Study of Airfoil Deflections for Unsteady Aerodynamics Optimization in Pitching Airfoils

Camber deflection concepts for a VR-12 rotorcraft airfoil were studied for the optimization of unsteady aerodynamics, including dynamic stall conditions and wing–wing interactions during pitching. The designs are based on deflections of the leading edge and trailing edge sections of the airfoil. The...

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Main Authors: William Refling, Charles Fabijanic, Thomas Sprengeler, Yildirim Bora Suzen, Jordi Estevadeordal
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-02-01
Series:Applied Sciences
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/5/2455
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author William Refling
Charles Fabijanic
Thomas Sprengeler
Yildirim Bora Suzen
Jordi Estevadeordal
author_facet William Refling
Charles Fabijanic
Thomas Sprengeler
Yildirim Bora Suzen
Jordi Estevadeordal
author_sort William Refling
collection DOAJ
description Camber deflection concepts for a VR-12 rotorcraft airfoil were studied for the optimization of unsteady aerodynamics, including dynamic stall conditions and wing–wing interactions during pitching. The designs are based on deflections of the leading edge and trailing edge sections of the airfoil. The deflection parameters were initially established using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Results from CFD and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) were generated for various leading and trailing edge deflection combinations for comparison of their performances. The conditions of this study are for a Reynolds number of 250,000 and pitching reduced frequency of 0.04, representing a medium regime of rotorcraft operations. Linear tandem tests were performed to simulate unsteady wing–wing interactions. The effects of the deflections are discussed and compared to the baseline. Significant benefits are observed, notably dynamic stall mitigation from the leading edge (LE) deflected wing for certain angles of attack and decrease in the separation regions. Overall, from the numerical simulations and the experimental data fields, the LE deflection provides about 10% improvement, followed by the combined LE&TE deflections (8%). It is also found that combining various deflections can provide a performance increase over drastically different areas of the range of angle of attack.
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spelling doaj-art-89b0a2be84b842fcbc51218544802dbc2025-08-20T02:57:40ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172025-02-01155245510.3390/app15052455Study of Airfoil Deflections for Unsteady Aerodynamics Optimization in Pitching AirfoilsWilliam Refling0Charles Fabijanic1Thomas Sprengeler2Yildirim Bora Suzen3Jordi Estevadeordal4Department of Mechanical Engineering, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105, USACamber deflection concepts for a VR-12 rotorcraft airfoil were studied for the optimization of unsteady aerodynamics, including dynamic stall conditions and wing–wing interactions during pitching. The designs are based on deflections of the leading edge and trailing edge sections of the airfoil. The deflection parameters were initially established using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Results from CFD and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) were generated for various leading and trailing edge deflection combinations for comparison of their performances. The conditions of this study are for a Reynolds number of 250,000 and pitching reduced frequency of 0.04, representing a medium regime of rotorcraft operations. Linear tandem tests were performed to simulate unsteady wing–wing interactions. The effects of the deflections are discussed and compared to the baseline. Significant benefits are observed, notably dynamic stall mitigation from the leading edge (LE) deflected wing for certain angles of attack and decrease in the separation regions. Overall, from the numerical simulations and the experimental data fields, the LE deflection provides about 10% improvement, followed by the combined LE&TE deflections (8%). It is also found that combining various deflections can provide a performance increase over drastically different areas of the range of angle of attack.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/5/2455airfoil aerodynamicspitching flow controlseparationdynamic stallparticle image velocimetrynumerical simulations
spellingShingle William Refling
Charles Fabijanic
Thomas Sprengeler
Yildirim Bora Suzen
Jordi Estevadeordal
Study of Airfoil Deflections for Unsteady Aerodynamics Optimization in Pitching Airfoils
Applied Sciences
airfoil aerodynamics
pitching flow control
separation
dynamic stall
particle image velocimetry
numerical simulations
title Study of Airfoil Deflections for Unsteady Aerodynamics Optimization in Pitching Airfoils
title_full Study of Airfoil Deflections for Unsteady Aerodynamics Optimization in Pitching Airfoils
title_fullStr Study of Airfoil Deflections for Unsteady Aerodynamics Optimization in Pitching Airfoils
title_full_unstemmed Study of Airfoil Deflections for Unsteady Aerodynamics Optimization in Pitching Airfoils
title_short Study of Airfoil Deflections for Unsteady Aerodynamics Optimization in Pitching Airfoils
title_sort study of airfoil deflections for unsteady aerodynamics optimization in pitching airfoils
topic airfoil aerodynamics
pitching flow control
separation
dynamic stall
particle image velocimetry
numerical simulations
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/5/2455
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AT charlesfabijanic studyofairfoildeflectionsforunsteadyaerodynamicsoptimizationinpitchingairfoils
AT thomassprengeler studyofairfoildeflectionsforunsteadyaerodynamicsoptimizationinpitchingairfoils
AT yildirimborasuzen studyofairfoildeflectionsforunsteadyaerodynamicsoptimizationinpitchingairfoils
AT jordiestevadeordal studyofairfoildeflectionsforunsteadyaerodynamicsoptimizationinpitchingairfoils