Effect of Reynolds Number on Aerodynamics of Airfoil with Gurney Flap

Abstract EN

Steady state, two-dimensional computational investigations performed on NACA 0012 airfoil to analyze the effect of variation in Reynolds number on the aerodynamics of the airfoil without and with a Gurney flap of height of 3% chord are presented in this paper.

RANS based one-equation Spalart-Allmaras model is used for the computations.

Both lift and drag coefficients increase with Gurney flap compared to those without Gurney flap at all Reynolds numbers at all angles of attack.

The zero lift angle of attack seems to become more negative as Reynolds number increases due to effective increase of the airfoil camber.

However the stall angle of attack decreased by 2° for the airfoil with Gurney flap.

Lift coefficient decreases rapidly and drag coefficient increases rapidly when Reynolds number is decreased below critical range.

This occurs due to change in flow pattern near Gurney flap at low Reynolds numbers.