Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil

NACA 2415 Using CFD Fluent

SEMINAR REPORT

(Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for B.Tech Degree Course

in Mechanical Engineering of University of Calicut)

Submitted By

SANDEEP A

GUIDE

Mr. AJITH U K NAIR

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

AMMINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
KANNAMPARIYARAM, MANKARA(PO),
PALAKKAD - 678 613
APRIL 2017
 AMMINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
KANNAMPARIYARAM, MANKARA 678 613

APRIL 2017

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Seminar report titled Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial
Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 Using CFD Fluent" is the bonafide record of
seminar work done by SANDEEP A Reg. No. AFANEME045 at Ammini College of
Engineering in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the B.Tech Degree course in
Mechanical Engineering of University of Calicut during the year 2016 2017.

GUIDE HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT

Signature (Signature with seal)

PRINCIPAL

Signature

Submitted for the end semester viva voce examination held on ___________

INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to express my deep sense of gratitude to my beloved Chairman Sri.

K.G Madhu and all trust members of Ammini College of Engineering for providing all the
necessary facilities to carry out the seminar work. I express my sincere thanks to my Principal
Dr. P.R Chandrasekhar for his support. I express my gratitude to Mr.Pradeesh A.R, Head
of the Department, department of mechanical engineering for his encouragement and timely
advice that made us to carry out the seminar work successfully. I would like to express my
sincere appreciation to my guide, Mr.Ajith U K Nair, Assistant professor, Department of
Mechanical Engineering for the support and guidance he has extended to us in the completion
of my seminar work. I extend my sincere thanks to the faculty and staff members for their
valuable suggestions and help throughout my seminar work. Besides these I like to express my
sincere thanks to my friends and family for their help and support towards the successful
completion of the seminar work.

SANDEEP A
ABSTRACT
An aero foil is a cross-section of wing that plays an important role in any aero plane or aircraft for
designing the wings because of wings, lift is generated that holds the aircraft in the air. The design
of wing with desired aerodynamic characteristics are most important for aircraft like fighter plane,
commercial plane, UAV and MAV . The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)
has given a proper definition for aero foils which help us to select aero foil for designing the wings
of aero planes. In this seminar work, NACA 2415 aero foil has been chosen for designing the 3-D
wing of commercial aero plane because of its high lift to drag ratio at low Reynolds number and
Mach number. The 3-D wing has chord length 100mm at root & 18mm at tip and span length 177
mm with 60 dihedral angle. In this paper, theyve also drawn the Other wings with change in
design of wing with profile (root) and dihedral angle. Spalart-Allamaras turbulence model is used
for better accuracy around boundary wall of wing. Investigation on commercial aero plane 3-D
wing designs are investigated to study the Drag coefficient (CD), Lift coefficient (CL) and Lift-
to-Drag ratio (L/D) at various angle of attack. The aim of the seminar paper is to produce better
aerodynamic performance for wing designs to reduce the induced drag formed on wing during the
flight operation at take-off; in-turn it will improve the efficiency of the aircraft. The geometry of
wing models and meshing are carried out by ANSYS 15 software. The computational simulation
is carried out by ANSYS FLUENT at low Mach number (0.23). Flow parameters are measured for
different design configurations and compared for efficient design.
 i

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CONTENTS i

LIST OF FIGURES iii

LIST OF TABLES iv

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

NO:
1 INTRODUCTION 1

2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2

2.1 WORKS IN LITERATURE 2

3 AEROFOIL 4

3.1 TERMINOLOGY AND DEFENITIONS 4

3.2 FORCES AND COEFFICIENTS 4

3.3 NACA PROFILE GENERATION 5

3.4 WING DESIGN DIMENSIONS 6

4 METHODOLOGY 7

4.1 PRE-PROCESSING 7

4.1.1 Geometry 7

4.1.2 Meshing 8

4.2 SOLVER 9
 ii

4.3 POST PROCESSING 9

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 10

5.1 LIFT COEFFICIENT (CL): ANALYSIS FOR WINGS 10

5.2 DRAG COEFFICIENT (CD): ANALYSIS FOR WINGS 11

5.3 LIFT TO DRAG RATIO (L/D): ANALYSIS FOR WINGS 12

6. CONCLUSION 14

7. REFERENCE 15
 iii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure No: Title Page

3.1 Aerofoil Terminology 4

3.2 Lift and Drag force 5

4.1 Wing with NACA 2415 7

4.2 Wing with Modified Profile & Dihedral Angle 8

4.3 3-D Model of wing with meshing 8

5.1 Lift Coefficient (CL) at various angle of attack 11

5.2 Drag Coefficient (CD) at various angle of attack 12

5.3 L/D Ratio at various angle of attack 14

 iv

LIST OF TABLES

Table No: Title Page

3.1 Boeing 737-700 aeroplane wing Dimensions 6

5.1 Lift coefficient CL: Comparison with all wings 10

5.2 Drag coefficient CD: Comparison with all wings 11

5.3 Lift to Drag Ratio: Comparison with all wings 13

Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 1

1. INTRODUCTION
The wing is the most important part of the aircraft due to its shapes that lift and sustain
the whole weight of aircraft in the air. All the lifting and tilting movement of the
aircraft is done by using the control surfaces on the wings. In flight, a lower pressure
is to be found on top surface and higher pressure on bottom surface because of
Bernoulli's principle which in turn sucks the aeroplane into the air. The wings of an
aeroplane are made from aluminium alloys and carbon fiber etc. and designed
specifically to bend move up and down.
An aerofoil is a cross-section of any wing. Its main job is to provide lift to an
aeroplane during take-off and in-attaining height. To cope up with the Drag (which
opposes the motion of the aeroplane) Lift is needed. Aerofoil selection is depend on
aircrafts varieties like commercial, fighter, low subsonic, high subsonic, supersonic
etc.
An aerofoil-shaped body moved through a fluid produces an aerodynamic force.
The component of this force perpendicular to the direction of motion is called lift. The
component parallel to the direction of motion is called drag. Subsonic flight aerofoils
have a characteristic shape with a rounded leading edge, followed by a sharp trailing
edge, often with a symmetric curvature of upper and lower surfaces. Foils of similar
function designed with water as the working fluid are called hydrofoils.
The lift on an airofoil is primarily the result of its angle of attack and shape. When
oriented at a suitable angle, the airofoil deflects the oncoming air (for fixed-wing
aircraft, a downward force), resulting in a force on the airofoil in the direction opposite
to the deflection. This force is known as aerodynamic force and can be resolved into
two components: lift and drag. Most foil shapes require a positive angle of attack to
generate lift, but cambered aerofoils can generate lift at zero angle of attack. This
"turning" of the air in the vicinity of the airofoil creates curved streamlines, resulting
in lower pressure on one side and higher pressure on the other. This pressure difference
is accompanied by a velocity difference, via Bernoulli's principle, so the resulting flow
field about the airofoil has a higher average velocity on the upper surface than on the
lower surface. Any object with an angle of attack in a moving fluid, such as a flat plate,
a building, or the deck of a bridge, will generate an aerodynamic force (called lift)
perpendicular to the flow. Aerofoils are more efficient lifting shapes, able to generate
more lift (up to a point), and to generate lift with less drag.

Ammini College Of Engineering Dept. Of Mechanical Engineering

Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 2

2. LITERATURE SURVEY
2.1 WORKS IN LITERATURE
S.Kandwal, Dr. S. Singh[1]: This paper presents computational investigation of
inviscid flow over an airofoil. The drag and lift forces can be determined through
experiments using wind tunnel testing, in which the design model has to be placed in
the test section. The experimental data is taken from Theory of Wing Sections by
Abbott et al., This work presents a computational method to deduce the lift and drag
properties, which can reduce the dependency on wind tunnel testing. The study is done
on air flow over a two-dimensional NACA 4412 Airofoil using ANSYS FLUENT
(version 12.0.16), to obtain the surface pressure distribution, from which drag and lift
were calculated using integral equations of pressure over finite surface areas. In
addition, the drag and lift coefficients were also determined. The fluid used for this
purpose is air. The CFD simulation results show close agreement with those of the
experiments, thus suggesting a reliable alternative to experimental method in
determining drag and lift

Alister Gleason Dsouza, Joel I Concessao, Jaimon Quadros[2]: Low speed wind
tunnel testing has evolved over the last century and has become a cornerstone in the
development of aviation vehicles. Study of the effects of aerodynamics and its influence
are substantial in the design of aircrafts and much fluid effect based engineering
machines. The forces involved in the dynamic interactions of fluids and solids have
only begun to be lifted, therefore the study of wind behaviour is necessary to design
large Airplanes. This paper provides an overview of the design parameters of a low
speed wind tunnel and then the study of coefficient of lift (CL) and coefficient of drag
(CD) for different length to diameter (L/D) ratios of a NACA 4412 aerofoil section
shaped as per the NACA standards of Aerofoil design. It was observed through flow
visualization test that flow remained unseparated throughout the test section for 70% of
its characteristic dimension i.e. the breadth or height of the test section in this case. A
conditioning circuit was also developed in order to record the (C L) and (CD) values
which gave smooth output data values. The LM324 IC was used for noise and
temperature output for good stability for dynamic data.

Rohit Jain, Sandeep Jain, Lokesh Bajpai[3]: An aerofoil is a cross-section of wing

that plays an important role in any aeroplane or aircraft for designing the wings because

Ammini College Of Engineering Dept. Of Mechanical Engineering

Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 3

of wings, lift is generated that holds the aircraft in the air. The design of wing with
desired aerodynamic characteristics are most important for aircraft like fighter plane,
commercial plane, UAV and MAV . The National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics (NACA) has given a proper definition for aerofoils which help us to select
aerofoil for designing the wings of aeroplanes. In this work, NACA 2415 aerofoil has
been chosen for designing the 3-D wing of commercial aeroplane because of its high
lift to drag ratio at low Reynolds number and Mach number. The 3-D wing has chord
length 100mm at root & 18mm at tip and span length 177 mm with 60 dihedral angle.
Other wings also drawn with change in design of wing with profile (root) and dihedral
angle. Spalart-Allamaras turbulence model is used for better accuracy around
boundary wall of wing. Investigation on commercial aeroplane 3-D wing designs are
investigated to study the Drag coefficient (CD), Lift coefficient (CL) and Lift-to-Drag
ratio (L/D) at various angle of attack. The investigation aims to produce better
aerodynamic performance for wing designs to reduce the induced drag formed on wing
during the flight operation at take-off; in-turn it will improve the efficiency of the
aircraft. The geometry of wing models and meshing are carried out by ANSYS 15
software. The computational simulation is carried out by ANSYS FLUENT at low
Mach number (0.23). Flow parameters are measured for different design
configurations and compared for efficient design.

Ammini College Of Engineering Dept. Of Mechanical Engineering

Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 4

3. AEROFOIL

3.1 TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS

Fig 3.1 Aerofoil Terminology

Mean camber line- A line drawn halfway between the upper and lower surfaces of
the aerofoil.
Leading edge- It is front edge of aerofoil where maximum curvature can be found.
Trailing edge- It is the rearmost edge of an aerofoil.
Chord line- It is the connecting line between leading and trailing edge and it is
straight.
Chord length- It is the length of the chord line.
Camber- It is maximum perpendicular distance between mean camber line to chord
line.
Thickness- It is measured either perpendicular to the camber line or perpendicular
to the chord line.
Angle of attack- It is defined as the angle between the chord line and the relative
wind or flight path.

3.2 FORCES AND COEFFICIENTS

Lift coefficient (CL)- It is a dimensionless coefficient that relates the lifting force
on the body to its velocity, surface area and the density of the fluid in which it is
lifting.

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Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 5

Lift force - It is a force which is perpendicular to the relative wind.

Drag coefficient (CD)- It is a dimensionless coefficient that relates the dragging

force on the body to its velocity, surface area and the density of the fluid in which
it is moving.

Drag force - It is a force which is parallel to the relative wind.

Dihedral Angle- It is an upwards inclination of wing from root to tip

Fig 3.2 Lift and Drag force

3.3 NACA PROFILE GENERATION

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) tested 78 aerofoil shapes
in wind tunnel and data published in Technical report with the characteristics of all were
these sections; tests were conducted in Variable- Density Wind Tunnel in 1933 . This
report resulted in the creation of the four-digit scheme for defining the basic geometry
of the aerofoil. This nomenclature was used to define the other aerofoil families, such
as the five-digit aerofoils. The NACA four-digit aerofoil sections define the profile by;
First digit provides maximum camber which is in percentage of the total chord length.
Second digit provides the distance of maximum camber from leading edge in tens of
percentage of the total chord length. Last two digits describe maximum thickness of
the aerofoil as percentage of the total chord length. For example, NACA 2415 aerofoil
has total chord length 100 mm. So aerofoil has maximum camber 2mm which is 40mm
far from leading edge with 15mm thickness.

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Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 6

3.4 WING DESIGN DIMENSIONS

In this paper, Boeing 737-700 aeroplane wing is selected and scaled model is drawn
with aerofoil NACA 2415. Other wings with modified root profile as well as dihedral
angle are also drawn with scaled dimensions. True and scaled dimensions are shown in
table. 3.1
Table. 3.1 Boeing 737-700 aeroplane wing Dimensions

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 Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 7

4. METHODOLOGY

CFD investigation consists of three stages. Starting from pre-processing stage where
3-D geometry of wings model were drawn using ANSYS Design Modular and the grids
were generated by ANSYS ICEM-CFD. The second stage was simulation by FLUENT
solver using Finite Volume Approach. Finally, third step was the post-processing stage;
in which the aerodynamic characteristics like Drag coefficient (CD), Lift coefficient (CL)
and Lift-to-Drag ratio (L/D) were defined at the various angle of attack for wings.

4.1 PRE-PROCESSING

Geometry and Meshing of wings are created in pre-processing.

4.1.1 Geometry

3-D geometry of wing of Boeing commercial aeroplane 737-700 were drawn with scaled
in ANSYS Design Modular with aerofoil NACA 2415. The chord length of aerofoil
used 100mm for profile (root) and 18mm for wing-tip. Total span length was 177mm
with dihedral angle 60. Other wings were drawn with Wing with Modified Profile (root),
Wing with Modified Dihedral angle (50) and Wing with Modified Profile & Dihedral
Angle. These were also drawn in ANSYS Design Modular.

Fig 4.1 Wing with NACA 2415

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 Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 8

Fig 4.2 Wing with Modified Profile & Dihedral Angle

4.1.2 Meshing

The 3-D unstructured tetrahedral mesh was utilized for the flow around the model.
Unstructured mesh is appropriate because of the complexity of the model. The
advantages of the unstructured mesh are shorter time consumption in grid generation for
any geometries and the potential to adapt the grid to improve the accuracy of the
computation. The Maximum face size, Maximum size and Growth Rate were set to
10mm, 15mm and 1.2 respectively. Inflation was used by selecting edges of wing so that
mesh will be more fine around wing surface with first layer thickness (0.1 mm).

Fig 4.3 3-D Model of wing with meshing

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 Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 9

4.2 SOLVER
The numerical simulation by the solver was done after the completion of the mesh
generation on fluid flow and wing. The solver formulation using as turbulence model
Spalart-Allmaras was used because of low Mach number (0.23) with one-equation
turbulence model that provide superior accuracy around boundary wall. After selecting
turbulence model; boundary condition, solution control parameters and material
properties were defined. All the parameters were specified for various angle of attack,
then the model was initialized with inlet values then Run the calculation for some
iterations for flow parameters.
Parameters taken for calculations: Constants
Properties of Air:
Density: = 1.1768 kg/m3
Viscosity: = 1.716e-05 kg/m-s
Pressure: p = 101325 pa
Mach number = 0.23
(Lift and Drag force for all wings were find out at low Mach number for take-off
condition for efficient design)
Mathematical models: Spalart-Allmaras (Provide accurate results for turbulence model
near boundary wall and unstructured mesh with lesser time taken for iterations)
Force Monitors: Lift and Drag with various angle of attacks
Reference values: Far field inlet value are imported.

4.3 POST PROCESSING

After simulation, the aerodynamic characteristics were found for all wings.

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Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 10

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The aerodynamic characteristics of 3-D wings models likes wing NACA 2415, wing
with Modified profile (root), wing with Modified dihedral angle and wing with
Modified profile (root) and dihedral angle were found in post processing with various
angle of attack like 30,50,80,100 and 120.

5.1 LIFT COEFFICIENT (CL): ANALYSIS FOR WINGS

Lift coefficient for Wing NACA 2415, Wing with Modified Profile (root), Wing with
Modified Dihedral angle and Wing with Modified Profile & Dihedral Angle were found
in post process at various angle of attack. It is observed that the Lift coefficient (CL)
increases with the increases of angle of attack (AOA) as shown in Figure 5.1
Table. 5.1 Lift coefficient CL: Comparison with all wings

Table. 5.1 Shows that Lift coefficient is the highest in Wing with Modified Profile
& Dihedral Angle with comparison with NACA 2415, wing modified profile and Wing
with modified dihedral angle. The highest lift coefficient is 0.5439

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Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 11

Fig. 5.1 Lift Coefficient (CL) at various angle of attack

5.2 DRAG COEFFICIENT (CD): ANALYSIS FOR WINGS

Drag coefficient for wing NACA 2415, wing with Modified profile (root), wing with
Modified dihedral angle and wing with modified profile (root) & dihedral angle were
found in post process at various angle of attack. It is observed that the Drag coefficient
(CD) increases with the increases of angle of attack (AOA) as shown in Figure 5.2.
Table. 5.2 Drag coefficient CD: Comparison with all wings

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Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 12

Table. 5.2 Shows that Drag coefficient is increasing with increasing angle of attack.

Fig. 5.2 Drag Coefficient (CD) at various angle of attack

5.3 LIFT TO DRAG RATIO (L/D): ANALYSIS FOR WINGS

Getting all Lift coefficient and Drag coefficient of all wings at various angle of attack,
is found that L/D is increasing with increasing angle of attack up to 50 and after 50, L/D
ratio is decreasing with increasing angle of attack. Highest value of L/D ratio is found
in Wing with Modified root & Dihedral angle (16.31) at 50 angle of attack as shown in
Figure 5.3.
Table. 5.3 Lift to Drag Ratio: Comparison with all wings

Ammini College Of Engineering Dept. Of Mechanical Engineering

Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 13

Fig. 5.3 L/D Ratio at various angle of attack

Ammini College Of Engineering Dept. Of Mechanical Engineering

Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 14

6. CONCLUSION
The results that were obtained after the simulation on each configurations showed that
Wing Modified Profile (root) & Dihedral angle has the highest value of Lift coefficient
and Lift-to-Drag ratio (L/D) as compared to other wings. It proves that the Wing
Modified Profile (root) & Dihedral angle will be serve the purpose of a wing for
aeroplane Boeing 737-700. Hence, if Wing Modified Profile (root) & Dihedral angle
would be attached to the aeroplane Boeing 737-800 wing it would have good
aerodynamic characteristics that would be result in lesser time and lesser fuel
consumption.

Ammini College Of Engineering Dept. Of Mechanical Engineering

Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415 15

7. REFERENCES
[1] Computational Fluid Dynamics Study Of Fluid Flow And Aerodynamic Forces On
An Airfoil, Prepared by S.Kandwal, Dr. S. Singh, M. Tech Scholar, Associate
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bipin Tripathi Kumaon Institute of
Technology, Dwarahat, Almora, Uttarakhand (India) 263653

[2] Study of Aerofoil Design Parameters for Low Speed Wind Tunnel, Prepared by
Alister Gleason Dsouza Joel I. Concessao, Jaimon Quadros, Dept. of Mechanical
Engineering, Sahyadri College of Engineering & Management, India

[3] Investigation on 3-D Wing of commercial Aeroplane with Aerofoil NACA 2415
Using CFD Fluent, Prepared by Rohit Jai, Sandeep Jain, Lokesh Bajpai, PG Student,
Associate Professor, Professor & Head, Mechanical Engineering Department, Samrat
Ashok Technological Institute, Vidisha-M.P.

Ammini College Of Engineering Dept. Of Mechanical Engineering