Numerical Investigation of Flow Behavior Around Elastic Deformable Airfoil in Chordwise Direction

Improvement of an airplane’s wing efficiency is one of the recent dominant steps toward the reduction of drag force and optimization of airflow and airborne structures interaction, as it has a functions similar to bird’s wings. In other words, these wings, in contrary with rigid ones which are currently being used, have the flexibility and consistency in various flight conditions.In this sudy, Numerical simulation of transonic flow around chordwise morphing airfoil have been accessed. Fluid-Structure interaction for analyzing flow field behavior in conjunction with deformable airfoil is used. In this regard, a two-dimensional finite element model is established and the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian formulation (ALE), in flow field and structure configuration is applied to accommodate the deforming boundaries. The procedure incorporates one-equation Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model. The preferable Mach number for transonic regime is 0.7. Chordwise elastic deformability by uniformly varying extended load on both leading and trailing edge is considered for deformation purposes. The model is validated against conventional rigid airfoil for different angles of attack and the comparisons show considerable improvement in aerodynamic characteristics and prove the efficiency of elastic morphing airfoil. All the simulations are carried out by COMSOL Multiphysics software.