PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION ON NACA 0012

AIRFOIL IN A TRANSONIC FLOW

Submitted by;
ISAI THAMIZH . R
AE14M006

PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION ON NACA 0012 AIRFOIL

IN A TRANSONIC FLOW
INTRODUCTION
Having studied the flow past an airfoil in subsonic wind tunnel, this
experiment deals with flow past an airfoil in transonic wind tunnel. The
transonic flow through a wind tunnel with NACA 0012 airfoil at zero angle of
attack is studied for the variation of pressure on the surface of the airfoil.
AIM

1. Computation of Mach number on the surface of cylinder placed in

transonic flow.
2. To plot the pressure distribution on the airfoil.
3. Plot Mach number Vs x/c, if there is no shock present.
4. Estimation of Drag from pressure distribution.

ASSUMPTIONS
1. Flow is Steady, uniform and inviscid.
2. Flow is isentropic throughout, except across the shock.
THEORY
Transonic flow occurs when there is mixed sub and supersonic local flow
in the same flowfield, typically with freestream Mach numbers from M = 0.8 to
1.2. Usually the supersonic region of the flow is terminated by a shock wave,
allowing the flow to slow down to subsonic speeds. This complicates both
computations and wind tunnel testing. It also means that there is very little
analytic theory available for guidance in designing for transonic flow
conditions. Importantly, not only is the outer inviscid portion of the flow
governed by nonlinear flow equations, but the nonlinear flow features typically

require that viscous effects be included immediately in the flowfield analysis for
accurate design and analysis work.

APPARATUS
Transonic Wind Tunnel, NACA 0012 Airfoil, Electronic Scani valv
(Transducer) for reading the pressure at various test points on the airfoil surface
and test section, 24 pressure transducers to measure the static pressure.
The problem with transonic wind tunnel is the reflection of shock from
the tunnel walls and the tendency of the flow to choke as it went past the the
model. This is catered to by using a slotted wall wind tunnel in which the tunnel
interference effects are significantly reduced. This is sown in figure 1. The wind
tunnel works by suction of ambient air through a convergent duct into a test
section which has perforated walls. The flow in the tunnel can be controlled by
adjusting the stagnation pressure in the settling chamber and the opening of the
diffuser. The pressures are adjusted so that the streamlines do not encounter the
actual wall of the test section.

From

To vacuum

Second
Throat
Diffuser
Inlet
Test section

Settling chamber

Figure 1, Transonic wind tunnel

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
1.
2.
3.
4.

NACA 0012 airfoil is positioned in the test section at zero angle of attack.
The pressure probes are carefully connected to the Scani-Valv transducer.
The zero error reading of the transducer is recorded.
The wind tunnel is switched on and the data acquisition is done for a
stagnation pressure of 35 and 65 Psi with an opening of 6 mm.

INITIAL DATA
pambient = 14.5468 psi,
Zero error = 0.062psi

Tambient = 300K,

ambient = 1.1533 kg/m3

FORMULAE
p

ambient
+ p gage )
(
;
pstatic =

( PP )1
o

2
)
1

M =

Drag=( ( p pW ) 2 h ) ( U 2 C)

Tables

p= R T

INFERENCES
i. The local Mach number on the airfoil surface has reached sonic condition
at few locations when the free-stream Mach number is transonic. This is
because the flow accelerates on the surface of the airfoil initially and then
decelerates.
ii. The lower surface of the airfoil at x/c = 0.1 has reached sonic condition
first.
iii. The lift co-efficient is generally obtained from the area between the
curves in the Cp distribution for upper and lower surfaces. From the Cp
plot it is observed that the lift generated at these transonic speeds is not
very high.

iv.

v.

The pressure distribution between upper and lower surfaces towards the
trailing edge of the airfoil is almost equalized. However, the difference is
pretty huge near the leading edge mainly because of the sonic region
achieved on the surface which causes shocks on the upper and lower
surfaces.
The maximum Mach number achieved on airfoil surface was 1.04.

CONCLUSION
The study of flow over an airfoil in a transonic wind tunnel has
effectively been carried out and results analysed. It shows the effect of transonic
Mach numbers on the airfoil surface where local shocks are formed as sonic
region is achieved in those regions. Thus, at transonic Mach numbers, lift
generated is not very high but drag produced is very high.