Enhancement of Airfoil Performance Using Aerodynamic Vortex Generators

Abstract

In order to explore the effect of the installation parameters of vortex generator (VG) on boundary-layer flow control, the vortex generator characteristics and their effect on the aerodynamics of an airfoil was studied using cfd simulations. The aerodynamic analysis is carried out on a highly cambered NACA s1223 airfoil attached with an array of vortex generators to study its effects on the aerodynamic characteristics of the Airfoil.

The CFD analysis shows that the use of vortex generators leads to delay in flow separation along the cambered side of the Airfoil which improves the efficiency of the Airfoil by increase in lift with minimum increase in drag. Based on the results the best vortex generator design is selected to achieve maximum delay in flow separation.