Panel Methods: Theory and Method

A Solution for Incompressible Potential Flow

Introduction
Incompressible Potential Flow
The viscous effects are small in the flowfield
The speed of the flow must be low everywhere (M < 0.4)
The flow must be irrotational
Governing Equations
Laplaces Equation
Prandtl-Glauert Equation
For higher subsonic Mach numbers with small disturbances to the
freestreamflow
P-G equation can be converted to Laplaces equation by a transformation
0 ) 1 (
2
= +
yy xx
M
0 = +
yy xx

Introduction
The advantages of Panel Method
Flexibility
Be capable of treating the range of geometries
Economy
Get results within a relative short time
A Story about the creation of Panel Method
A.M.O.Smith, The initial development of panel
methodsin Applied Computational Aerodynamics,
P.A. Henne, ed., AIAA, Washington, 1990.
Outline
Some Potential Theory
Derivation of the Integral Equation for the Potential
Classic Panel Method
Program PANEL
Subsonic Airfoil Aerodynamics
Issues in the Problem formulation for 3D flow over aircraft
Example applications of panel methods
Using Panel Methods
Advanced panel methods
Some Potential Theory
Laplaces Equation
Since the equation is linear, superposition of
solutions can be used.
0
2
=
Solution to Governing Equations
Field Method
Singularity Method
Some Potential Theory
What is singularities?
These are algebraic functions which satisfy
Laplaces equation, and can be combined
to construct flow-fields.
The most familiar singularities are the point
source, doublet and vortex
Review on the singularities
Point source
Vortex
Doublet
Producing a streamline pattern using a uniform flow
and a point source
+
We could superimpose many sources and sinks to
get nearly any flow pattern we desired.
What are the singularity methods ?
The solution is found by distributing singularitiesof
unknown strength over discretized portions of the
surface: panels.
The unknown strengths of the singularities is found by
solving a linear set of algebraic equations to determine.
The equation governing the flow-field is converted
from a 3D problem throughout the field to a 2D
problem for finding the potential on the surface.
Boundary Conditions
Dirichlet Problem:
on + k design problem
Neuman Problem:
/ n on + k analysis problem
Some other key properties of potential
flow theory
If either or / n is zero everywhere on +
k then = 0 at all interior points.
cannot have a maximum or minimum at
any interior point.
Its maximum value can only occur on the surface
boundary, and therefore the minimum pressure
(and maximum velocity) occurs on the surface.
Derivation of the Integral Equation
for the Potential
Motivation
To obtain an expression for the potential anywhere in the flowfield
in terms of values on the surface bounding the flowfield.
Gauss Divergence Theorem
The relation between a volume integral and a surface integral
dS dV div
R S
n A A =

dS grad grad dV
R S
n

= ) ( ) (
2 2

The derivation
Gauss Divergence Theorem
+
Laplaces equation
The integral expression for the potential
The integral expression for the potential
Comments on the integral expression
The problem is to find the values of the unknown
source and doublet strengths and for a specific
geometry and given freestream,

.
The requirement to find the solution over the entire
flowfield (a 3D problem) is replaced with the problem
of finding the solution for the singularity distribution
over a surface (a 2D problem).
dS
r n r
p
B
S
)]
1
(
1
[ ) (
4
1
'

=



More comments on the integral expression
An integral equation to solve for the unknown surface
singularity distributions instead of a partial differential
equation.
The problem is linear, allowing us to use superposition
to construct solutions.
We have the freedom to pick whether to represent the
solution as a distribution of sources or doublets
distributed over the surface.
The theory can be extended to include other
singularities.
The basic idea of panel method
Approximating the surface by a series of line segments (2D) or
panels (3D)
Placing distributions of sources and vortices or doublets on each
panel.
Possible differences in approaches to the implementation
various singularities
various distributions of the singularity strength over each panel
panel geometry
Advantage
No need to define a grid
throughout the flowfield
The Classic Hess and Smith Method
Starting with the 2D version and using a vortex
singularity in place of the doublet singularity
Where = tan
-1
(y/x)
'
1
4
1 1
3 : ( ) [ ( )]
B
S
D p dS
r n r

'
1
4
( ) ( )
2 : ( ) [ ln ]
2 2
s
q s s
D p r ds

=

Uniform onset flow
cos sin V x V y

+
q is the 2D
source strength
This is a vortex
singularity of strength
The idea of Approach
Break up the surface into straight line segments
Assume the source strength is constant over each line
segment (panel) but has a different value for each panel
The vortex strength is constant and equal over each panel.
The potential equation become
1
( )
( cos sin ) [ ln ]
2 2
N
j
panel j
q s
V x y r dS

=
= + +

Definition of Each Panel
Nodes: i
th
and i+1
th
Inclination to the x axis:
Normal and tangential unit vectors:
j i t j i n
i i i i i i
sin cos , cos sin + = + =
Where:
i
i i
i
i
i i
i
l
x x
l
y y
=

=
+ + 1 1
cos , sin
Representation of Boundary Condition (1)
The flow tangency condition
The coordinates of the
midpoint of control point
2
2
1
1
+
+
+
=
+
=
i i
i
i i
i
y y
y
x x
x
The velocity components at the control point
) , ( , ) , (
i i i i i i
y x v v y x u u = =
N i i each for v u or
v u
i i i i
i i i i
, , 1 , , 0 cos sin
0 ) cos sin ( ) ( 0
= = +
= + + =

j i j i n V
Representation of Boundary Condition (2)
The Kutta condition
The flow must leave the trailing edge smoothly.
Here we satisfy the Kutta condition approximately by equating
velocity components tangential to the panels adjacent to the
trailing edge on the upper and lower surface.
The solution is extremely sensitive to the flow details at the
trailing edge.
Make sure that the last panels on the top and bottom are small
and of equal length.
tN t
u u =
1
N
t V t V =
1
Representation of Boundary Condition (3)
The Kutta condition
N
t V t V =
1
N N N N
N N N N
v u v u
or
v u v u


sin cos sin cos
) sin cos ( ) ( ) sin cos ( ) (
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
+ = +
+ + = + + j i j i j i j i
The boundary conditions derived above are used to
construct a system of linear algebraic equations for
the strengths of the sources and the vortex.
Steps to determine the solution
1. Write down the velocities, u
i
, v
i
, in terms of contributions from all the
singularities.
includes q
i
, from each panel and the influence coefficients
which are a function of the geometry only.
2. Find the algebraic equations defining the influencecoefficients.
3. Write down flow tangency conditions in terms of the velocities (N
eqns., N+1 unknowns).
4. Write down the Kutta condition equation to get the N+1 equation.
5. Solve the resulting linear algebraic system of equations for the q
i
, .
6. Given q
i
, , write down the equations for u
ti
, the tangential velocity
at each panel control point.
7. Determine the pressure distribution from Bernoullis equation using
the tangential velocity on each panel.
Step 1. Velocities
The velocity components at any point i are given by
contributions from the velocities induced by the source and
vortex distributions over each panel.


= =

= =

+ + =
+ + =
N
j
N
j
v s j i
N
j
N
j
v s j i
ij ij
ij ij
v v q V v
u u q V u
1 1
1 1
sin
cos


where q
i
and are the singularity strengths, and the u
sij
, v
sij
, u
vij
,
and v
vij
are the influence coefficients.
As an example, the influence coefficient u
sij
is the x-component
of velocity at x
i
due to a unit source distribution over the jth panel.
Step 2. Influence coefficients
Local panel coordinate system
The influence coefficients
due to the sources:
The influence coefficients due
to the vortex distribution:

2
) ln(
2
1
*
1 ,
*
ij
S
ij
j i
s
ij
ij
v
r
r
u
=
=
+
) ln(
2
1
2
1 ,
*
*
ij
j i
v
ij
v
r
r
v
u
ij
ij
+
=
=

Step 3. Flow tangency conditions to get N equations

N i v u
i i i i
, , 1 , 0 cos sin = = +

=
+
= = +
N
j
i N i j ij
N i b A q A
1
1 ,
, 1
where
Step 4. Kutta Condition to get equation N+1
N N N N
v u v u sin cos sin cos
1 1 1 1
+ = +

=
+ + + +
= +
N
j
N N N j j N
b A q A
1
1 1 , 1 , 1

where
Step 5. Solve the system for q
i
,

=
+
= = +
N
j
i N i j ij
N i b A q A
1
1 ,
, 1

=
+ + + +
= +
N
j
N N N j j N
b A q A
1
1 1 , 1 , 1

Step 6. Given q
i
, and , write down the equations for the
tangential velocity at each panel control point.
Step 7. Find the surface pressure coefficient
2
) ( 1

=
V
u
C
i
i
t
P
Summary of Classic Panel Method
Key points
1.Write down the velocities, u
i
, v
i
, in terms of
contributions from all the singularities,namely q
i
, .
2.Get N eqns using flow tangency conditions in
terms of the velocities.
3.Get the N+1 equation using the Kutta condition.
4.Solve the resulting linear algebraic system of
equations for the q
i
, .