Predicting the NACA0012-IK30 Airfoil Propulsive Capabilities with a Panel Method

Abstract

Unsteady airfoils play a pivotal role in comprehending diverse aerospace applications, being one of those flapping propulsions. The present paper studies this topic by bringing back an old unsteady panel method to juxtapose its results against CFD data previously obtained. The central objective is to revive the interest in these reduced order models in the topic of unsteady airfoils, which can be extended to model highly nonlinear effects while keeping computational resources fairly low. The findings reveal that while the potential flow-based UPM (Unsteady Panel Method) struggles to accurately capture the airfoil’s propulsive power, it remains adept at estimating consumed power. Moreover, an investigation into the pressure coefficient shows the potential benefits of UPM in contexts where flow separation can be disregarded. Despite inherent limitations, these simplified methodologies offer an effective preliminary estimation of flapping airfoil propulsive capabilities.

Keywords

• flapping airfoil
• movable leading edge
• potential flow
• propulsive performance