Numerical Analysis of the Flow around Two Airfoils in a Tandem Configuration Regarding Pressure Distribution

In the present study, fluid flow around two NACA0009 airfoils in a tandem configuration with a chord length distance from each other is investigated numerically and their mutual effects are studied in case of pressure distribution. One of applications consisting tandem airfoils is a wing-canard configuration which is used in designing fighter aircrafts. In order to solve such a problem numerically, the geometry and control volume are created in the ANSYS Workbench software and results are extracted in terms of force contours and diagrams. According to the results, the point of maximum pressure occurs at the beginning of the lower surface for both airfoils which depicts the stagnation point too. Also, zones of negative and positive pressures are more pronounced for the forward airfoil which is an evidence of higher lift coefficient. Effects of the flow behind the forward airfoil and passing the second one are such that its lift coefficient will decrease. Regarding the contours of temperature, the forward airfoil has no considerable influence over the second one and just a temperature boundary layer forms on the surface meeting the free flow values not so far from the airfoil. Temperature difference between the airfoil surface and the air flow does not affect the pressure distribution and diagrams of pressure distribution are almost the same for hotter-than-air/colder-than-air airfoils. But it has been observed that the difference in temperature between the air and the airfoil surface has some influence over shear force distribution which needs further investigation.