Aerodynamics Lab – I

(AE29202)

Pressure and Aerodynamic Force Measurement on the

Elliptical Cylinder

Dr. Sunil Manohar Dash

Assistant Professor
Department of Aerospace Engineering
Email: smdash@aero.iitkgp.ac.in

Aerodynamics Lab – I (AE29202) 1

Aerodynamic Forces

• Fluid dynamic forces are

due to pressure and
viscous forces acting on
the body surface.

• Drag: component parallel

to flow direction.

• Lift: component normal to

flow direction.

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Aerodynamic Forces
• Lift and drag forces can be found by integrating pressure
and wall-shear stress.

• In addition to geometry, lift FL and drag FD forces are a

function of density  and velocity V.
• Dimensional analysis gives 2 dimensionless parameters: lift
and drag coefficients.
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Aerodynamic Forces on an Ellipse

• Area A is the planform area

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Pressure Distribution Comparison with Circular Cylinder

Fig. 1:Potential Flow Theory

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Report Format
1. Aim of the Experiments
2. Objectives
3. Experimental Procedure
4. Observations
5. Results and Discussion
6. Conclusions
7. Questionnaires
8. Ansys Fluent Simulations (optional)

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Experimental Setup and Procedure

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Observation Table
Settling
For α = 0° Chamber
Group - 3 and 4

Pressure inside the settling chamber (i.e. air box) = P 0 = 312 mm of H2O

Pressure at the inlet of wind tunnel (i.e. test section) = P ∞ = 260 mm of H2O

Inlet velocity = 29.542 m/s.

Planform Area of Airfoil = chord x span

Tap
Static pressure,
Dynamic pressure =
Coefficient of pressure,
Coefficient of pressure,
Repeat for α = 0° and 90°
Ps Ps - P∞ Cp,exp = (Ps - P∞) / (P0 - P∞)
Loacation 0.5 × ρ × U2∞ = P 0 - P ∞ Panel Method
(mm of water) (Experimental)

0 310
10 308
20 298
30 278
40 250
50 222
60 202
70 192
80 194
90 200
100 200
-90 200
-80 200
-70 200
-60 198
-50 198
-40 198
-30 198
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 and pressure coefficient,

Sample Calculation
Settling where D is the cylinder diameter. We therefore have,
The drag on a real cylinder is, of course, not zero and can be estimated from a measured
Chamber
pressure distribution as follows. Consider an element of the cylinder surface of length
ds = rd as shown in fgure. The force per unit span on the element due to a pressure
normal to the element is

The drag component of this force is the component acting in the direction of the free-
stream velocity
the second integral is zero, giving,

The integral of this around the cylinder circumference gives the total drag on the
cylinder per unit span d.

This integration can be done numerically using Simpson's or the trapezium rule or by
plotting Cpcos vs.  and measuring the area under the curve. Note that  is measured
in radians.

The above estimate of Cd takes account only of the pressure drag on the cylinder. In
Now, it is conventional to work in terms of the non-dimensional drag coefficient,
calculating this, however, it is fairly accurate, the main source of error probably being
the numerical integration.

Similarly, lift coefficient can be calculated by taking other direction pressure force
component.
and pressure coefficient,

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where D is the cylinder diameter. We therefore have,
Plots to Include in the Report
Settling
Chamber
1. Coefficient of Pressure vs Tap Location at different AoA (Both Potential
Flow Theory and Experimental)
2. Lift coefficient vs AoA (Both Potential Flow Theory and Experimental)
3. Drag Coefficient AoA (Both Potential Flow Theory and Experimental)
4. Comparison of experimental results with ANSYS Fluent Simulation
(Optional)

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Questionnaire
1. Why the coefficient of pressure (Cp) distribution seen in the experiment is
significantly different from potential flow theory?

2. What are sources of error in your experiments and comment how can it be
avoided.

3. Compare the drag force of circular cylinder and elliptical cylinder from
your experiments? Specify the Re in both the experiments.

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 Thank you

Industrial Aerodynamics (AE51018/AE60006) 12