A Numerical
and Experimental Study

Article Type: Original Contribution

Section/Category: Aerospace Engineering

Keywords: Airfoil, symmetric, spinning cylinder

Corresponding Author: Md. Abdus Salam, M.Sc

Military Institute of Science and Technology
Dhaka, Dhaka BANGLADESH

Corresponding Author Secondary

Information:

Corresponding Author's Institution: Military Institute of Science and Technology

Corresponding Author's Secondary

Institution:

First Author: Md. Abdus Salam, M.Sc

First Author Secondary Information:

Order of Authors: Md. Abdus Salam, M.Sc

M.A Taher Ali, PhD

Md. Quamrul Islam, PhD

Order of Authors Secondary Information:

Funding Information:

Abstract: This paper addresses the outcome of implementing a spinning cylinder at the leading-
edge of symmetric NACA 0021 airfoil at velocity ratios (Uc/U) inferior to previously
conducted studies with higher velocity ratios (≥ 1.0). In an attempt to study the efficacy
for applying Magnus effect both numerical and experimental approaches are carried
out. The analysis in this study was conducted in different angle of attacks ranging from
0° to 20°, in different spinning velocities of the cylinder (0, 3000, 3500, 4000, 4500 and
5000 rpm) and in 20 m/s free stream velocity (U). There is a significant correlation
between the spinning of the cylinder and the increase in the coefficient of lift (CL) and
escalation in stall angle (αe) when the cylinder is placed at the leading edge and
rotated with a low speed (Uc). This study focused on the effects of low velocity ratios of
the cylinder as there were very less contributions of the previous studies on this
aspect. This concept can be beneficial in short take-off and landing airfoils, wind
turbine, thick airfoil for RC aircrafts etc.

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Title Page

Investigation on the Magnus Effect on a symmetric NACA

0021 Airfoil: A Numerical and Experimental Study

Md. Abdus Salam1,2, Dr. M. A. Taher Ali3, Dr. Md. Quamrul Islam4
1,2
PhD Student and Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Head, Department of
Aeronautical Engineering, Military Institute of Science and Technology, Bangladesh, Email:
head@ae.mist.ac.bd
3
Professor, Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Military Institute of Science and Technology, Bangladesh.
4
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Military Institute of Science and Technology, Bangladesh.

Abstract:

This paper addresses the outcome of implementing a spinning cylinder at the leading-edge of symmetric
NACA 0021 airfoil at velocity ratios (Uc/U) inferior to previously conducted studies with higher
velocity ratios (≥ 1.0). In an attempt to study the efficacy for applying Magnus effect both numerical
and experimental approaches are carried out. The analysis in this study was conducted in different angle
of attacks ranging from 0° to 20°, in different spinning velocities of the cylinder (0, 3000, 3500, 4000,
4500 and 5000 rpm) and in 20 m/s free stream velocity (U). There is a significant correlation between
the spinning of the cylinder and the increase in the coefficient of lift (CL) and escalation in stall angle
(αe) when the cylinder is placed at the leading edge and rotated with a low speed (Uc). This study
focused on the effects of low velocity ratios of the cylinder as there were very less contributions of the
previous studies on this aspect. This concept can be beneficial in short take-off and landing airfoils,
wind turbine, thick airfoil for RC aircrafts etc.

Keywords: Airfoil, symmetric, spinning cylinder

1
To whom any correspondence should be addressed.
Manuscript (excluding authors' names and affiliations)
Investigation on the Magnus Effect on a symmetric NACA
0021 Airfoil: A Numerical and Experimental Study
Abstract
This paper addresses the outcome of implementing
a spinning cylinder at the leading-edge of symmetric
NACA 0021 airfoil at velocity ratios (Uc/U) inferior
to previously conducted studies with higher velocity
ratios (≥ 1.0). In an attempt to study the efficacy for
applying Magnus effect both numerical and
experimental approaches are carried out. The
analysis in this study was conducted in different
angle of attacks ranging from 0° to 20°, in different
spinning velocities of the cylinder (0, 3000, 3500,
4000, 4500 and 5000 rpm) and in 20 m/s free stream
velocity (U). There is a significant correlation
between the spinning of the cylinder and the
increase in the coefficient of lift (CL) and escalation
in stall angle (αe) when the cylinder is placed at the
leading edge and rotated with a low speed (Uc). This
study focused on the effects of low velocity ratios of
the cylinder as there were very less contributions of
the previous studies on this aspect. This concept can
be beneficial in short take-off and landing airfoils,
wind turbine, thick airfoil for RC aircrafts etc.
1. Introduction
At present, aircrafts are constantly being used in
replacement of other modes of transportation
primarily because of the speed, efficiency and
convenience both for passenger and freighter
aircraft for military as well as civilian purposes.
Therefore, increasing the efficiency of the aircraft is
becoming progressively challenging. Modifying the
aircraft structure can increase the aerodynamic
performance by increasing CL, range, αe and
endurance which decreases the operational and
maintenance cost of the aircraft. Integrating a
spinning cylinder at the airfoil leading edge injects
extra energy to the free stream airflow and thus
limits the possibility of flow separation to a certain
extent. The detected growth in CL is attributed to the
increase in Uc/U but with the downside of
increasing coefficient of drag (CD).
Previous studies on this concept were mainly
focused on Uc/U > 1.0, yet the consequences of
lower Uc/U were neglected or insufficient. Also,
many studies seemed to overlook the effect of lift
induced drag and drag due to the increasing
vibration of the high-speed spinning cylinder. This
resulted in an incomplete representation and lack of
generalizability and practicality of this method. This
study aims to broaden the existing findings by
investigating Magnus effect on a thick symmetric
NACA 0021 airfoil at Uc/U ≤ 0.2 and Re 2 x 105.
There is a huge volume of published studies
comprising both experimental and numerical tactics
which focuses on upgrading the performance of
aircraft or airfoils. Blowing and suction in boundary
layers, optimization of the jet length and slot
geometry, control of the boundary layer using a
moving surface (MSBC) etc. are some of the
prominent methods that have augmented the airfoil
performance [1-6]. The elementary perception of
MSBC via a spinning cylinder to intensify the
aerodynamic performance can be described by
Magnus effect; a concept which is dated back to
1852 pioneered by scientist Gustav Magnus.
Extensive series of studies have been conducted to
incorporate this concept on account of the growth in
lift generation on aircraft. Because of the adverse
pressure gradient, the free stream velocity and
velocity gradient reduces. Consequently, the wall
shear stress also drops to zero as adverse pressure
gradient rises to a certain extent. This compels the
free stream air to flow in opposite direction and thus
creates flow separation. Addition of momentum
energy to the flow due to the spinning cylinder
provides with an increase in velocity gradient which
in turns delays flow separation.
A number of investigations on this concept was
conducted with symmetric airfoils with a leading-
edge spinning cylinder. By far the most detailed and
extensively investigated approaches throughout
numerous numerical and experimental methods by
Modi et al. Nevertheless, their researches have not
been able to account for lower Uc/U and effect of CD
[7-10]. A qualitative numerical investigation by
Ahmed et al. was carried out on the role of MSBC
in 2014 on symmetric NACA 0024 airfoil and it was
found that CL had increased by 36% and αe got
delayed by 122% using modified airfoil [11]. To
better understand this method, Huda et al. carried
out numerical analysis on NACA 0010 and reported
145% increase in CL in the modified airfoil although
their study was partial to only Uc/U = 0 and 2. [12].
In a numerical analysis which was set out to estimate
appropriate gap between the airfoil body and
spinning cylinder, Abdulla et al. concluded that a 3
mm gap would be necessary for best performance
for symmetric NACA airfoil [13]. In a recent
experimental study, Salam et al documented 24%
increase in CL and 20% increase in αe for NACA
23018 airfoil for Uc/U = 0.2 [14] and explored the
effects of vibrational drag of the cylinder.
The paper explores the possible outcomes of
applying concept of MSBC for a thick NACA 0021
airfoil and highlights the usefulness of applying this
method for various aerodynamic applications. It was
the intention of this study to fill a gap in the ongoing
literature by shedding lights on the effects of lower
Uc/U on aerodynamic performance of a thick
symmetric airfoil. This paper is composed of five
sections. The first section contextualizes the study
by providing a short summary of the literature. The
next section provides the methodology for
numerical and experimental analysis. The next
section draws key findings of the research. An
uncertainty analysis for the experiment was carried
out in next section. In the fifth section, an analysis
of the results is presented.
Figure 1. Experimental and Numerical setup (a) coupler with motor; (b) airfoil; (c) cylinder; (d) sidewall
disk; (e) wires to connect electronic speed controller and battery; (f) inlet of the numerical domain; (g)
sidewall of the numerical domain; (h) outlet of the numerical domain
2. Methodology
2.1 Experimental Methodology
Prior to undertaking the experiment, an open loop
suction type subsonic wind tunnel of model AF-100
with a 300 mm x 600 mm x 300 mm working section
was selected to conduct the experiment to keep the
Uc/U in a precise range for certain rotational speeds
of the cylinder. The maximum free stream velocity
offered by the wind tunnel was 35 m/s. The aspect
ratio of the wing was 2 with an area of 0.045 m2,
chord length of 0.15 m and span of 0.3 m. A groove
was formed at the leading edge to provide the space
for spinning cylinder as shown in Figure 1.
The gap between the cylinder and the airfoil body
was 3 mm and the cylinder diameter was chosen to
be 15 mm to provide the 3 mm gap easily. The
spinning speed of cylinder was selected as 0, 3000,
3500, 4000, 4500, and 5000 rpm which corresponds
to Uc/U = 0, 0.12, 0.14, 0.16, 0.18 and 0.2 to
facilitate the accuracy of the chosen velocity ratios.
At a distance of 37.5 mm from the airfoil leading
edge, a steel rod was implanted into the airfoil to
facilitate the provision of changing angle of attack.
A portion of that steel rod (10 mm) was hooked onto
the 3-component balance which was attached with
the end support plate. The 3-component balance was
used to determine lift and drag. A coupler was
introduced to hold the steel rod and the cylinder as it
was required to change the angle of attack of the
airfoil as well as change the location of the spinning
cylinder. Thus, it provided similar orientation for the
airfoil and cylinder at all cases specially when
changing angle of attack. A motor was required to
propel the cylinder and the motor was needed to be
installed outside of the test section. So, both walls of
the test sections included a groove. A cap was
utilized to hold one end of the cylinder connected to
bearing and rear sidewall disk. The rear sidewall
disk guided the cylinder shaft to the 3-component
balance. The coupler was used to attach the other
end of the cylinder with the motor shaft. The
connecting arm was used to hold the motor as well
as to provide similar orientation while changing
angles of attack. The connecting arm was attached
with the airfoil through the front sidewall disk to
facilitate a sturdy support.
2.2 Numerical Methodology
Figure 1 represents the numerical setup for the study
where the inlet velocity was provided as 20 m/s, the
sidewalls are kept as stationary wall and the outlet
was considered as pressure outlet. A relatively large
numerical domain was utilized so that the near-flow
field was not affected by the outer boundary. In the
numerical analysis, the 2nd order upwind method
was applied to discretize the governing equations.
SIMPLE scheme was used to achieve pressure-
velocity coupling. The convergence criteria was set
to O(6) in case of each and every dependent
residuals. To discretize the numerical domain an
unstructured grid was applied. In the present study,
the aerofoil is considered to be thick aerofoil (21%
of the chord length). Therefore, near the leading
edge the laminar inlet condition would become
(a)
Figure 2. CL vs Angle of attack (AOA) for unmodified and modified NACA 0021 airfoils for (a) numerical
approach at Re 2 x 105, (b) experimental appraoch at Re 2 x 105,
turbulent. However, since the experiment was
carried out in the wind tunnel, the flow was expected
to be fully turbulent as it entered the wind tunnel test
section. In addition, the leading-edge spinning
cylinder acts as a trip and the transition point may
start from the leading edge itself. Therefore, the inlet
turbulent intensity specification of 5% can be
justified. In the present study, y+ values over the
aerofoil range between 5 and 6 and increase near the
cylinder to range between 12 and 16. For the masa
and momentum conservation, the Reynolds
averaged form of the governing equation is given as:
𝜕𝑢̅𝑖
=0
𝜕𝑥𝑖
𝜕𝑢𝑖 𝜕𝑢̅𝑖 𝜕𝜌̅ 1 𝜕 2 𝑢̅𝑖 𝜕𝜏𝑖𝑗 𝑅
+ 𝑢̅𝑗 = − + +
𝜕𝜏 𝜕𝑥𝑗 𝜕𝑥𝑖 𝑅𝑒 𝜕𝑥𝑗 𝜕𝑥𝑗 𝜕𝜏
In the analysis, the domain was divided among about
500000 cells, consisting the mean cell size between
2 × 10−4 m and 5 × 10−2 m. The node validation
study was carried out and it showed that the grid
validation was achieved for nearly 500000 nodes.
To avoid the rise in numerical cost with slight
accuracy in approximation, the number of nodes was
not increased further. Similarly, to avoid the risk of
less accuracy, the number of nodes was not
decreased further. The numerical data was verified
with the data of Holst et al. with a negligible
maximum deviation of 2.3% at higher angles of
attack [15].
3. Results
CL and CD of modified NACA 0021 at Re 2 x 105
and six different Uc/U are presented.
(b)
A relation between CL and AOA for modified and
unmodified NACA 0021 airfoil for numerical and
experimental approaches has been shown in Figure-
2. For each case, the spinning increased CL and αe
for all Uc/U except Uc/U = 0. At Uc/U = 0, the CL
decreased relative to the unmodified airfoil because
of the absence of addition energy involvement and
the whole configuration restricted the scope for
smooth flow. The most significant finding is that the
maximum increase in CLmax was 35% and maximum
delay in αe was 50% relative to the unmodified
airfoil. As the spin of the cylinder increased, more
amount of external energy was injected into the free
stream airflow and it caused increase in velocity
gradient and consequently delay in flow separation
and this phenomenon is also reflected in figure 2.
The likely interference of the vibration of the
spinning cylinder cannot be ruled out. In the
experimental analysis, there were some irregular
pattern after αe compared to numerical analysis. This
interesting finding can be attributed to the irregular
pattern of vibration of the cylinder due to the
rotation.
(a)
Figure 3. CD vs Angle of attack (AOA) for unmodified and modified NACA 0021 airfoils for (a) numerical
approach at Re 2 x 105, (b) experimental appraoch at Re 2 x 105
The observed correlation between CD and AOA is
plotted in figure 3 showing mixed behaviour with
respect to spin speed of the cylinder unlike the
predicted pattern of behaviour in figure 2. As the
flow separation area over the surface of the wing
increased due to the inclusion of the cylinder, CD
also increased to a certain extent. In case of
numerical analysis, CD remained almost constant
ranging from 0.2 to 0.21 whereas in case of
experimental analysis CD varied in a wide manner
ranging from 0.13 to 0.21. This wide range of CD can
also be attributed to the irregular pattern of vibration
of the cylinder due to the rotation. The oscillation of
the cylinder created irregular gaps between the
cylinder and airfoil body and thus it obstructed the
airflow inside the gap to a certain extent in some
cases. A possible explanation for the regular patterns
in numerical analysis can be the absence of the
vibration of the cylinder unlike the experimental
analysis.
4. Experimental Uncertainty Analysis
It was possible that the findings of this study might
represent some degree of errors and to determine
that, an uncertainty analysis was carried out. The
extreme amount of uncertainty in case of measuring
air density was ±0.02 kgm3 which accounted for
overall ±1.69% of the uncertainty in case of air
density. The extreme amount of uncertainty in case
of measuring chord length and wing span by a digital
(b)
height meter was ±0.001 m which accounted for
overall ±0.67% of the uncertainty in case of chord
length and ±0.33%. in case of wing span. The
extreme amount of uncertainty in case of measuring
air velocity was ±0.1 m/s which accounted for
overall ±0.5% of the uncertainty in case of air
velocity. As the velocity term is squared in the
equation for CL and CD, so the overall uncertainty
became ±1.01% in case of air velocity. The typical
amount of uncertainty in case of measuring spin
speed of the cylinder was ±12.6 rpm which
accounted for overall ±4.2% of the uncertainty in
case of spin velocity. The characteristic amount of
uncertainty in case of measuring mass during
calibration was ±0.01 kg which accounted for
overall ±0.2% of the uncertainty in case of
calibration. Therefore, in the experimental
approach, the total amount of uncertainty was (1.012
+ 1.692 + 0.332 + 0.672 + 4.22 + 0.22)1/2 = ±4.71%.
5. Conclusions
The study was set out to investigate the impact of
Magnus effect applied to a thick symmetric airfoil in
terms of lift and drag. It was the aim of the study to
objectively examine this impact in both numerical
and experimental approaches and found that flow
separation can be delayed to a certain extent if this
concept is applied. Contrary to the past literatures
which attributed this concept only for higher Uc/U,
this study provided a means of filling the research
gap on this field. One of the most noteworthy
findings of this study was the realization of cylinder
oscillation and the negative impact of it. The insights
gained from this investigation may assist the future
works where the vibration of the cylinder can be
minimized in an optimized manner. The current
research also sheds a light on the issue of practicality
of including a leading-edge spinning cylinder for
thick airfoil in aerospace applications. This concept
can be implemented in many cases such as short
takeoff and landing (STOL) airplanes where high CL
at low AOA is necessary. Also, this research can be
useful in some applications of wind turbines and
primary and secondary control surfaces of airplane.
Moreover, additional configurations of the position
of spinning cylinder on different applications can be
analyzed to provide contributions to the current
literature.
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