Numerical Study On Improving the

Performances of Wing Using CFD Technique

Abstract
The trailing edge serrations have been provided to study the aerodynamic as well
acoustics performances.
The focus is to observe the effects of changes in aerodynamic coefficients and the sound
pressure level with the saw tooth trailing edge serrations. The detailed numerical
investigations have been carried out using CFD technique for various angles of attack.
Altair AcuSolve-13 finite element code has been used to solve the three-dimensional flow
fields. Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model with standard wall function is considered to
solve the turbulent parameters.

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 OBJECTIVE &
MOTIVATION
•The shape of trailing edge of empennage and wing looks straight in the
span wise direction. But most of the trailing edge of wings and fins of
birds and the aquatic animals has three-dimensional serrated geometry.
• Wings of birds like owls have trailing edge with distinct serrations.
•changes the shedding of vortices into the wake thereby altering acoustic
behavior of birds.
•The bent portion of wings trailing edge causes local vortices at each
serrated portion thereby reducing noise. Earlier studies show application
of serrations to aircraft wings reduces noise, however less attention was
given towards aerodynamic performance.
•This biological mechanism gives motivation to carry out this study how
on application of serrations to the trailing edges of aircraft infinite wing is
going to affect aerodynamic performance.

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 INTRODUCTION TO SAW TOOTH AIRFOILS & WINGS

Severe noise is produced in aircraft engines, however other airframe

•Trailing edge noise of airfoil is one
components also responsible for generation of noise in aircraft. of the major noise effects in
aircraft wings; reduction of noise
generated by the trailing edge is of
more concern. However, earlier
studies have been focused on
reducing trailing edge noise of
aircraft wing but less attention was
given towards observing
aerodynamic performance of
aircraft wings on the account of
reducing aircraft wing noise.

•The shape of the trailing edge in

case of airfoils mainly affects the
lift as well as drag characteristics in
Sources of Aircraft Noise wings. Considering inviscid theory,
the shape of camber located near
to the trailing edge and the shape
Origin of aircraft noise takes place from main three sources: of trailing edge shows the total lift
 Noise from aerodynamics of airframe components produced (Kutta Condition)
 Mechanically induced and propulsion noise
 Noise from aircraft systems
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Noise from aerodynamics of airframe components
Aerodynamic noise arises due to the passage of air around the
airframe components such as fuselage, wings, engine cowl, landing
gears and other control surfaces. This kind of noise increases with
increased speed of flight and aircraft flying at low altitude due to
increased air density.
Bluff body noise: Shedding of vortices from both the sides of
bluff body results in the regions of low pressure which manifests
themselves into a sound waves or pressure waves.
Edge noise: whenever a flow which is turbulent passes an object
end or through a gaps in structures i.e. clearance gaps , the
fluctuations that are associated with pressure can be heard as the
propagation of sound from the object end (radially downward).
Mechanically induced and propulsion noise
The majority of propulsive noise is due to jet noise; the
instability of shear layer produced due to the jet of high velocity
leaving the rear end of engine creates ring vortices which later
upon breakdown cause turbulence. Reduction in the velocity of
exhaust in turn causes jet noise reduction to large extent.

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Fundamentals of Aircraft Aerodynamics

Aerofoil It is the cross section of a wing, propeller or any lifting body. The aerodynamic forces are produced lift and
less drag.

Aerofoil terminology : The region/surface which is generally associated with lower static pressure and higher velocity
is termed as suction surface or an upper surface

Aerofoil geometry
The front point of airfoil which has maximum radius or
curvature is the leading edge of airfoil. The rear point of
airfoil which has maximum radius or curvature is the trailing
edge of airfoil. The line which connects leading edge and
trailing edge of airfoil is the chord line of airfoil denoted by
c.

Shape of an aerofoil : Shape of an airfoil is determined by its mean camber line. Mean camber line is the locus of points
found midway between the lower and upper surfaces. Camber line shape mainly depends on the distribution of thickness
along its chord. An airfoil thickness varies along its chord. Thickness is measured always perpendicular either to the camber
line or to the chord line of airfoil.

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 Aerodynamic Characteristics of Aircraft
The main aerodynamic characteristics of an aircraft are lift and drag. Lift and drag are two major characteristics of an aircraft
that depends on various parameters such as Reynolds number, wing span, wing area, angle of attack, density etc. Lift and
drag determines how well the aircraft is performing its flying abilities.

Aircraft Lift

Lift is the force that is

Wings are the main surfaces
perpendicular to the aircraft
that produce lift in addition Lift generates only when an
wind direction which Lift acts at Centre of
any streamline body object is in contact with the
opposes the aircraft weight Pressure of the airfoil.
contributes to the fluid.
and keeps the airplane to fly
generation of lift.
in air.

Coefficient of lift
If the coefficient of lift at a particular angle of attack is known,
then for a specific condition of flow lift can be generated by
using an equation
L= (1/2) ρV2SCl
Where, L - lift force
ρ - density of air
V - true airspeed
S - planform area of wing
Cl - coefficient of lift
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 Aircraft Drag

The aerodynamic resistance force acting on aircraft that opposes the motion of an aircraft when it is in air. It is a
mechanical force which is generated due to the contact and interaction of fluid with solid body, there is no generation of
drag force without fluid

There are various sources of aircraft drag

Skin friction drag : It exists between the solid aircraft surface and the air molecules. A low
energy boundary layer is created along the aircraft solid surface, skin friction drag magnitude
depends on boundary layer conditions
Form drag and Induced drag : The drag due to the shape of aircraft is the
form drag. The component of drag due to the lift generation is the induced
drag
Wave drag and Ram drag : The wave drag magnitude depends on the flow Mach number. Ram drag occurs when a free
stream air that is brought into the aircraft.
Drag is calculated using the following equation
D= (1/2) ρV2SCd
Where, D – Drag force
ρ - density of air
V - true airspeed
S - planform area of wing
Cd - coefficient of drag

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 Types of Airfoils

Airfoils of symmetrical shape Airfoils of non symmetric shape

When the upper and lower surfaces of airfoil are
identical, then the airfoils are termed to be
symmetrical airfoils.
Upper and lower surfaces have wide variety of designs.
Aerodynamic characteristics of non symmetric airfoils are more
compared to symmetric airfoils. These kinds of airfoils possess
stall characteristics of highly desirable. When angle of attack is
varied centre of pressure also varies. Cambered airfoils generate
lift even at zero angles of attack

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 LITERATURE REVIEW : 1

Introduction

The scope of the study is to understand the effect of serrations at the trailing edge of wing on
its aerodynamic and acoustics performance. The detailed literature survey discusses on work
carried out previously on the performances of wing with non-smooth trailing edge.

Numerical Simulation of Serrated Wing

• Truncated trailing ends leads to increment in

coefficients of both lift and drag, which results
in decrease in overall lift to drag ratio.
• NACA0012 wing section leads to decrease in
energy of vortex shedding and improvement in
aerodynamic performance of wings.
It mainly focused on three types of serrations
namely, triangular, wishbone and trapezoidal type.
All of these types individually contributes in
reduction of noise for frequencies upto 5kHz.
Among all three types of serrations wishbone
trailing edge found to be more efficient.
For aerodynamic analysis, NACA0012 wing model
with 92 pressure tapings is used, where trailing
edge boundary layer is measured with the help of
hot wire annometer. To determine acoustic
behaviour, an array of 106 microphones is used to
measure the location of noise sources by employing
a technique called beamforming. It was noticed that
self noise reduction of airfoils found to be very
significant at lower frequencies.

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 LITERATURE REVIEW : 2

AERODYNAMIC PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS ON A WING WITH “M” SHAPED SERRATED TRAILING EDGE.

• Flow over the NACA0012 air foil with “M” shaped serrated trailing edge configuration.
• Blunt trailing edge air foils not only provide a structural benefits, but they have also
been found to improve the lift characteristics of thick air foils.
• Blunt trailing edge air foils would allow more freely address the structural demands
without having to sacrifice aerodynamic performance.
• These air foils do have the disadvantage of generating high levels of drag as a result of
low pressure steady or periodic flow in the near wake of the blunt trailing edge.

Source: https://www.irjet.net/archives/V6/i3/IRJET-V6I3953.pdf Confidential C

 LITERATURE REVIEW : 3

ON THE AEROACOUSTIC AND

FLOW STRUCTURES
DEVELOPED ON A FLAT
PLATE WITH A SERRATED
SAWTOOTH TRAILING EDGE

••Noise The investigation then focuses on the velocity and thermal properties of
Noise reduction
reduction by by the
the serrated
serrated sawtooth
sawtooth
trailing
trailing edge can be realistically achieved in
edge can be realistically achieved in turbulent boundary layer on a serrated sawtooth surface in order to establish
the flat plate configuration.
the flat plate configuration. the causal relationship between the noise and the near field observations.
•• The
The variations
variations ofof wall
wall pressure
pressure power
power
spectral density and the
spectral density and the spanwisespanwise
coherence
coherence (which
(which relates
relates to to the
the spanwise
spanwise
correlation
correlation length) in a sawtooth trailing
length) in a sawtooth trailing
edge
edge play
play aa major
major role
role in
in the
the mechanisms
mechanisms
underpinning
underpinning the the reduction
reduction of of self
self noise
noise
radiation.
radiation.
•The
•The local
local turbulent
turbulent boundary
boundary layer
layer results
results
in a redistribution of the momentum
in a redistribution of the momentum
transport
transport andand turbulent
turbulent shear
shear stress
stress near
near
the sawtooth side edges as well
the sawtooth side edges as well as the as the
sawtooth
sawtooth tip,tip, thus
thus improving
improving the the efficiency
efficiency
of self noise radiation.
of self noise radiation.

Source: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2015.05.019 Confidential C

Summery of
Literature Survey
The detailed survey has been made on
carrying out virtual simulations. The physical
test comparison with CFD tools carried out to
understand the aerodynamic performance
with the trailing edge serrations but limited
study has focused on numerical simulations.
This is the motivation to understand the
performance of wing through CFD technique.

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SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

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 Noise generation
mechanism of
airfoil trailing edge
The pressure of air below the aircraft wing
is high compared to that of pressure above
the wing leading to movement of air from
bottom surface to upper surface, this span-
wise movement of air causes spillage of air
at the tips of wings which is northing but
vortices causing increased drag and noise.

The trailing edge noise of airfoil is self generated noise and is mainly
The possible ways of researching trailing edge
because of the turbulence which converts over the airfoil surface and
noise is directly by using microphones or
is carried by the aerodynamic pressure fluctuations. When these
indirectly by using flow formation for solving
fluctuations move over the airfoil solid surface and on reaching the
acoustic emission problem. In the present
sharp trailing edge interacting with the free stream behind the airfoil a
study microphones are used to measure the
sudden impedance jump is felt. This causes them to diffract and
noise level produced by trailing edge of
scatter into acoustic pressure waves
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TRAILING EDGE
MODIFICATION WITH
SERRATIONS
•Modification of wings refers to changing the trailing
edge geometry of wings in order to obtain better
acoustic performance of wings, while improving acoustic
performance by modification of wings will also leads to
the changes in aerodynamic characteristics of wings.

•One of the major way to alter the noise generated in

wings is by the application of serrations to the wings.
•The word serration refers to sharp cutting edge;
modified wings produce vortices on the wing surface
higher than the baseline. The boundary layer is
reenergized by these vortices (eddies) thereby carrying
momentum flow higher near the wall.

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 NACA0012- Trailing Edge Serration models

Case 3: Saw tooth

Case 1: Saw tooth serration to the full
trailing edge of infinite wing (2h>λ)
Height of cut 2h=30mm
Thickness of cut λ= 9mm
Angle of serration ϕ =8.53º
No. of cut = 50
Case 2: Saw tooth serration to the
full trailing edge of infinite wing
(2h=λ)
Height of cut 2h=15mm
Thickness of cut λ = 15 mm
Angle of serration ϕ =30º
No. of cut =15
serration at the tip of
the trailing edge
(2h>λ )
Height of cut 2h=30mm
Thickness of cut λ= 9mm
Angle of serration ϕ =8.53º
No. of cut = 10

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 METHODOLOGY

The modelling of geometry and generation of grid in CATIA and Altair Hypermesh tools are used. Next, Altair Acusolve-12
finite element code has been used to solve the flow field. Last, Acufield post-processing tool is outlined briefly.

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Analysis starts with the Navier stokes equations must be satisfied in the Assumptions are made to simplify the Appropriate initial and boundary conditions
mathematical modeling control volume or in the domain of interest. problem (e.g incompressible, inviscid etc). are provided to solve the flow problems

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Numerical Modeling Grid Generation/Meshing

NACA0012 and NACA6412 airfoil data are extracted from
web source, based on airfoil data points we have drawn a
airfoil design with chord length of 155mm using
PROFSCAN tool., this tool is helpful in converting *dat to
*dxf file and then it is imported to CATIA .
Hypermesh as a pre-processing tool to generate
unstructured tetrahedral volume elements for the NACA
0012 and NACA 6412 infinite wings with and without
serrations

Tetrahedral elements
Mesh count : 1.8
million
3D volume :
Tetrahedral skewness
elements below 0.91

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 Boundary Conditions

FARFIELD : The free-stream velocity is specified at the farfield boundary condition. In this boundary condition, the eddy
viscosity and temperature parameters are to be specified.
OUTLET: Outlet boundary condition, zero flow variables of diffusion flux at the face normal to the boundary. The atmospheric
pressure of zero gauge pressure has assigned for the outlet boundary condition.
WALL: Wall boundaries are specified to the region where the solid surfaces are to be modeled. The viscous stresses at the near
wall region are calculated through standard wall function. This is refereed as no-slip wall. Wing surface is also considered as a
no-slip wall since it is a solid body

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 Model Assumptions
Solver set up
•Flow is assumed to be incompressible.
Boundary conditions • Fluid is considered to be air for computational domain.
Inlet : Velocity inlet • Gravity force is neglected.
Outlet : Pressure outlet •Spalart –Allamaras turbulence model is used to account for flow turbulence.
Flow equation : Navier-stokes
Analysis type : Steady state
Turbulent equation : Spalart Allamaras
Mesh type : Fixed Steps involved during simulation :
Fluid properties
Fluid : Air •Creating 3D geometry of infinite wing using CATIA.
Density : 1.225 kg/m3 •Pre-processing the 3D model through HyperMesh.
Velocity : 30m/s and 93.75m/s •Assigning boundary conditions and solution initializing through
Acu-Console.
•Solving 3D flow governing equations through Acu-Console.
•Monitoring (residual ratio, normal and shear forces)
convergence trend through Acu-Probe.
•Post processing (Pressure contours, velocity magnitude, Cp
plots etc) of the results through Acu-Field View.
•The above steps are repeated for all the cases by changing
angle of attack and flow velocity.
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 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Aerodynamic Performance of NACA0012 Symmetrical Infinite Wing

Cl and Cd values for NACA0012 base wing Plot of Cl and Cd for NACA0012 base wing
Calculations:
Density = 1.225 kg/m3 Velocity = 30m/s (Re ~ 300000)
Planform area = span*chord length = 0.450m*0.155m = 0.0695m2
For angle of attack 4 deg
Coefficient of lift Cl= L/0.5*ρ*V2*A = 15.25/0.5*1.225*900*0.0695 = 0.396622
Coefficient of drag Cd= D/0.5*ρ*V2*A = 0.748/0.5*1.225*900*0.0695 = 0.0194
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 Pressure contours of NACA0012 infinite wing at AOA = 8º Pressure coefficient plot of NACA0012 infinite wing at AOA = 8º

NACA0012 symmetrical infinite wing data for the free stream velocity of Velocity contour plot of NACA0012 infinite wing at AOA = 8º
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 Trailing Edge Modification of NACA0012 for the speed of 30 m/s
Saw tooth serrations to the full trailing edge of NACA0012 infinite wing (Case: 1)

Coefficients of lift and drag values of Case 1 for the speed of V = 30m/s Pressure coefficient plot of full serration model (Case:1) at AOA = 8º

Lift values are found to be higher at lower

angles of attack but decreases as angle of
attack is increased and stall region occurs in
the range of 14 to 16 degrees where
maximum Cl is found to be 0.8488 which is
8.4% lower than base wing.
Iso surface plot of velocity contour Confidential C
Saw tooth serrations to the full trailing edge of NACA0012 infinite wing (Case: 2)

Coefficients of lift and drag values of Case 2 for the speed of V = 30m/s

The obtained aerodynamic coefficients for case 2 at velocity 30 m/s are compared with base wing , it
can be predicted from results that coefficient of lift increases as angle of attack increased till stall
region. Stall region can be noticed in the range of 14 to 16 degree where increase in drag can be
noticed after stall. Before stall the maximum lift coefficient is found to be 0.86227 which is 7.2% lower
compared to base wing.

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Saw tooth serrations to the tip of trailing edge of NACA0012 infinite wing (Case: 3)

Pressure coefficient plot of tip serration model (Case:3) at AOA = 8º

Pressure contour of tip & Velocity contour plot of tip serration model (Case:3) at AOA = 8º Confidential C
 Comparison of trailing edge modifications of NACA0012 infinite wing for the speed of 30 m/s

Comparison of Cl values for NACA0012 Comparison of Cd values for

NACA0012 infinite wing with Comparison of L/D for NACA0012
Base wing with different trailing edge base wing with different serration
serration profiles at V=30m/s different trailing edge serration
profiles and base wing at V=30m/s profiles and base wing at V=30m/s

From the above graph it can be seen that at lower angles of attack L/D is found to be more effective, and decreases as angle of
attack is increased , maximum L/D at V=30m/s can be obtained around 6 degree angle of attack and gradually decreases as angle
of attack is increased. (L/D)max of case 1
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Trailing Edge Modification of NACA0012 for the speed of 93.7 m/s (Re=1 Million).

Base wing

Saw tooth serration

Saw tooth serration at tip

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Comparison of trailing edge modifications of NACA0012 infinite wing for the speed of 30 m/s

Comparison of Cl values for NACA0012 base wing with different serration profiles at V=93.75m/s

Comparison of L/D values for NACA0012 infinite wing with different serration profiles and base wing
at V=93.75m/s

Comparison of Cd values with different serration profiles and base wing at V=93.7m/s
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 Aerodynamic Performance of NACA6412 Unsymmetrical Infinite Wing

Pressure contour plot at 8 degree angle of attack

Aerodynamic characteristics of NACA6412 infinite wing at V=93.79m/s

Velocity streamlines plot at 8 degree angle of

attack

Pressure coefficient plot for NACA6412

Cl and Cd plot of NACA6412 infinite wing at V=93.75m/s infinite wing at 8 degree angle of attack

Iso-surface of velocity plot for NACA6412 infinite wing

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 Saw tooth serrations to the tip of trailing edge of NACA6412 infinite wing (Case: 4)

Unsymmetrical infinite wing with serrations at tips of trailing edge (V=93.75m/s; Re=1 million)

Velocity vector plot for NACA6412 infinite wing at 8 degree angle of attack
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 Acoustics Performance of NACA0012

Fig : Ansys Fluent Aero Acoustic Simulation of a Noise Generated

•The 3-D flow-field has been simulated with Detached Eddy Simulation to resolve the unsteady flow field.
•The study mainly focused on the acoustics performance with base wing and trailing edge tip serration since the trailing edge of
the wing is one of the main sound sources.
•The noise propagation from the trailing edge is predicted through Ffowcs-Williams-Hawkings (FWH) acoustic analogy.
•The time history of sound pressure is summed up over the airfoil through FWH analogy.
•Pressure data is converted to frequency domain to obtained the Sound Pressure Level (dB) data.

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 Acoustics Performance of NACA0012

The time history data of pressure fluctuations are extracted from the mic location in downstream direction for both base
wing and tip serrated wing. The fig shows the variation in pressure level (Pa) with respect to the simulation time (sec).

Time history of sound pressure for NACA0012 base wing Time history of sound pressure for NACA0012 tip serration wing

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 Sound pressure Level (SPL):

The sound pressure level for the base wing and tip serration model are shown in fig. SPL obtained by converting the time
domain variations into frequency domain. The overall sound pressure level (dBA) for the base wing is around 71 dB and for the
tip serration model is around 64 dB.

Sound pressure level for NACA0012 base wing & Sound pressure level for NACA0012 tip serration wing
Mic location Frequency range Base Wing dBA Tip Serration dBA % Difference
9.85 %
Mic-1 20Hz to 500 Hz 71 64
Mic-2 20Hz to 500 Hz 67 60 10.44%
Table presents the overall SPL for the base wing and tip serrated NACA0012 model.

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 Iso surface of velocity contour for NACA0012 base wing Iso surface of velocity contour for NACA0012 tip serrated wing

Serrated trailing edge separates the vortex into small scale vortices. These crashed small vortexes helps to improve the flow field
dissipation, this will make the variations in aerodynamic loads acting on the wing surface. This will lead to reduction in vortex
noise.

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 CONCLUSION

The aerodynamic and acoustics performances of NACA0012 wing model with serrations in the trailing edge has been studied
through Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations. The aerodynamic coefficients for the NACA0012 are correlated with the test
results. The Computational Aero Acoustics simulations have been performed to investigate the influence of trailing edge tip
serrations on the generation of sound source.

It is observed that the serrations on the trailing edge may improve the aerodynamic performance within pre-stall condition.
There is 8% improvement in lift coefficient for the serration model when compared with base wing model at pre-stall
condition.

It has been numerically shown that the serrations at the trailing edge can reduce the overall SPL when compared with the plane
wing. The aero acoustics data obtained for 15 degree angle of attack with the speed of 30 m/s. There is almost 10% of dB level
reduction been observed numerically.

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 PROJECT TIMELINE

Initiation OCT2020 Mar2020 2021

Project Planning Execution Closure

.background
Literature survey and
research on saw tooth
trailing edge serrations .
Designing and Analysis Results and
modelling activates Preprocess and post- discussion
in Cad software . process in CFD tools.
Validation in Wind
tunnel.

www.free-powerpoint-templates-design.com
To be Continued….
Thank You

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