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CFD Analysis of Airfoil using Structured and Unstructured Mesh

Conference Paper · May 2022

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Muhammad Umais Shabbir

National University of Sciences and Technology
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CFD ANALYSIS OF AIRFOIL
Structured and Unstructured Mesh

M Umais Shabbir
mshabbir.92eccae@student.nust.edu.pk
 Table of Contents
Problem Statement ....................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2
Methodology................................................................................................................................................. 3
Geometry .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Meshing..................................................................................................................................................... 4
Problem Setup .......................................................................................................................................... 6
Boundary Condition .................................................................................................................................. 6
Solution Initialization and Residuals Setting ................................................................................................. 7
.................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Results ........................................................................................................................................................... 7
Velocity Contour ....................................................................................................................................... 7
Pressure Contour .................................................................................................................................... 10
Lift ........................................................................................................................................................... 11
Drag ......................................................................................................................................................... 12
Moment .................................................................................................................................................. 13
Solution Convergence ................................................................................................................................. 13
Validation .................................................................................................................................................... 14
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 16

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 Analysis of Flow Over an Airfoil at Different Angles of
Attack Using Structured and Unstructured Mesh

Problem Statement
Lift, Drag and Moments being generated by the airfoil are the parameters for selection of
an airfoil in the aircraft manufacturing. In this study, we will calculate these parameters of
NACA 0012 airfoil.

Introduction
When an airfoil interacts with the flow, it creates disturbance in the flow. As a reaction of
these disturbances Aerodynamic forces are produced. At low angle of attacks (AoA)
flow is mostly laminar and attached to the airfoil. Once the angle of attack is increased
the flow tends to get separate from the surface and after a certain limit the airfoil stalls.

When an airfoil moves through airflow, an aerodynamic force is produced on it. The
components of aerodynamic force are drag and lift.
Lift is the vertical component of the aerodynamic force whereas the drag is the horizontal

component. They can be calculated by the relation given above. For lift, C will be used
as Cl that is the lift coefficient and Cd that is the drag coefficient will be used for the drag
calculation. Inversely using the above relation, we can calculate the coefficients as

Where D and L are drag and lift forces respectively. For a 2D analysis, since we do not
have any platform area, the area A can be put equal to the chord length of the airfoil.

2
Methodology
Following steps have been taken for the analysis.

Geometry

For this problem, the airfoil geometry was imported using the text file of coordinates of
the airfoil. The geometry was prepared for analysis using ANSYS Design Modeler. For
the structured mesh a C Domain was built with 20 m upstream region and 30 m
downstream region. Domain was extended 15 m above and below the airfoil.
For the unstructured mesh, a circular domain with the diameter of 20 m was built all
around the airfoil. The domains have been divided for the bifurcation of inlet and outlet
regions.

For Structured Mesh

For Unstructured Mesh

3
Meshing
The geometric model was then exported to Meshing. In this section Mesh was applied to
the surface. For the structured mesh, C-grid has been used.It was properly mapped with
sizing on each edge and face meshing. For the unstructured mesh, the circular domain
was meshed with the default settings the size of the element was reduced to 100 mm.

For Structured Mesh

For Unstructured Mesh

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The boundaries were given the names, so that boundary conditions can be applied later
in problem setup.

5
Problem Setup
For the problem setup, following assumptions were taken
o Since flow is incompressible (30 m/s i.e., Mach no. is lesser than 0.3), a pressure-
based solver was applied.
o The airfoil is 2D so 2D planar was employed instead of axis symmetry criterion.
o SST k-omega turbulence model has been used because it uses the k-ω model in
the near-wall region and k-ε model further away from the wall. The SST k-ω
turbulence model has better performance in predicting adverse pressure gradients
The analysis was based on the following setup

Models
------

Model Settings
---------------------------------------------------------
Space 2D
Time Steady
Viscous SST k-omega turbulence model
Heat Transfer Disabled
Solidification and Melting Disabled
Species Disabled
Coupled Dispersed Phase Disabled
NOx Pollutants Disabled
SOx Pollutants Disabled
Soot Disabled
Mercury Pollutants Disabled
Structure Disabled

Material Properties
-------------------

Material: air (fluid)

Property Units Method Value(s)

---------------------------------------------------------------
Density kg/m3 constant 1.225
Cp (Specific Heat) j/kg-k constant 1006.43
Thermal Conductivity w/m-k constant 0.0242
Viscosity kg/m-s constant 1.7894e-05
Molecular Weight kg/kmol constant 28.966
Thermal Expansion Coefficient 1/k constant 0
Speed of Sound m/s none #f

Boundary Condition
In this step, Boundary Conditions were applied to the problem. Edge B was assigned
velocity Inlet with the velocity of 30 m/s in x-direction. The components of the velocity
were varied depending upon the angle of attack. Edge A was taken as pressure outlet
with a zero gauge pressure. Edge C that is the Airfoil was taken as no slip wall.
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Solution Initialization and Residuals Setting
Once the problem has been set up, the solution was initialized for a standard solution.
Computations were done from inlet conditions. After that, the solution was run for 100
iterations. Solution will be iterated till it has converged to residual of 10e-3.

Results
The results of this simulation have been shown below.

Velocity Contour
The velocity contours at different angles of attack for both, structured and unstructured
mesh, have been given below. We can see that at low AoA the flow is attached to the
airfoil and is mostly laminar. As the angle of attack is increased, the flow starts to separate
and a wake is generated behind the airfoil. After a certain angle of attack the flow is totally
separated. This the angle at which the airfoil stalls and loses the lift.
Comparing the contours of structued and unstructured mesh, we can see that the
structured mesh has been able to capture the boundary layer more efficiently than the
unstructured mesh. The stalling of the airfoil at 17.5o AoA is more clearly visible in
structured mesh than the unstructured. We got the maximum lift at about 15o

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Unstructured Structured

0o AoA

5o AoA

10o AoA

12.5o AoA

8
13.25o AoA

15o AoA

17.5o AoA

20o AoA

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Pressure Contour
Pressure Contours for the simulation are also given in the following. The results are
somewhat like what we got in the velocity contours. Contours for some AoAs are given
below. Much difference cannot be spotted between structured and unstructured mesh
results except after 15o i.e., flow separation.

Unstructured Structured

0o AoA

5o AoA

10o AoA

15o AoA

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 20o AoA

Lift
Lift at different AoA has been calculated and a Cl alpha for the airfoil has been plotted.
Following curve and plot gives the results.
AOA Cl Structured Mesh Cl Unstructured Mesh
0 0.00 0.0051
5 0.5228 0.5121
10 0.9724 0.8924
12.5 1.1342 1.0034
13.25 1.1650 1.0241
14 0.5158 1.0369
15 0.8164 1.0416
17.5 0.5540 0.9869
20 0.6451 0.8656

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Comparing the results of structured and unstructured mesh, we can see that the curve
for structured mesh shows the flow separation and stalling after 14 o AoA but the
unstructured mesh gives us a smooth curve with a slight decrease in lift but no stalling.

Drag
In a similar way, the drag on the airfoil has also been calculated and a Cd alpha for the airfoil
has been plotted. Following curve and plot gives the results.
AOA Cd Structured Mesh Cd Unstructured Mesh
0 0.0098 0.0107
5 0.0111 0.0192
10 0.0126 0.0513
12.5 0.0211 0.0775
13.25 0.0239 0.0865
14 0.1245 0.0967
15 0.1231 0.1104
17.5 0.2399 0.1482
20 0.2454 0.2043

The unstructured mesh gives a gradual increase in the drag as the AoA is increased but
this is not the case with structured mesh. In the latter case, there is minute change at low
AoAs but after a certain AoA (separation point) the drag increases abruptly.

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Moment
Coefficient of moment was also calculated for each case and the results are given below.
AOA Cm Structured Mesh Cm Unstructured Mesh
0 0 0.00143
5 0.126 0.1305
10 0.24 0.2275
12.5 0.235 0.259
13.25 0.295 0.265
14 0.13 0.269
15 0.245 0.271
17.5 0.23 0.2675
20 0.23 0.268

In the moment calculation, the drag has a very little part because of low magnitude and
smaller moment arm. Major contribution towards the moment is done by lift. So, the trends
here are very similar to what we got in lift curves for both types of meshes.

Solution Convergence
Earlier the solution was run for 100 iterations with residuals of 10e-3. Different residuals
plots were seen for both meshes the variation was very less with the AoA. For
unstructured mesh, the residuals set were achieved within 40 iterations for all AoAs. For
the structured mesh, the residuals could not be achieved within 100 iterations at any AoA.
The residuals plots are given below.

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 For Unstructured Mesh

For Structured Mesh

Validation
For validation, the results have been compared with a standard. The reference has been
taken the curves from an online source that is airfoil database. The comparison shows
that the trends followed are similar to the database results but the actual value at certain
points has some difference. The comparison is given below.

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15
 Conclusion
In this lab, we analyzed the flow over an airfoil. We used two different types of mesh,
structured and unstructured. We found out that, as the angle of attack increases, the lift
as well as drag increases over the airfoil. The moments on the airfoil also increase. The
results for both mesh were compared with each other. We concluded that the structured
mesh was able to capture the boundary layer especially at the separation point more
efficiently than the unstructured mesh. The results were then compared to the actual ones
taken from the airfoil database. The results achieved are close to the actual ones so we
can say that our work is validated. The study van be further improved by setting up the
problem more efficiently. The calculations can also be done for negative AoAs as well
which will be an addition.

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