National university of Singapore

ME2135E
Lab 2
Flow past an aerofoil
Lab report

Experimental data:
Tables:
Table 1
tapping No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

X(mm)
0
2.5
5
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80

Y(mm)
0
3.268
4.443
5.853
7.172
7.502
7.254
6.617
5.704
4.58
3.279

X/C
0
0.024606
0.049213
0.098425
0.19685
0.295276
0.393701
0.492126
0.590551
0.688976
0.787402

Y/C
0
0.032165
0.04373
0.057608
0.070591
0.073839
0.071398
0.065128
0.056142
0.045079
0.032274

Table 2
Stall angle: 12
Atm temperature: 29OC
tapping
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

4
103
104
111
117
122
123
123
123
122
121
120

8
120
97
102
109
115
117
118
119
119
119
119

12
106
99
105
112
118
120
121
123
124
124
125

16
114
96
100
107
114
116
118
121
122
124
124

-4
101
145
142
141
137
134
131
130
129
124
122

-8
117
170
163
156
146
138
133
131
128
125
122

-11
133
182
177
173
147
138
134
131
127
125
123

-16
111
134
134
134
134
134
134
134
134
134
134

Table 3
tapping
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00

4.00
0.62
0.57
0.24
-0.05

8.00
-0.19
0.91
0.67
0.33

12.00
0.48
0.81
0.52
0.19

16.00
0.10
0.95
0.76
0.43

-4.00
0.71
-1.38
-1.24
-1.19

-8.00
-0.05
-2.57
-2.24
-1.91

-11.00
-0.81
-3.14
-2.91
-2.72

-16.00
0.24
-0.86
-0.86
-0.86

5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
9.00
10.00
11.00

-0.29
-0.33
-0.33
-0.33
-0.29
-0.24
-0.19

0.05
-0.05
-0.10
-0.14
-0.14
-0.14
-0.14

-0.10
-0.19
-0.24
-0.33
-0.38
-0.38
-0.43

0.10
0.00
-0.10
-0.24
-0.29
-0.38
-0.38

-1.00
-0.86
-0.71
-0.67
-0.62
-0.38
-0.29

-1.43
-1.05
-0.81
-0.71
-0.57
-0.43
-0.29

-1.48
-1.05
-0.86
-0.71
-0.52
-0.43
-0.33

Graphs:
CPl, CPu against x/c
@angle 4
1.00
0.50
0.00
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1
CPL

-0.50

CPU

-1.00
-1.50
-2.00

@angle 8
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
-0.50
-1.00
-1.50
-2.00
-2.50
-3.00

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1
CPL
CPU

-0.86
-0.86
-0.86
-0.86
-0.86
-0.86
-0.86

@angle 12
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
-0.50

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1
CPL

-1.00

CPU

-1.50
-2.00
-2.50
-3.00
-3.50

@angle 16
1.50
1.00
0.50
CPL

0.00
0
-0.50
-1.00
-1.50

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

CPU

CPf, CPr against y/c

@angle 4
1
0.5
0
-0.1

-0.05

0.05

0.1
CPF

-0.5

CPR

-1
-1.5
-2

@angle 8
1.5
1
0.5
0
-0.1

-0.05

-0.5
-1
-1.5
-2
-2.5
-3

0.05

0.1
CPF
CPR

@angle 12
1.5
1
0.5
0
-0.1

-0.05

-0.5

0.05

0.1
CPF

-1

CPR

-1.5
-2
-2.5
-3
-3.5

@angle 16
1.5
1
0.5
CPF

0
-0.1

-0.05

0
-0.5
-1
-1.5

0.05

0.1

CPR

CL, CD against
2
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2

CL

cd

0.8

2Pi*a

0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

15

20

Discussions:
2. compare the experimentally measured cl with the thin aerofoil theory prediction of
cl=2pi*. Discuss the similarity and the discrepancy observed.
When the angle is small(4 and 8), the experimental data is pretty close to the
theoretical one. The reason might be that when the attack angle is small, the air
flows along the arefoil surface smoothly without flow separately, which fulfills the
assumption of thin aerofoil theory so the experimental data and theoretical data
are similar.
When the attack angle increases, the steam line become highly curved, and at a
certain angle the streamline will no longer attached to the surface and flow
separation occurs, so the data will become different.
3. what would you expect the lift and drag forces to be when =0?
At =0, since the 0015 aerofoil is symmetrical, the pressure on upper and lower
surface of aerofoil is same, so there will be no lift force.
There is still little drag force due to the friction.
4. does the cd which you obtained gives the total drag on the aerofoil? Explain why.
Total drag of aerofoil is contributed by parasite drag and induced drag, only the
parasite drag is related to CD, while induced drag is a hyproduct of lift.
So the CD we obtained is not the total drag on the aerofoil.
5. explain from the pressure distribution why there is a lift force.
The pressure distribution diagram shows that the lower surface of aerofoil has
lesser pressure drop so there will be higher pressure, while upper surface of aerofoil

has much higher pressure drop, result in lower pressure. The integration of pressure
drop along the aerofoil is the area under the curve, which represents force in a unit
length of aerofoil, compare the area enclosed for upper and lower surface, we can
see the there is a resultant lift force produced.
6. comment on the pressure distribution on the aerofoil when stall is reached.
When stall angle is reached, the pressure drop of upper surface become
insignificant due to massive turbulent wake, hence the lift force is greatly reduce
and stall happens.