Date of Award

Summer 8-2018

Access Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering

Department

Aeronautical Science

Committee Chair

Vladimir V. Golubev

First Committee Member

Snorri Gudmundsson

Second Committee Member

William Engblom

Abstract

A concept of a cross-flow fan (CFF) embedded near the leading edge of an airfoil to actively control the boundary layer for lift and thrust enhancement has been proposed. The design places a cross-flow fan near the leading edge of an airfoil and flow is drawn in from the pressure side of the airfoil, energized and expelled out to the suction side near the leading edge. This CFF system simulates the active boundary layer control by blowing commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code ANSYS Fluent is employed to perform 2-D calculations based on various parameters of the CFF and compared the data with an experimental baseline case found in literature. The effect of number of blades, pressure side slat opening, suction side slat angle, hub-to-shroud ratio and blade pitch angle have on aerodynamic parameters have been investigated. Regression models are established using the acquired data to find combination of parameters for achieving higher circulation control. Unsteady sliding mesh method is used to carry out the numerical simulation. The fan geometry is developed and housed in a NACA 651-212 airfoil. The of the CFD work show that the jet leaving the fan replaces the boundary layer of the upstream flow with a flow of very high velocity. This high velocity flow causes a higher pressure difference between the suction and the pressure side generating higher lift in the process. The drag of the airfoil is overcame and a net thrust is observed by CFF blowing phenomenon.

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