Flow Separation Control

Chances of flow separation at low Reynolds number is higher as compared to high Reynolds number,
flow separation increases form drag force and decreases the lift force, it leads to decrease the
aerodynamic efficiency (CL/CD) of airfoil [1] Aerodynamic efficiency can be improved by delaying the
separation point and decreases the length of separated flow region. These goals can be achieved by
either altering boundary layer (i.e. Manipulate the incoming flow, delaying laminar turbulent
transition) or modifying the geometry of the airfoil. At the stall, the aerodynamic performance of
airfoil dramatically decreases. The main object of flow separation control devices is to increases the
aerodynamic performance of airfoil. There are two main categories of tlow separation control devices,
active flow separation control devices and passive flow control devices, during the selection of flow
control device various factors are considered, complexity during their design, cost of installation and
operation. Selection of one of the suitable devices for improving one of the particuiar pertormance
parameter may adversely affect the other performance parameters[7]. Their interrelations are given
in figure2.3
Active Flow Separation
1 Active Flow separation Active tlow control devices consume energy for their operation, main
function of these devices is to manipulate the flow in boundary layer to produce desired change
in location of transition from laminar to turbulent, which significantly reduces the co efficient of drag
and increase the coefficient of lift [1]. When fluid flow over the surface of airfoil against the adverse
pressure gradient, fluid separate from the solid Surface. Extensive research work has been done over
many devices which delays the transition point which significantly decrease the flow separation ,
some of devices, in which many mechanical parts are used for their operation and they consume
energy during their operation, such as leading-edge slat, trailing edge flaps, Co-flow jet, Dielectric
Barrier Discharge (DBD), plasma actuator etc. [8,9,10,11]. Leading edge slat, trailing edge flaps are
commonly used in latest aircraft. Active control devices are complicated to implement in the aircraft,
add considerable weight to the system and require more space to integrate in system due to many
disadvantages of active flow control techniques researchers are trying to find out the alternate flow
control techniques, which are easy to incorporate in system.
Passive Flow Control
Passive flow control devices are those, for their operation energy is not required. In passive
techniques geometry of airfoil modified with large scale roughness, which affect the boundary layer.
Large scale roughness delays the transition from laminar to turbulent, which significantly reduces the
flow separation. Various passive techniques investigated by researchers, such as triangular surface
roughness, regular bumps, leading edge bumps, trailing edge bumps, riblets and so on[ 3,12,13]. Most
commonly riblets are used to reduce the skin drag 5% to 10%.[14] Various experimental and
numerical studies suggest that the addition of triangular roughness reduces the drag as well as
increases lift force significantly.[15] Different research work has been carried out to improve the
aerodynamic performance of airfoil by using different passive and active flow separation control
techniques. Active flow separation control techniques were dificult to incorporate in system that's
why in this research work passive technique has focused to control tlow separation. In passive flow
separation techniques geometry of airfoil modified with roughness, for this purpose different
modification i.e single bump, multiple bump, regular bump and triangular roughness has been studied
with low Reynolds number. For this gab has found that analysis has been performed by introducing
triangular roughness on symmetrical NACAO018 airfoil. In this research work, non-symmetrical airfoil
is selected for analysis, triangular roughness is placed at upper surface of an E398 airfoil at 5% with
maximum thickness of roughness 1% of chord, 1.5% of chord, and roughness at 75% of Chord