Surface morphing for aerodynamic flows at low and stalled angles of attack

TL;DR

This study explores how traveling-wave surface morphing affects low-Reynolds-number aerodynamic flows on an airfoil, revealing optimal conditions for lift enhancement and identifying regimes where morphing synchronizes with vortex shedding.

Contribution

It is the first detailed numerical investigation of surface morphing effects at low Reynolds numbers, especially at stalled angles of attack, highlighting regimes that improve lift.

Findings

Lift benefits peak when morphing aligns with intrinsic flow speed.

Lock-on regime enhances mean lift by synchronizing vortex shedding with morphing.

Different regimes identified: lock-on, interactive, and superposition, based on vortex-morphing phase relationships.

Abstract

In the current work we numerically study the effect of traveling-wave surface morphing actuation on the suction surface of NACA0012 at Re = 1,000. Although this actuation strategy has been studied at higher Reynolds numbers for an airfoil and a rectangular flat plate, its effects at low Reynolds numbers have not yet been investigated. The kinematics of actuation are defined by wavenumber and wavespeed, both of which are varied over a wide range of values to include parameters that considerably change the lift dynamics as well as those that do not. We first study the effect of actuation at an angle of attack of $\alpha$=5{\deg}, where the unactuated flow is steady. The lift dynamics are found to align with the surface morphing kinematics, and there is a low-pressure minimum shown to be introduced into the flow-field by morphing that advects at a speed agnostic to the morphing parameters. Lift benefits are found to be maximal when the morphing kinematics align with this intrinsic flow speed. We then investigate the role of morphing in the presence of an unsteady, separated baseline flow (with intrinsic vortex-shedding processes) at $\alpha$=15{\deg}. At this higher angle of attack, we identify three distinct behavioral regimes based on the relationship between morphing and the underlying shedding frequency. Of these regimes, the most beneficial to mean lift is the lock-on regime, where the vortex-shedding dynamics align with the morphing kinematics. We also identify other regimes where morphing can become out of phase with the vortex-shedding dynamics, termed here the interactive regime, and where morphing leaves the unactuated dynamics unaltered, termed here the superposition regime. At the higher angle of attack, parameters leading to lift benefits/detriments are explained in terms of the effect of morphing on the leading and trailing-edge vortex.