Lecture

Flow Simulation of 2D Airfoil

Graph Chat

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.

In course

ME-474: Numerical flow simulation

This course provides practical experience in the numerical simulation of fluid flows. Numerical methods are presented in the framework of the finite volume method. A simple solver is developed with Matlab, and a commercial software is used for more complex ...

Description

This lecture focuses on the numerical simulation of flow around a standard 2D airfoil, specifically the Eppler E387 airfoil. The instructor discusses the design, simulation methodology, and validation of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results. Key aspects include airfoil geometry, flow conditions, numerical setup, solver configuration, and post-processing techniques. The lecture also covers comparisons with experimental data, boundary layer considerations, turbulence modeling, and the physical analysis of the numerical solution, emphasizing lift and drag characteristics. The presentation concludes with suggestions for improving agreement between numerical and experimental results through sensitivity analyses using ANSYS Workbench and Fluent.

This video is available exclusively on Mediaspace for a restricted audience. Please log in to MediaSpace to access it if you have the necessary permissions.

Watch on Mediaspace

Instructor

Edouard Boujo

Official source

Related concepts (21)

Lift (force)

A fluid flowing around an object exerts a force on it. Lift is the component of this force that is perpendicular to the oncoming flow direction. It contrasts with the drag force, which is the component of the force parallel to the flow direction. Lift conventionally acts in an upward direction in order to counter the force of gravity, but it is defined to act perpendicular to the flow and therefore can act in any direction. If the surrounding fluid is air, the force is called an aerodynamic force.

Lift-induced drag

In aerodynamics, lift-induced drag, induced drag, vortex drag, or sometimes drag due to lift, is an aerodynamic drag force that occurs whenever a moving object redirects the airflow coming at it. This drag force occurs in airplanes due to wings or a lifting body redirecting air to cause lift and also in cars with airfoil wings that redirect air to cause a downforce. It is symbolized as , and the lift-induced drag coefficient as . For a constant amount of lift, induced drag can be reduced by increasing airspeed.

Airfoil

An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is a streamlined body that is capable of generating significantly more lift than drag. Wings, sails and propeller blades are examples of airfoils. Foils of similar function designed with water as the working fluid are called hydrofoils. When oriented at a suitable angle, a solid body moving through a fluid deflects the oncoming fluid (for fixed-wing aircraft, a downward force), resulting in a force on the airfoil in the direction opposite to the deflection.

Lift-to-drag ratio

In aerodynamics, the lift-to-drag ratio (or L/D ratio) is the lift generated by an aerodynamic body such as an aerofoil or aircraft, divided by the aerodynamic drag caused by moving through air. It describes the aerodynamic efficiency under given flight conditions. The L/D ratio for any given body will vary according to these flight conditions. For an aerofoil wing or powered aircraft, the L/D is specified when in straight and level flight. For a glider it determines the glide ratio, of distance travelled against loss of height.

Drag (physics)

In fluid dynamics, drag (sometimes called fluid resistance) is a force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding fluid. This can exist between two fluid layers (or surfaces) or between a fluid and a solid surface. Unlike other resistive forces, such as dry friction, which are nearly independent of velocity, the drag force depends on velocity. Drag force is proportional to the velocity for low-speed flow and the squared velocity for high speed flow, where the distinction between low and high speed is measured by the Reynolds number.

Related lectures (64)

Turbulence: Numerical Flow Simulation

Explores turbulence characteristics, simulation methods, and modeling challenges, providing guidelines for choosing and validating turbulence models.

Fluid Dynamics: Viscous Flow

Explores viscous fluid dynamics, including drag force, lift force, turbulence, viscosity, and the Magnus effect.

Boundary Layers: Recap and Effects on Drag and Lift

Covers the importance of boundary layers, viscosity effects on drag and lift.

Boundary Layer: Blasius Solution

Explores the Blasius solution for boundary layer analysis and drag force calculations.

Boundary Layer Concepts