AAT-tech talk

presentation.
k. Dinesh.
21951A2118.
Aero-A(sem3).
Fluid dynamics.
 TOPIC.
Project analysis slide 2 aerial vehicle airfoils
Testing unmanned
 Index
Project analysis
• Introduction.
slide 3
• Flow Facility and Instrumentation.
• Multiple Hot-Film Sensor Arrays.
• Concluding Remarks
• Summary.
 Introduction
Project analysis slide 4
The development of wings and selection of airfoils causes almost mystical fascination in designers. The flow around a wing
controls its performance and effectiveness. Convenient parameters for measuring performance are the maximum values
of the lift to drag ratio and the endurance level. The Reynolds number (Re) quantifies the relative importance of the
inertial effects on the airfoil behavior compared with the viscous effects. This parameter essentially controls the wing’s
performance and dictates the lift and drag of the airfoil. Many low-speed aircraft, such as unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs), sailplanes, and ultralight airplanes, usually fly at a low Re, ranging from 104 to 106 based on the airfoil chord (C).
Recently, increasing interest in UAVs, by both the military and the scientific community, has drawn much attention to the
aerodynamic properties of low-Re airfoils. This attention is promoting investigations that are both computational and
experimental in nature. Today, at least 32 countries are developing more than 250 models of UAVs, whereas 41 countries
already operate 80 types. The flow structures over a low-Re UAV wing are complex and unusual. They include a laminar
separation bubble, turbulent reattachment, and turbulent separation (Figure 1). To complicate the flow structure further,
the boundary layer developing on the wing for Re < 700,000 also appears to be within the unstable transition from
laminar to turbulent flow. The presence and behavior of a laminar bubble on a low-Re airfoil is of paramount importance.
It not only dominates the separation and reattachment and the chaotic transition of the boundary layer but also generates
lift-cure hysteresis loop, which can result in severe control problems in stall. Moreover, it produces excessive laminar
bubble induced pressure drag on the upper surface of the low-Re wings. A laminar separation bubble is formed by the
separation and transition of a laminar boundary layer in the leading-edge region and by its subsequent turbulent
reattachment onto the upper surface of the airfoil. layer later separates, causing a gradual loss of lift and deterioration in
aircraft performance as the separation point moves forward with an increase in the angle of attack.
Project analysis
Clearly, the aerodynamic performanceslide
of UAVs is 5
critically dependent on the behavior of the boundary layer, which
includes flow separation and reattachment, transition, and turbulence that can develop on lifting surfaces. The
presence of a laminar bubble will produce different aerodynamic performance, which substantially affects the static,
dynamic, or aeroelastic stability of the entire vehicle. Maintaining an extensive region of laminar (delayed transition)
or attached turbulent boundary layer can dramatically increase aircraft efficiency, range, and endurance. Extensive
and accurate wind-tunnel tests and validations of the boundary-layer flows and their effects on the overall
performance of the airfoil must complement the theoretical analysis and computational-fluid-dynamical simulations.
Accurate tests in wind tunnels require practical and convenient measuring techniques or sensors capable of
pinpointing the various critical aerodynamic flow points (CAFP) locations include the leading-edge stagnation,
separation, transition, and reattachment points, both nonintrusive and simultaneously.
Project analysis slide 6 hot-wire anemometry, single surface-mounted hot-film gages,
laser Doppler velocimetry, surface-pressure transducers, and flow-
. visualization methods, to acquire the CAFP locations.
Unfortunately, viscous effects are difficult to measure because they
are usually confined to a very thin boundary layer close to the
airfoil surface; hence, most of these conventional measurements
are either intrusive or qualitative, and can only provide point-wise
flow field information at individual points. The objective of this
article is to report the nonintrusive pinpointing of the CAFP
locations occurring on a symmetric airfoil by using unique, closely
spaced, multiple hot-film sensor arrays (Figure 2) in the newly
constructed, low-turbulence J. Armand Bombardier wind tunnel at
McGill University. We have developed a PC-based high-speed data
acquisition and processing instrumentation system that
incorporates a multichannel constant-temperature anemometer
system, to extract the CAFP locations based on the 180◦- phase
shift phenomenon and to make a direct comparison of the
amplitudes or the root-mean-square (rms) levels of the multiple
hot-film output signals.
 Flow Facility and
Instrumentation
Project analysis slide 7
The wind tunnel testing of low-Re airfoils is nothing new. The CAFP and stall behavior of an airfoil, however, are very
dependent on wind tunnel flow quality and acoustic properties. Since the early days, the emphasis has been on testing
at very high Re (106) with higher speeds, larger models, and boundary-layer tripping devices to simulate higher Re
effects when they could not be otherwise be created. On the downside, these early tunnels were very “dirty” with high-
turbulence levels and noise. Low-Re effects, such as the laminar separation bubble, the stall hysteresis loop, and the
transition process were either not observed or dismissed as bad data. With the increasing appearance of UAVs, accurate
and “clean” wind-tunnel testing and detection of these CAFP phenomena now becomes critical and thus demands a low
speed wind tunnel with excellent flow quality and minimized tunnel wall influences . A low-turbulence open-circuit
subsonic wind tunnel with a 3 × 4 × 9 ft test section and a maximum speed of 160 mph was recently constructed in the
Aerodynamics Laboratory of the department of mechanical engineering at McGill University for low-Re airfoil testing.
The tunnel has a contraction ratio of 9.5, and four fine-mesh screens are installed in the settle chamber for managing
the freestream turbulence. The turbulence intensity is 0.03% at 35 m/s. The nonuniformity of the average velocity profile
across the test section is lower than 0.5%. The test model is a highly polished NACA 0012 airfoil, fabricated from solid
aluminum, with a chord length of 15 cm and a span of 37.5 cm. Figure 4 shows the block diagram of the experimental
setup and the data acquisition, processing, and instrumentation system. The data acquisition has a sample-and-hold
function installed for multichannel acquisition with no phase lag

7
 Multiple Hot-Film Sensor
Arrays
Project analysis slide 8
The multiple hot-film sensor arrays are formed by vapor deposition of
layers of nickel and copper on a flexible sheet of 50-µm thick polyimide.
It conforms to a variety of contours, and with custom-designed arrays, it
can be configured to virtually any pattern. Figure 2 shows a typical
straight-line arrangement of the MHFS arrays. Each array has a large
number of closely spaced nickel sensors and copper leads with a sensor
spacing of 1.25 mm. The nominal resistance of the nickel sensor is 8 .
The entire surface installation is 8 µm thick, which is well below the
critical roughness Fig. 3. Photos of the low-turbulence J. Armand
Bombardier subsonic wind tunnel at McGill University: rear view and
front view. A bank of AA Lab model AN-2000 constant temperature
anemometers operate the MHFS arrays. The frequency response of
each sensor is estimated to be greater than 20 kHz with square wave
techniques. Groups of 16 hot-film sensors systematically connect to 16
CTAs through magnet wire and BNC coaxial cable combination to
obtain the time history of the heat-transfer outputs that indicate wall
shear stresses at each sensor position. The overheat ratio is set at 1.09
to ensure that only a small amount of heat disturbs either the airflow or
the other heated thin films.
 Concluding Remarks

Project analysis slide 10

Figure 5(a) and (b) depicts representative MHFS detection of the laminar separation and transition. Figure 5(a)
illustrates the nonintrusive identification of the laminar separation point based on the 180◦ out-of-phase phenomenon
observed across sensors of interest in the leading-edge region of a NACA 0012 airfoil. The numbers shown on the
right side ordinate axis correspond to sensor numbers, as well as the distance s/c from the leading edge of the airfoil.
The left side ordinate axis indicates the self-scaled hot-film output voltage level. A 180◦ phase shift between the
outputs of S108 and S109 indicates the location of the laminar separation point at s/C ≈ 0.113. The resolution or
accuracy of the separation detection is dominated by the ratio of s to C, i.e., s/C = 1.25/150 = 0.8% in the present
measurement. The resolution can be increased significantly by using a finer sensor spacing or a larger airfoil model.
Figure 5(b) shows that the normalized hot-film outputs have low-voltage amplitudes if the boundary layer is laminar.
As the boundary layer becomes unstable, periodic turbulent bursts begin to appear with an associated increase in the
hot-film output amplitudes. The amplitude, or rms value, reaches a maximum at peak transition. It is followed by a
slight decrease in the amplitude or rms level in the turbulent region .The MHFS technique can also be applied
uniquely to the nonintrusive and simultaneous measurement of the transition and separation occurring on an
unsteady airfoil, e.g., on rotary-wing UAV rotor blades . The spatial-temporal progression of the various unsteady
CAFP is obtained directly from the sharp rise and drop in the sensor output levels during one cycle of airfoil
oscillation
 summary

Project analysis slide 11 The output of the MHFS is the most sensitive and
definitive indicator of the state of the boundary layer
and the locations of the various critical aerodynamic
flow points and, therefore, serves conveniently as a
primary diagnostic tool for boundary-layer flow
directed aerodynamic properties for both static and
unsteady low-Re airfoils. Caution, however, must be
executed to evaluate and minimize the effects of
“long” cable length or capacitance deriving from the
distant sensor location to the data acquisition system,
as frequently encountered in transonic wind tunnel
tests. This caution also applies to the lead resistance,
maximum sensitivity, change in sensor resistance with
temperature and the degradation of the sensor
outputs.
Thank You