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Various Approaches to Increase the Aerodynamic Efficiency for Airfoils at Low

Reynolds Number Flows

Conference Paper · September 2012

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Sampath Emani Seshu kumar Vandrangi

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International Journal of xxx
Vol.x, No.x, Month 201x, pp. xx~xx
ISSN: xxxx-xxxx  31

Various Approaches to Increase the Aerodynamic Efficiency for

Airfoils at Low Reynolds Number Flows
Sampath Emani*, Seshu Vandrangi**, Gurunadh Velidi*
* Departement of Aerospace Engineering, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies
** Individual Colloborator

Article Info ABSTRACT

Article history: From the past many decades, many researches have worked on different
airfoils for getting the efficient lift. Lift and drag are the two factors on ehich
Received Jun 12th, 201x aerodynamic efficiency is based on. These can be determined by the pressure
Revised Aug 20th, 201x distibution over the airfoil.. Pressure distribution depends on the free stream
Accepted Aug 26th, 201x velocity of air around the airfoil. At low Reynolds number, velocity of flow
of an airfoil is lower then the velocity of flow at high Reynolds number,
which is a reason for the decrease in the lift. So, to increase the performance
Keyword: of airfoil at low Reynolds number, there are some methods involved like
airfoil shaping, boundary layer control and also by increasing the flow speeds
CFD over the blades. In the present work, an airfoil is designed by taking the
Clark Y Airfoil computational approach and lift variations are studied for the airfoil at low
Aerodynamic Efficiency Reynolds numbers. Then the lift variations are again studied at low Reynolds
Gambit, Fluent number by involving the above mentioned methods. Viscous flow analysis is
Stall Behavior used in the present work. This work helps many aircraft industries in
designing the airfoils with better performances.
Copyright © 201x Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science.
All rights reserved.

Corresponding Author:
Sampath Emani,
Departement of Aerospace Engineering,
University of Petroleum and Energy Studies,
P.O Bidholi, Via Premnagar, Dehradun 248007, Uttarakhand, India.
Email: sampath.evs@gmail.com

1. INTRODUCTION
In the modern subsonic aerodynamics, Airfoils which perform at low relative wind speeds have
been of much interest. When compared to low Reynolds number, the flow around the airfoil has a higher
velocity at high Reynolds number. This decreases the lift for the airfoil and brings down the performance of
an airfoil. With an efficient lift of an airfoil, Increased payloads, shortened takeoff and landing distances,
reduced aircraft noise and lowered stall speeds can be occured [3]. To characterize the flows, dimensionless
Reynolds number is used. As the free stream velocity is directly proportional to the Reynolds number, flows
with low free stream velocities i.e low wind speed flows correspond to low Reynolds number flows and
flows with high free stream velocities, i.e high wind speed flows correspond to high Reynolds number flows
As the aerodynamic efficiency of the airfoils operating at low Reynolds numbers is not efficient, the
main objective of this study is to increase the performance of an airfoil at low Reynolds number flows. In the
present life scenario, Low Reynolds number aerodynamics are having a huge number of applications in wind
turbines [2], motorsports, high altitude aircrafts and propellers and flyers [3] and subscale testing of many
full scale systems [4]. As the high lift airfoil seizes a high demand in the present transport aircraft industries,
this work is done to acquire the high lift for an airfoil by shaping the airfoil, by controlling the boundary
layer and also by increasing the flow speed over the blades. For exhibiting the high accuracy results,
computational fluid dynamics approach has been taken for analysis and simulations of the airfoil. This work
also determines the stall behavior of the airfoil when the above methods are involved.

Journal homepage: http://iaesjournal.com/online/index.php/xxxxx

32  ISSN: xxxx-xxxx

Figure 1. Airfoil and its geometry

Airfoil is the word which is known to the world from the late 1800’s. In the late 1800’s, People used to set
an angle of incidence for a flat plate which would produce lift. But for better lift coefficient and aerodynamic
efficiency, research was undergone by creating shapes with curvatures. H.F. Phillips is the one who patented
a series of airfoil shapes [10]. Due to the advancement in the technologies, more and more methods are
undergone on these airfoil shapes for getting the efficient lift. Airfoil is a two dimensional cross section of an
airfoil wing. The main terms which are used for determining the efficiency of an airfoil is Lift and Drag. The
force which is perpendicular to the motion of the airfoil is termed as Lift and the force parallel to the motion
of the airfoil is termed as Drag. The upper surface of the airfoil, generally called as suction surface of an
airfoil is associated with higher velocity. Due to the higher velocity on the suction surface of the airfoil, It
posses lower static pressure. The lower surface of the airfoil generally said as pressure surface. The static
pressure on the lower surface is higher than the static pressure at the suction surface. Lift force is generated
for an airfoil by determining the pressure gradient between the suction surface and the pressure surface.
Maximum curvature can be seen at the front of an airfoil which is generally termed as Leading edge and the
point at the rear of the airfoil is said as Trailing edge. When the leading edge and the trailing edge of an
airfoil are connected by a straight line, then it is said as chord line and the length of the chord line is said as
chord length.

Figure 2. Clark Y Airfoil

As airfoil is the heart of the airplane, selection of an airfoil is a very important task for manufacturing the
efficient airplane. Airfoil affects the cruise speed, take-off and landing distances, stall speeds, handling
qualities and also the overall aerodynamic efficiency [5]. In the present work, the design and modelling is
undergone for CLARK Y airfoil. As CLARK Y airfoil is used by many aircraft manufactures, our work deals
with the CLARK Y airfoil. In this type of airfoil, as the chord of the airfoil is parallel to the lower surface of
the airfoil, an inclinometer can be used to change the angles at attack directly [9].

Figure 3. Aerodynamic Forces on an Airfoil

Reynolds number is the main factor which is used to take into consideration while designing an airfoil.
Relative wind speed over the airfoil is determined by the Reynolds number. For low Reynolds number over
an airfoil, there will be low relative wind speed over the airfoil. As the flow will be laminar and viscous
dominated at low Reynolds number flow over an airfoil, we can observe a quite thick boundary layer and
these do not have severe pressure gradients which restricts the lift increasing capability. The boundary layer
formed here is much less capable of handling an adverse presssure gradient without seperation [6].
While discussing about the effects of the lift on low Reynolds number flows, pressure distributions
should be taken into the consideration. Prssure distribution around the arifoil is determined by the free stream
velocity of air around the airfoil. As these all depends on the relative velocity of the airfoil, we can say that

IJxx Vol. x, No. x, Month 201x : xx – xx

IJxx ISSN: xxxx-xxxx  33

efficient aerodynamic lift is not achieved at low Reynolds number flows as the velocity distribution around
the airfoil is low due to the low relative velocity. The relative velocity will be low when there is a low
Reynolds number flow over the airfoil.
While discussing about the drag effects, as the flow is laminar due to the low Reynolds flow over
the airfoil, initially, at the nose of the airfoil, laminar boundary layer is formed. As the flow inside the layer
turns into turbulent after a cetain distance, but due to the low Reynolds number, the transition to turbulent
flow takes time. Hence, even in the adverse pressure gradient region, laminar flow remains. Due to this, the
velocity of the boundary layer falls and seperation of the flow is occured which increases the drag by the
formation of eddies and vortices. But in the case of high Reynolds number flows, the transition to turbulent
from laminar is quick. So flow is able to overcome the adverse pressure gradients.

2. RESEARCH METHOD
As discussed in above sections, At low Reynolds number flows, due to the low relative wind speed,
efficient lift can’t be obtained. Hence, there are many methods for achieving the efficient aerodynamic lift.
Let us discuss each approach in detail.
2.1 Optimization of an Airfoil
Optimation or shaping of airfoils means increasing the camber by introducing flaps or slats on the
leading edge or on the trailing edge of the airfoil. These flaps are of many types. As our main aim is to
increase the camber for increasing the aerodynamic efficiency. So for increasing the camber, flps or slats can
be introduced either on the leading edge or/and the trailing edge. Other parameters can also be optimized for
increasing the aerodynamic efficiency, like maximum thickness of the airfoil , leading edge quality etc.

Figure 4. Optimized Airfoils Figure 5. Different Flaps on the trailing edge

The above figure’s (4 and 5) show us the increase in the camber by installing flaps on the airfoils. We can see
a bended like surface on the trailing and leading edge of the airfoil in figure 4 and we can see different types
of flaps like split flap, plain flap etc in figure 5. As the lift is based on the pressure distribution between the
leading and trailing edges, Flaps changes these pressure distributions for obtaining efficient lift which finally
increases the overall aerodynamic efficiency.

2.2 Boundary Layer Control

The main reason which low downs the lift of an airfoil is seperation of flow. As low Reynolds number flows
are badly affected by adverse pressure gradients by significantly increasing the pressure drag, boundary layer
control can sustain these adverse pressure gradients which delays the stall point and which finally make the
flow not to seperate easily. Boundary layer control can be done by increasing the turbulence of the flow. As
turbulence can sustain the adverse pressure gradients, the formation of pressure drag will be reduced and the
seperation will not take place easily. Experimentally, Wires like materials can be inserted in the wind tunnels
so that the height of the boundary layer can be increased to get the turbulence. As pressure distribution is the
main cause for the flow to be seperated, this occurs when the pressure at the trailing edge is higher than the
leading edge. So when there is a suction of pressure at the trailing edge, the pressure at the trailing edge
reduces, so that the pressure at the leading edge will be higher than at the trailing edge.

2.3 Increasing the Flow Speed over the Blade

By increasing the flow speed over the airfoil, adverse pressure gradients can be ruined and the aerodynamic
efficiency can increase. Experimentally, in wind tunnels flow speed can be increased over the blades by
blowing high speed air by operating the airfoil in the narrow area, which increases the Reynolds number so
that it can sustain the adverse pressure gradient and finally the aerodynamic efficiency can be increased.
2.4 computational Approach
From decades, many experimental procedures and investigations are undergone on different airfoils by
different wind tunnel tests. From the time, when technology of manufacturaing aircrafts are started i.e from
Various Approaches to Increase the Aerodynamic Efficiency for Airfoils at Low Reynolds Number Flows
(Sampath Emani)
34  ISSN: xxxx-xxxx

1800’s many researchers worked and investigated on many projects and ideas experimentally. But due to the
advances in the world, computational methods are improved for determining the results of these airfoils. As
Computational fluid dyanmics approach gives the accurate results, Airfoil is modelling in GAMBIT and
analyzed in FLUENT. Lift co-efficients for various angles of attack are found by implementing some
methods on the airfoil. Like airfoil shaping, boundary layer control and also by increasing the speed over the
blades

3. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

Figure 6. Graph between Angles of Attak and Lift Figure 7. Velocity contours for the flow over a
Coefficient Airfoil at the stall point

Figure 8. Velocity contours with increase in the Figure 9. Velocity contours with increase Turbulence
in the flow speed over the Blades

From the above graph, we can say observe the experimental values calculated wind tunnels test [7]
and the flow over an airfoil , by increasing the flow speed over the airfoil and also by increasing the
turbulence. From the graph, we can say that, initially, the lift coefficient does not vary much by increasing
the turbulence or flow speed over the airfoils. But when there is a significant increase in angles of attack, we
can observe that the lift coefficient of the airfoil by various approaches show us an efficient result. We can
observe that the stall point is increased which delays the flow separation and finally, increases the
aerodynamic efficiency. The above velocity contours for the flow over an airfoil at velocity 50 m/s shows the
flow separation taking place over the airfoil. The present work is to delay the flow separation by various
approaches. The above velocity contours over the airfoil when there is an increase of turbulence. From the
above contours, we can say that the there is a delay of flow separation when compared to flow over an airfoil.
As turbulence can sustain the adverse pressure gradients, turbulence increases the height of the boundary
layer which finally delays the flow separation. The abve velocity contours by increasing the flow speed over
the blade shows that, as the pressure distribution is also the reason for the separation of flow, blowing high
speed air near the leading edge of the airfoil can also sustain the adverse pressure gradients which finally
show the increase in aerodynamic efficiency.
When these methods are done experimentally, we can design an airfoil with efficient aerodynamic
efficiency at low Reynolds number flows.

4. CONCLUSION
From the above CFD simulations, we can say that Computational techniques had shown accurate
results when compared to the experimental results. By proper simulations and analysis, it is possible to
design high aerodynamic efficiency airfoils which are very important for today’s aircraft manufactures.
From the above contours shown, we can conclude that by optimizing the airfoils, by controlling the
boundary layer and also by increasing the flow speed over the blades, we can obtain more aerodynamic
lift which finally increases the aerodynamic efficiency. By these various approaches acceptable change
in the stall point are shown in the above graph. So even for airfoils operating at low Reynolds number
flows, we can obtain an efficient aerodynamic efficiency.

IJxx Vol. x, No. x, Month 201x : xx – xx

 IJxx ISSN: xxxx-xxxx  35

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank University of Petroleum and Energy Studies for carrying this work. Also I
would like to thank the parents of Sampath Emani, Mr. E V S Subrahmanyam and E Lakshmi for their
support in his higher education.

REFERENCES
[1] Michael S. Selig and James J. Guglielmo, 1997: “High-Lift Low Reynolds Number Design”97.Journal of Aircraft,
Vol. 34, No. 1, January-February 1997.
[2] Gigu ere, P. And Selig, M.S., “Aerodynamics Effects of Leading-Edge Tape on Airfoils at Low Reynolds
Numbers,” Wind Energy Journal, Vol.2, No. 3, July-September 1999
[3] Shyy, W., Lian, Y., Tang, J., Viieru, D., and Liu, H., “Aerodynamics of Low Reynolds number flyers,” Cambridge
University Press, New York, 2008
[4] Michael S. Selig, Robert W. Deters, Gregory A. Williamson, “Wind Tunnel Testing Airfoils at Low Reynolds
Number,” AIAA 2011-875, 49th AIAA aerospace sciences meetings, 4-7 January 2011, Orlando, Fl.
[5] Daniel P. Raymer, “Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach”, AIAA Education Series, Second Edition.
[6] Ilan Kroo, “Applied Aerodynamics: A Digital Textbook”, Desktop Aeronautics Inc., Version 5.0, January 2007
[7] Carl J. Wenzinger, “Wind Tunnel Investigation of Ordinary and Split Flaps on Airfoil of Different Profile”, Report
number 554, National Advisory Committee Aeronautics.
[8] Peter J. Kunz, Ilan M. Kroo, “ Analysis, Design and Testing of Airfoils for use at Ultra Low Reynolds Number”
[9] Giancarlo Bruschi, Tomoko Nishioka, Kevin Tsang, Rick Wang, “ Clark Y-14 Airfoil Analysis
[10] History of Airfoil Development, http://adg.stanford.edu/aa241/airfoils/airfoilhistory.html

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF AUTHORS

Sampath Emani
First author’s
Photo (3x4cm)

Seshu Vandrangi
Second author’s
photo(3x4cm)

Various Approaches to Increase the Aerodynamic Efficiency for Airfoils at Low Reynolds Number Flows
(Sampath Emani)

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