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Supersonic flow over a double circular airfoil

Research · September 2015

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4305.7125

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 University of Duisburg Essen

Supersonic flow over a double circular airfoil

Gas Dynamics Take Home Project 2013

Department of Fluid Dynamics

Prof. Dr. Ing. Ernst Von Lavante

Dipl. –Ing . Harun Kaya

Report written by:

Mustafa Efe Kinaci

Mat. Nu: 2232889

Abstract

An airfoil section made up of two unequal circular arcs is taken into account. The first example of this
airfoil is the biconvex airfoil used by Stanton in some early works on airfoil at speeds as high as the speed
of sound. In his experimental work he used a conventional round nosed, airfoil (RAF 31a) in addition to
the biconvex sharp-edged section at subsonic as well as supersonic speeds. The airfoil that is taken into
account in this report is only in supersonic speed. This report explains on how to calculate the thickness
of such airfoils, and the location and strength of leading and trailing edge shocks. The lift and drag
coefficients are also calculated.
Contents
Table of Equations ........................................................................................................................................ 1
Table of Figures ............................................................................................................................................ 1
Table of Tables ............................................................................................................................................. 1
1. Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 2
2. Thickness of the airfoil ......................................................................................................................... 3
3. The location and strength of leading edge shocks ................................................................................ 5
4. Lift and Drag Coefficients .................................................................................................................. 11
5. Flow Simulation and Grid Generation ................................................................................................ 12
5.1 Star-CCM+.................................................................................................................................. 13
6. Conclusion and Comparison ............................................................................................................... 18
Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................... 19
Appendix 2.1 – Numerical Results ............................................................................................................. 23
Table of Equations
Equation 1: Calculation of δ_top .................................................................................................................. 4
Equation 2: Calculation of δ_bot .................................................................................................................. 4
Equation 3: Angle between incident flow and the shock wave..................................................................... 5
Equation 4: Calculating β.............................................................................................................................. 6
Equation 5: Calculating the wedge angle ...................................................................................................... 7
Equation 6: The real wedge angle ................................................................................................................. 7
Equation 7: Calculation of aftershock Pressure, Temperature ...................................................................... 8
Equation 8: Mach after shock ....................................................................................................................... 8
Equation 9: Strength of leading edge shock for upper part........................................................................... 8
Equation 10: Pressure, Temperature, Mach and Strength of Shock for leading edge bottom part ............... 9
Equation 11: Shock-Wave angle for trailing edge ...................................................................................... 10
Equation 12: Shock-wave strength for trailing edge top ............................................................................. 10
Equation 13: Lift-Coefficient ...................................................................................................................... 11

Table of Figures
Figure 1: Double Circular Arc Airfoil .......................................................................................................... 2
Figure 2: Upper circular arc δ ....................................................................................................................... 3
Figure 3: Lower circular arc ......................................................................................................................... 4
Figure 4: The plane oblique shock as a transformation of a normal shock. .................................................. 6
Figure 5: Top wedge angle ........................................................................................................................... 7
Figure 6: Upper Airfoil Trailing Edge Shock ............................................................................................... 9
Figure 7: Grid of the airfoil ......................................................................................................................... 12
Figure 8: Mach number visualization – 1 ................................................................................................... 15
Figure 9: Mach number visualization - 2 .................................................................................................... 15
Figure 10: Drag Coefficient ........................................................................................................................ 16
Figure 11: Lift Coefficient ........................................................................................................................ 16
Figure 12: XY-Plot - Pressure Coefficient .................................................................................................. 17
Figure 13: Lift Coefficient Star-CCM + entry ............................................................................................ 23
Figure 14: Lift Coefficient Star-CCM + entry ............................................................................................ 23
Figure 15: Residuals ................................................................................................................................... 24
Figure 16: Pressure Scene ........................................................................................................................... 24
Figure 17: Pressure Scene - 2...................................................................................................................... 25

Table of Tables
Table 1: Physics Models used in Star-CCM+ ............................................................................................. 14
Table 2: Analytical and Numerical Results ................................................................................................ 18

1
1. Summary

The aim of the project is to analyze the supersonic flow around a double circular arc airfoil. The shape of
the airfoil consists of two circles of different radii. The upper radius is 2.9 meters and lower radius is 2.4
meters (Fig.1). The chord and the length of the airfoil is 1 meter. The airfoil is flying at a Mach number of
2.3 and an angle of attach α of -2.7◦. Ambient pressure and temperature is taken as 0.101325 MPa & 300
K respectively.

Figure 1: Double Circular Arc Airfoil

The thickness of the airfoil, the location and strength of leading edge of shocks, the lift and drag
coefficients are to be calculated in this report analytically and by the use of numerical simulation. The
program Adapco CCM+ is going to be used for the simulation and Gridgen V15 is used to establish the
geometry and discretization.

2
2. Thickness of the airfoil

The thickness of the airfoil is calculated by using geometry. Upper and lower radius of the two arcs is
known as well as the length of the airfoil. δbot and δtop can be seen in Fig. 1 whose addition will lead to the
total thickness of the airfoil. To calculate the solution the circular arcs will be taken separately. Fig. 2 and
Fig. 3 show the geometry of the two arcs, and the equations 1 and 2 gives the end result for δtop and δbot.

δtop

L/2 L/2

Ru
Ru
ϕ

Figure 2: Upper circular arc δ

By the use of basic trigonometry we can calculate δtop.

( )

( )

So the result is

3
 Equation 1: Calculation of δ_top

ϕ2

Rl
Rl

L/2 L/2

δbot

Figure 3: Lower circular arc

The same as δtop, now using trigonometry the δbot is calculated;

( )

Equation 2: Calculation of δ_bot

The total thickness of the airfoil is the result of , which is equal to;

4
3. The location and strength of leading edge shocks

“The possible existence of a plane, oblique shock wave in a two-dimensional supersonic flow may be
demonstrated by either of two approaches. Such a shock wave may be shown to be possible by
performing a coordinate transformation on a normal shock, or, alternatively, as the result of the
coalescence of a sequence of oblique isentropic compression waves (that is, Mach waves). The distinction
between oblique shock waves and Mach waves is that Mach lines, or characteristics, may be regarded as
lines along which two distinct uniform supersonic flow fields may be “patched” together. However, no
discontinuities in the fluid velocity (or other properties) are permitted across Mach waves, although
discontinuities in the derivatives of these properties may exist. In the case of shock waves, however,
discontinuities in the flow properties do exist. Thus oblique shocks are also “patching” lines between
regions of different flows, but the important distinction is that shock waves are patching lines for
discontinuous flows whereas Mach waves are patching lines for continuous flows.

For a more specific illustration of the existence of plane oblique shocks in a two dimensional supersonic
flow, consider the transformation depicted in Figure 4. In Figure 4(a) there is illustrated a normal shock
wave as seen by a stationary observer. The flow streamline remains unchanged in direction, the fluid
undergoes a discontinuous pressure rise and velocity loss, and it is known that the incident flow is
supersonic and the resultant flow subsonic. The flow velocities in this situation are denoted by and
since they are normal to the shock wave.

Consider now what is seen by the observer if he moves tangentially to the shock wave with a velocity υt
as shown in Figure 4(b). The fluid velocities on either side of the shock wave are augmented, vectorially,
by the velocity υt, as shown and consequently make angles θ1 and θ2, respectively, with the normal to the
wave:

Equation 3: Angle between incident flow and the shock wave.

Since the fluid static pressure is unchanged by the superposition of the velocity υ t, the flow still
experiences a discontinuous pressure rise as it crosses the shock; however the magnitude and direction of
the velocities are materially affected. As a result of the vector addition of and υt, the apparent incident
flow now makes an angle with the shock wave and the incident velocity is increased from to .
Since was supersonic, must also be supersonic. The resultant flow behind the wave makes an angle
with the shock, , but this angle is necessarily greater than since < . Thus the flow streamlines
make an apparent deflection by an amount δ = - as they cross the shock wave. The deflection angle
δ is also often referred to as the “wedge” angle. The complement of the angle is the acute angle
between the shock wave and the total incident velocity . This angle, Denoted by σ in Figure 4(b) is
called the shock angle.

5
 Figure 4: The plane oblique shock as a transformation of a normal shock.

Although the resultant velocity in the normal shock case must be subsonic, the superposition of , in
Figure 4(b), creates a resultant velocity in the oblique shock case which may or may not be subsonic.
In fact, in real occurring shock waves the resultant flow is more often supersonic than subsonic as is the
case for normal shocks.

To summarize, the above-discussed superposition of a tangential velocity upon a normal shock wave
reveals the possible existence of a plane shock wave occurring at an angle (the shock angle σ) to an
incident supersonic flow. The flow streamlines undergo a deflection (wedge angle δ) as they cross the
shock, and the resultant flow behind the shock will be uniform but not necessarily subsonic.”1

However, the wedge angle δ, for a double circular arc airfoil with two different radii needs to be
calculated separately for the upper and lower part of the airfoil. Trigonometry is used to calculate the
wedge angle from the given data. Since the geometry of the airfoil is not in a straight line but instead a
convex line, the angle is calculated by taking the tangential point right where the leading edge is, making
the distance x equal to zero.

If we take a look at Figure 5, triangle 1, the following equation can be made through trigonometry to
calculate the angle ε.

Equation 4: Calculating β

1
Chapman, Alan J., Walker, Wiliam F., Intoductory Gas Dynamics

6
So we can compute;

Equation 5: Calculating the wedge angle

φ 2 δtop

ε L/2 L/2

1 a
ϕ
Ru
Ru

Figure 5: Top wedge angle

Since the wedge angle and the Mach number of the flying airfoil with a specific angle of attack is known,
we can calculate the shock angle at the top leading edge and its strength.

So the felt wedge angle due to the angle of attack would be;

( )

Equation 6: The real wedge angle

Using the β-θ-M tables (Appendix 1), the shock wave angle can be read.

After calculating the shock angle, the flow Mach in front of a normal shock is calculated;

7
The flow Mach in front of a normal shock is used to read the Pressure, Temperature and Mach numbers
for after the oblique shock from the NASA Report 1135- Table II for Supersonic Flow (Appendix 2).

Equation 7: Calculation of aftershock Pressure, Temperature

The Mach number that is read from the table is the flow Mach after a normal shock, so in order to
calculate the Mach after shock;

( )

Equation 8: Mach after shock

As seen from above equation the Mach after shock is still larger than 1, making the continuing flow still
supersonic.

The strength of shock can be calculated by using the Pressure;

Equation 9: Strength of leading edge shock for upper part

The same equations and trigonometry is used for the lower part of the airfoil;

8
From table β-θ-M and Report 1135;

Equation 10: Pressure, Temperature, Mach and Strength of Shock for leading edge bottom part

The other occurring shocks will be at the top and bottom part at the rear of the airfoil. To calculate these
we will again use the geometry of the airfoil to get the angles needed for the calculation.

Β-α
δtop θ
α

ϕ
Ru
Ru

Figure 6: Upper Airfoil Trailing Edge Shock

To calculate the strength of the shock, the pressure behind the last shock and the previous is needed. The
Mach number at the second state is known, and the rest can be calculated. First the value for the shock
wave angle is needed. This can be read from β-θ-M Table.

9
 ( )

β2 = 34.5

Equation 11: Shock-Wave angle for trailing edge

To read the data from the supersonic-flow tables however the Mach normal to the shock has to be
calculated as done in equation 7.

The rest of the values can be read from Table II.

The shock strength is than calculated as with:

Equation 12: Shock-wave strength for trailing edge top

The same is done for the lower part of the airfoil, which gives the value 1.423 for the shock wave strength
for lower part of the airfoil.

10
4. Lift and Drag Coefficients

Before lift and drag coefficients are calculated, an explanation has to be made for what lift and drag is.
The lift is the component of force acting upwards, perpendicular to the direction of flight or of the
undisturbed stream. As a general rule, if it is remembered that the lift is always a component
perpendicular to flight direction. The lift coefficient is a dimensionless coefficient that relates the lift
generated by a lifting body, the dynamic pressure of the fluid flow around the body, and a reference area
associated with the body. Lift coefficient is also used to refer to the dynamic lift characteristics of a two-
dimensional foil section, whereby the reference area is taken as the foil chord.

“For airfoil section made up of unequal circular arcs such as in our situation or as a first example the
biconvex airfoil used by Stanton in some early work on airfoils at speeds in the neighborhood of the
speed of sound. The lift coefficient for such kind of airfoils is calculated by using the formula”2;

The α being the angle of attack and the M the incoming Mach number, the lift coefficient results;

√
Equation 13: Lift-Coefficient

The drag is the component of force acting in the opposite direction to the line of flight, or in the same
direction as the motion of the undisturbed stream. It is the force which resists the motion of the aircraft.
There is no ambiguity regarding it direction or sense. The dimensionless drag coefficient is used to
quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment such as air or water. It is used in the
drag equation, where a lower drag coefficient indicates the object will have less aerodynamic or
hydrodynamic drag. The drag coefficient is always associated with a particular area.

The drag coefficient of any object comprises the effects of the two basic contributors to fluid dynamic
drag: skin friction and form drag. The drag coefficient of a lifting airfoil or hydrofoil also includes the
effects of lift-induced drag. The drag coefficient of a complete structure such as an aircraft also includes
the effects of interference drag.

The drag coefficient for unequal circular arcs;

( )
√

In this equation t is the thickness of the airfoil and c is the chord length. The total thickness was
calculated in Section 1 and the chord length is given as 1. So the drag coefficient will be2;

2
E.L. HOUGHTON & P.W.CARPENTER, Aerodynamics for Engineering Students

11
5. Flow Simulation and Grid Generation

The designing of the airfoil is made with the program Gridgen V15, a mesh generation program. “Gridgen
is an interactive, graphical software package used to create 2D and 3D quadrilateral, hexahedral,
triangular, and tetrahedral grid meshes and finite element models. Gridgen is employed in the
construction of hybrid meshes as well, through the use of prisms and pyramids. In this purpose, it serves
as a preprocessor to Computational Fluid Dynamics and Finite Element Analysis.”3 The design of the
airfoil is not a complicated design which made it available to use a structured grid.

Figure 7: Grid of the airfoil

The direct tool of domain creation inside the program is used to create the domain. To use this airfoil is
drawn and a straight line afterwards making the four-edge rule for a domain possible. After the program
runs its iterative cycle for a given value (in this case 40 runs), the outer lines are automatically created.
Therefore a block generation for a two-dimensional design is made. After the boundary conditions are
entered, the geometry is complete to be exported and imported in Star-CCM+, where the numerical
simulation takes place.

3
“Pointwise," [Online]. Available: www.pointwise.com/archive/faq-v13.html.

12
5.1 Star-CCM+

Star-CCM+ is an intuitive and modern analysis environment that guides users effortlessly through setting
up, running and analyzing complex engineering simulations. The program has an easy to use and practical
interface. The main usage of this program is mainly computational fluid dynamics. The program’s main
advantages are:

 CAD & PLM integration, fully integrated with most common design programs such as Pro-
Engineer, SolidWorks and Gridgen;

 Built-in meshing technology, polyhedral meshing, which also will be used later to see the results;

 Intuitive simulation user environment;

 Multi-disciplinary solutions; and

 Engineering analysis, especially for fluid mechanics department4

A new simulation is started and the generated mesh is imported into Star-CCM+. The first thing to
determine in as the program starts is which of the physical models are going to be used during the
simulation. Table -1 show the physics models that are used in this simulation.

Simulation Properties Explanations

Continua Physics 1 Models Gas-Air

Ideal Gas

Implicit Unsteady

K-Epsilon Turbulence

Coupled Flow

Two-Dimensional

Realizable K-Epsilon Two-Layer

RANS

Stationary

Reference Values

4
M. Perić, "Future Developments of tar-CD and Star-CCM+," pp. 1-27.

13
 Initial Reference Pressure: 0.101325 MPa
Conditions

Velocity

Composite (To give the X and Y directional

velocities separately)

X: 788.724 m/s

Y: -37.183 m/s

Table 1: Physics Models used in Star-CCM+

The fluid flowing around the airfoil is air, and it is taken as an ideal gas for this calculations. Naturally the
air is a turbulent flow, which underneath gives us the usage of the k-epsilon turbulence model. Reynolds
Averaged Navier Stokes is the usual but rather coarse way to simulate a fluid.

The velocity that the airfoil was flying at was 2.3 Mach. 2.3 Mach is equal to 782.667 m/s. The reason
that the X and Y velocity components are different from this value is due to the fact that the angle of
attack is -2.7. The angle of attack is used to calculate the two different velocity components. Y is in
negative direction since the angle of attack is negative, which means that the airfoil is flying in a
downward manner.

The lift and drag coefficients and the Mach numbers have to be calculated in the simulation as well, if a
comparison is to be given between the numerical and analytical results. To calculate the lift and drag
coefficients in Star-CCM+, a new report is created that gives out the force coefficients. The reference
density, reference velocity and reference area is given accordingly. The density is the density of air; the
reference velocity is the incoming Mach without any disturbances, so 782.667 m/s, and the reference area
of 1 m2. The directions, that the coefficients are to be calculated accordingly is calculated by the angle of
attack. The x-direction is calculated as the cos of angle of attack, the y-direction is calculated as the sin of
angle of attack. These calculation lead to the values 0.9988 for x-direction and 0.0471 for y-direction.
After entering the properties of the reports a monitor and plot from is created. These plots than can be
read to see the drag and lift coefficients.

Unlike lift and drag coefficients to be able to read the Mach number distribution, a report does not have to
be created. The Mach number can be directly seen through the creation of a scalar scene and then
choosing the Mach number option as the scene property. This gives out the velocity distribution of the
geometry that was created. In the Figures 8 – 9 this scalar scene can be seen. As seen in the scenes the
velocity under the airfoil is higher than the upper part, which is due to the fact that the angle of attack is
coming from the upper part of the airfoil. The oblique shocks in the leading and trailing edge of the airfoil
can be seen. These were the shocks that were calculated in Section 2 of this report.

14
Figure 8: Mach number visualization – 1

Figure 9: Mach number visualization - 2

15
However for the reading of Drag and Lift Coefficients from Star-CCM + first a report must be created in
order to plot these Force Coefficients. After a new report is created the reference velocity, reference
density and reference area has to be given accordingly. The airfoil is to be selected as the part since, the
lift and drag on the airfoil is to be calculated. The velocity is written in meter per second instead of the
Mach number, so a conversion has to be made. 2.3 Mach will be equal to 782 m/s.

In this selection, directions are the most important part. If a mistake is done in the directions the result
will not be correct. The directions for x and y- direction is going to be calculated by using the angle of
attack. The y direction will be the sin of the angle of attack and the x- direction value will be the cosine of
the angle of attack. This will in simulation position the blade as it was facing the normal.

The plots, for the Lift and Drag coefficients gathered from the simulation results is plotted in the figures
below.

Figure 10: Drag Coefficient

Figure 11: Lift Coefficient

16
In Star-CCM + it is also possible for the user to construct XY-plots. The axis on the plots can be chosen
according to the needs of the user. For instance in Figure 12, a XY-plot of the position and pressure
coefficient is graphed.

Figure 12: XY-Plot - Pressure Coefficient

17
6. Conclusion and Comparison

Naturally the analytical and numerical solutions for the same questions are going to be different end
results. The analysis way that is used in the numerical calculation is even different with each simulation
program, since their code is written in different ways. However since the difference is so small that it is
neglected most of the time. The end results for the analytical calculations can be seen on Table 2.

Since the strength of the shock needs to be calculated by using the pressure distribution and it is read from
the scalar scenes of the numerical results errors might occur. However, the results are written in Table 2
as well.

Analytical
Lift Coefficient Drag Coefficient Shock-strength Shock-strength Shock-strength Shock-strength
leading edge top leading edge trailing edge top trailing edge
bottom bottom
1.423

Mach after 1. Mach after 2. Mach after 1. Mach after 2.

shock (top) Shock (top) Shock (bottom) Shock (bottom)

1.44 2.41

Numerical
Lift Coefficient Drag Coefficient Mach after 1. Mach after 2. Mach after 1. Mach after 2.
shock (top) Shock (top) Shock (bottom) Shock (bottom)
2 – 2.2 2.6

Table 2: Analytical and Numerical Results

The Mach that was calculated, analytically and numerically are in the same Mach range with each other.
Drag and lift coefficients are similar as well. The drag in the numerical results is a little higher than the
drag coefficient as from the analytical results. Lift is also higher in the numerical results as in the
analytical.

18
Appendix

19
20
21
22
Appendix 2.1 – Numerical Results

Figure 13: Lift Coefficient Star-CCM + entry

Figure 14: Lift Coefficient Star-CCM + entry

23
 Figure 15: Residuals

Figure 16: Pressure Scene

24
 Figure 17: Pressure Scene - 2

25

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