Date of Award
Summer 2006
Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Degree Name
Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering
Department
Aerospace Engineering
Committee Chair
Hany Nakhla
Committee Member
Eric Perrell
Committee Member
Axel Rohde
Abstract
Flaps are used to increase an airplane's lift and to adjust its stability and maneuverability. This study shows an application of STAR-CD, a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, to an investigation of the dynamic effects of flap deflection on the lift, drag and moment coefficients, as well as on the location of the center of pressure. For this study, a plain flap was modeled with a moving mesh and was attached to a NACA 0012 airfoil and a wing of a general aviation aircraft for a 2D and 3D investigation, respectively. In addition, the flap deflection rates were varied to investigate their effect on the flow field and the airfoil's stability characteristics. The results from the analyses were ultimately used to prove that commercial CFD software is a viable option to investigate the stability and control characteristics of an aircraft.
Scholarly Commons Citation
Moerchel, Alexander, "An Investigation of the Dynamic Effects of Flap Deflection on the Aerodynamic Characteristics of an Airplane Wing Using Computational Fluid Dynamics" (2006). Master's Theses - Daytona Beach. 148.
https://commons.erau.edu/db-theses/148
