Effects of Gurney Flap and Suction Slots on the Aerodynamics of a NACA0012 Airfoil.

The aim of this study is to carry out a computational study for the enhancement of lift-to-drag ratio of a NACA0012 airfoil. The enhancement is sought by optimizing the design parameters for gurney flap and suction slot. The flow past the airfoil is high-speed turbulent flow having Reynolds number 9 × 106 and Mach number 0.5. The simulations are carried out in ANSYS-FLUENT R19. A density-based solver is used along with the k-ω SST model for turbulence. The second-order upwind scheme is selected to discretize the convective terms. Solution steering is activated for better and smooth convergence of the problem. The present computational model is validated by comparing with established experimental results from the literature. The gurney flaps of various heights are studied having their heights from 0.5 to 2% of the chord length (c). The optimum results are obtained with 0.25%c when added to the plain airfoil. The maximum value of lift-to-drag ratio increases by 4% and maximum lift increases by 32.5%. The present studies also reveal the benefits of incorporating a suction slot in reducing the drag and delaying the separation. Detailed studies are carried to find the optimum location of suction slot for various angle of attack (AOA). The investigations indicate that a clear potential exists to improve the aerodynamics of flow over a NACA0012 airfoil by combining a gurney flap with a suction slot.