Comparison of Aerodynamics Characteristics of Naca 0015 & Naca 4415 Aerofoil Blade
Comparison of Aerodynamics Characteristics of Naca 0015 & Naca 4415 Aerofoil Blade
Comparison of Aerodynamics Characteristics of Naca 0015 & Naca 4415 Aerofoil Blade
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Abstract
NACA 0015 and NACA 4415 aerofoil are most common four digits and broadly used
aerodynamic shape. Both of the shapes are extensively used for various kind of applications
including turbine blade, aircraft wing and so on. NACA 0015 is symmetrical and NACA 4415 is
unsymmetrical in shape. Consequently, they have big one-of-a-kind in aerodynamic traits at the
side of widespread differences of their utility and performance. Both of them undergo the same
fluid principle while applied in any fluid medium giving dissimilar outcomes in aerodynamics
behavior. On this work, experimental and numerical investigation of each NACA 0015 and
NACA 4415 is done to decide their performance. For this purpose, aerofoil section is tested for a
prevalence range attack of angle (AOA). The study addresses the performance of NACA 0015
and NACA 4415 and evaluates the dynamics of flow separation, lift, drag, pressure and velocity
contour and so on.
Keywords: Aerofoil; CFD; Lift and Drag Force; Pressure; Velocity Contour.
Cite This Article: Rubel R. I., Uddin M. K., Islam M. Z., and Rokunuzzaman M.. (2017).
“COMPARISON OF AERODYNAMICS CHARACTERISTICS OF NACA 0015 & NACA
4415 AEROFOIL BLADE.” International Journal of Research - Granthaalayah, 5(11), 187-
197. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1095406.
1. Introduction
Aerofoil is such a streamlined shape or profile that when it travels through air, the air is fallen to
pieces in two sections and goes above and beneath the wing. The wing's upper surface is framed
so the air hurrying over the top surface velocities up and extends [1]. The stream is quickened
over the aerofoil because of the preoccupation of stream from the lower side as appeared in
figure 1 [2]. Higher mean speed is seen close to the suction crest area [3, 4]. At the point when
an airfoil is moved quickly through an AOA range that incorporates the static stall angle, the
angle of maximum lift can be incredibly expanded [5]. The NACA aerofoils are created and
develop by National Advisory Committee for Aerodynamics (NACA).
NACA 0015 and NACA 4415 profile are appeared underneath and the directions are additionally
arranged at the record from which the accompanying profiles are drawn. The NACA 0015
aerofoil is symmetrical with no camber. The digit 15 demonstrates that the aerofoil has a 15%
thickness to chord length proportion; it is 15% as thick as it is long. The NACA aerofoil 4415
has a greatest camber of 4% located 40% (0.4 chord) from the main edge with a most maximum
thickness of 15% of the chord. Both NACA 0015 and NACA 4415 aerofoil is examined to
comprehend the transient progression of flow separation, lift, drag, pressure and velocity
contour. There have been a numerous scientists fascinating in the examination, alteration, and
examination of aerofoil. Recently Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) and Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles (UAVs) have resuscitated examination enthusiasm on the execution of aerofoil [6]. A
symmetrical wing aerofoil is bended on the top to the same degree as it is on the base side. An
upper and lower part of the aerofoil is symmetrical when a line is drawn from the focal point of
the main edge to the focal point of the trailing edge. This kind of aerofoil is utilized as a part of
numerous applications including submarine balances, rotating and some settled wings, air ship
vertical stabilizers and so on.
The baseline aerofoil is likewise expected to have NACA 0015 profile [7]. Wind turbine cutting
edge additionally utilizes symmetrical NACA 0015 aerofoil [8]. The aerofoil NACA 4415 of
optimal design is chiefly utilized as wind turbine blade [9]. Pedro J. Boschetti et. al chips away at
the streamlined features advancement and allude the utilization of NACA 0015 with NACA
4415 in a consolidated segment [10]. Near examination of aerofoil NACA 2313 and NACA 7322
utilizing computational fluid flow technique is refined by Umapathi and Soni [11]. A. Spentzos
et. al chips away at the 2D and 3D dynamic stall of NACA 0012 and NACA 0015 by CFD
(Computational Fluid Dynamics) [12]. NACA 4415 airfoil has a declared impact in decreasing
the level of degree of flow separation which is shown by David and Jamey amid working with
the oscillation of the upper surface of an aerofoil [13]. Gerontakos and Lee concentrated on the
influence of both upward and descending trailing-flap deflections on the speed and vortices flow
fields around a NACA 0015 aerofoil subjected to profound deep stall oscillation [14]. Morshed
works to find the correlation of the experimental and numerical (CFD) investigation of a
Savonius wind turbine [15]. Surface finish condition affect the lift and drag of the aerofoil as the
shape and should be considered in aerofoil choice and the expectation of wing attributes [16].
The lift and drag coefficients (CL and CD) are determine by numerically integrating the pressure
distribution around the aerofoil thus friction effect is underestimated and lead to error [17,18].
For the design of aerofoil layout excess wetted area ought to be averted as friction drag is
specifically corresponding to the aggregate wetted territory [19]. The mean streamlined chord
(MAC) of an aerofoil is utilized to standardize the streamlined strengths to get the lift, drag.
Consider the aerofoil shown in Figure 2. The essential feature of an aerofoil is mean camber line.
It is a half way path between upper and lower surface. The extreme forward point is called
leading edge and rear point is called trailing edge. Chord line connects the leading and trailing
edge point. The difference between the mean camber line and chord line is called camber.
Fundamental aerodynamic theory has found adequate for analyzing the essential character of
subsonic flow over NACA aerofoil series. The researcher has amassed theoretically and
experimentally vast amount of engineering formulation. From physical and mathematical
considerations, the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations for Newtonian fluids are presented
by [20].
(a) (b)
Figure 2: (a) Aerofoil; (b) Forces on aerofoil.
∇. v = 0 (2)
Where v is the velocity of the flow, Dv =(1/2)((∇v + ∇v t ) its deformation tensor, and p its
pressure.
The momentum equation (1) inherited from Newton’s law, while equation (2) is the mass
conservation equation for incompressible flows. The mass density of fluid (ρ) and velocity v is
defined in equation (2). The general mass conservation equation satisfied by ρ and v is
δt ρ + ∇. ∇p = f (3)
The mass fluxes in the x, y, z directions are ρu, ρv, and ρw respectively. The momentum and the
energy equation can be found following the same procedure. The fluxes considered are (a) mass
flux = ρV, (b) flux of x, y, and z component of momentum are ρuV, ρvV, ρwV, (c) flux of
V2
internal energy = ρeV, (d) flux of total energy = ρ (e + ). For details on these equations see
2
references [21].
When the pressure distribution on the aerofoil surface is known, determining the total lift
requires adding up the contributions to the pressure force from local elements of the surface,
each with its own local value of pressure [22]. The total lift is therefore the integral of the
pressure; within the course perpendicular to some distance field go with the flow, over the entire
surface of the aerofoil or wing given by-
L = ∮ pn ⋅ kdA (5)
Where, L is the lift, A is the wing surface area, p is the value of the pressure, n is the normal unit
vector pointing into the wing and k is the vertical unit vector, normal to the free stream direction.
The lift and drag is calculated by the equation given below [23]. Where, the lift coefficient (C L)
and the drag coefficient (CD) depend on the angle of attack α (degree).
The condition that the aerofoil surface is a streamline means that the total velocity component
normal to the surface is zero. For laminar (Re < 5 × 105 ), steady and incompressible flow at
velocity 10 m/s in a viscous model of air having density around the airfoil has been simulated by
solving the equations for conservation of mass and momentum having density 1.225 kg/m and
viscosity 1.789 × 105 kg/m-s at room temperature 288.16 k. In a density based steady solution
environment convert the governing equations of flow in to algebraic equations that can be solved
numerically and the inlet of the system velocity is defined entering at 0° AOA (as per the
problem statement), at a total magnitude of one. We will also define the gauge pressure at the
inlet to be zero. As for the outlet, the only thing can be assumed is that the gauge pressure is zero
(Ambient atmospheric condition is imposed at outlet). As for the aerofoil itself, we will treat it
like a wall. No slip boundary conditions are imposed. When the pre-calculations are ready,
FLUENT can be run to complete the simulation by loading the Fluid Flow (FLUENT) box by
dragging and dropping it into the project schematic. Now it is ready to create the geometry for
the simulation. Both pressure and velocity measurements are made for angles of attack of 0° <
AOA < 18° for NACA 0015 and NACA 4415 at fixed Reynolds number of laminar flow.
For CFD simulation the coordinates for NACA 0015 and NACA 4415 of the airfoil is imported
and the geometry is created that will use for the simulation as in Figure 3(a) and 3(b). In order to
analyze fluid flows, flow domains are split into smaller subdomains [24]. Subdomains are made
up of geometric primitives like hexahedra and tetrahedral in 3D and quadrilaterals and triangles
in 2D [25]. Mesh analysis is performed by assuming relevance center is fine and smoothing is
high in C-mesh domain presented in Figure 3(c) and 3(d). External sharp corners, such as those
found on the trailing edge of an airfoil, present a challenge in meshing. The governing equations
are then discretized to solve the inside each of these subdomains.
For structural design, estimation of the critical Mach number, moment coefficient knowledge of
the pressure distribution over an aerofoil is desirable especially when tests are not available. At
zero lift the pressure distributions over the upper and lower surfaces are identical. Contours of
static pressure show that static pressure increases at the lower surface of the aerofoil with
increasing angle of attack. Figures 4 show the simulation consequences of static pressure for 0°
to 18° AOA for viscous model of air as fluid medium. According to the figure underneath at 0°
AOA, NACA 0015 has static pressure of 5.67 × 101 > 5.63 × 101 Pa that obtained for NACA
4415. That clearly indicated that NACA 0015 will have greater pressure gradient at small AOA,
so for the lift. The pressure on the lower side of the aerofoil is larger than that of the inward flow
stream and effectively pushed the aerofoil upward. Static pressure increases maximum 6.14 ×
101 Pa with 12° AOA with quiet laminar flow pattern.
(a) (b)
Figure 6: Pressure coefficient vs position of chord length curve for (a) NACA 0015; (b) NACA
4415.
For AOA greater than 12° it will decreases slightly. Laminar flow is transition turbulence flow
and pressure distribution changed around 16° angle of attack so lift coefficient began to decrease.
At 12° AOA static pressure is more for NACA 4415 profile. At 18° AOA significant turbulence
and flow separation is visualized through the figure. It also has significant turbulence and flow
separation at 18° AOA with presence of vortex of air appeared at the trailing section. The shape
of the stream line indicates a change from a deficit to an excess condition across the vortex core
at the leading edge.
Static pressure increases at the lower surface of the aerofoil with increasing angle of attack while
reversely velocity magnitude increases at the upper surface as depicted by contours of velocity
magnitude in Figure 5. At low velocity, lower surface generates more lift, which is commonly
experienced at asymmetrical aerofoil (NACA 4415) than symmetrical aerofoil (NACA 0015). A
laminar boundary layer arises to develop at the leading edge. Thickness of the layer grows in
downstream direction (towards trailing edge). NACA 0015 trailing edge at 6° AOA shows a
small area of separated flow or initiation of flow separation that become dominant for increasing
AOA. NACA 4415 shows similar phenomenon near to at 12° AOA but change rapidly for 18°
AOA. Laminar boundary becomes unstable at some distance from the leading edge and is unable
to suppress disturbances imposed on it by surface roughness or fluctuations in the free stream.
Contours of velocity components at 0° ≤ α ≤ 18° are also shown. For both of the profile
stagnation point at trailing edge moves slightly forward at low AOA and jumped promptly
towards leading edge at stall angle for NACA 4415 than NACA 0015.
The two curves distinctly in Figure 6 show that negative pressure at the lower surface of the
aerofoil is superior to pressure in upside surface. However, it is noticed that area of negative
5.4. Comparison of the Experimental and Numerical Data with Using Characteristic
Curve of NACA 0015 and NACA 4415
A comparison of the effect and performance of aerofoil section on the minimum drag with
practical construction surfaces is very difficult because the quality of the surface has more effect
on the drag than the type of section. Probably the best comparison can be obtained from pairs of
models constructed at the same time by the same manufacturers. Figure 7 is the comparable
curve between numerical and experimental data for lift and drag forced. It is found very accurate
value comparing numerical value and it is described for cambered aerofoil. In Figure 7(a) for
NACA 0015 it is seen that lift coefficient increases with the increases of AOA up to a certain
limit then it decreases.Drag coefficient also increases with the increases of AOA experimentally
and numerically value of drag coefficient remains very closest. For cambered aerofoil (NACA
4415) angle of stall occur at more than 18° and for NACA 0015 stall of angle has occurred at 12°
shown by an arrow. The higher the angle of stall means it would be gathered and maintains more
surface area at the same time it can quick response when increases needs lift force by increases
drag force. After calculating the lift coefficient between experimental and numerical for both
NACA 0015 and NACA 4415 it is determined that the percentage of error for NACA 0015 is
4.8% and for NACA 4415 is 8.67%. It is seen that for NACA 0015 the percentage of error
becomes less than NACA 4415.
0.4 0.25
0.35
0.2
0.3
Drag Coefficient
Lift coefficient
0.25
0.15
0.2
0.15 0.1
0.1
0.05
0.05
0 0
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
Angle of attack (Degree) Angle of attack (Degree)
Experimental (NACA 0015) Numerical (NACA 0015) Experimental (NACA 0015) Numerical (NACA 0015)
Experimental (NACA 4415) Numerical (NACA 4415) Experimental (NACA 4415) Numerical (NACA 4415)
(a) (b)
Figure 7: Variation of lift and drag coefficient w.r.to AOA for (a) NACA 0015; (b) NACA 4415.
It is suggested to make the mesh size as small as possible so that smallest eddy fluctuations could
have been caught by the computations. Turbulent behavior and friction may be considered.
The simulation and modeling consisted only for aerofoil model of NACA 0015 and NACA 4415
type, but it is suggested to model all the other series profile. So that easier and precise of lift and
drag coefficient could have been applied keeping in mind that the computational grid must not
become large or it would require large amount of computation power and computation time.
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*Corresponding author.
E-mail address: rubel@ baust.edu.bd