• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.9-14
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• 2016

Using a multiple regression analysis, a total of 78 low-Reynolds-number airfoils are examined in this paper to clarify the systematic relationships between the geometrical parameters of the airfoils and experimentally-determined aerodynamic coefficients. The results show that the effects of the maximum camber and the maximum thickness regarding the maximum lift and the stalling angle of attack, respectively, are major. The lower-surface flatness of the airfoil is also a crucial geometrical parameter for aerodynamic performance. It is proven here that, generally, the application of the regression equations for an assessment of the aerodynamic performance is relatively acceptable, along with an expectation that the lift-curve slope violates the normality assumption.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.90-96
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• 2009

In this study, a generic airfoil designed by the inverse method was evaluated with several candidate airfoils as a first step. Each airfoil was compared with respect to aerodynamic performance to meet the requirement of HALE(high altitude long endurance) aircraft. The second step was to optimize the candidate airfoil using the couple of optimization formulations to down select an optimum airfoil. For the analysis of low Reynolds number 2D flow, Drela's MSES was used. After comparing the aerodynamic results, the best airfoil was chosen to construct the baseline 3D wing. The Navier-Stokes code was used to evaluate the overall aerodynamic performance of designed wing with other wings. The results show that the designed wing has the best performance compared with other wings.

• International Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.53-57
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• 2015

For improving the efficiency of near space propellers working over 20km, performances of their streamwise sections, i.e. low-Reynolds-number airfoils which work at $10^4-10^5$ Reynolds numbers, are significant. Based on the low-Reynolds-number CFD technology, this paper designs a novel low-Reynolds-number airfoil. Unsteady characteristics of the laminar separation bubble on novel airfoil and a typical conventional airfoil are studied numerically, and the Reynolds number effect is investigated. Results show that at $10^4-10^5$ Reynolds numbers, unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of the novel airfoil are severely weakened and its lift-to-drag ratio can increase about 100%.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.374-382
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• 2014

This paper presents the computational aerodynamic analysis of a long-endurance UAV that was developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), named EAV-2. EAV-2 is a technical demonstrator of aerodynamically efficient design, as well as a hybrid electric-propulsion system for future long-endurance UAVs. We evaluated the aerodynamic characteristics of six low-Reynolds number airfoils, using a panel method code, XFOIL, to select an optimal airfoil for the long-endurance mission of EAV-2. The computational results by a CFD code, FLUENT, suggested that the aerodynamic performance of EAV-2 would be notably improved after adopting SG6043 airfoil, and modifying the fuselage design. This reduced the total drag by 43%, compared to that of a previous KARI model, EAV-1, at the target lift of $C_L=1.0$. Also, we achieved a drag reduction of approximately 14% by means of the low-drag fuselage configuration.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.195-201
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• 2008

In the jet engines on the aircrafts cruising at high altitude over 20 km and subsonic speed, the Reynolds number in terms of the compressor blades becomes very low. In such an operating condition with low Reynolds number, it is widely reported that total pressure loss of the air flow through the compressor cascades increases dramatically due to separation of the boundary layer and the secondary-flow. But the detail of flow mechanisms causes the total pressure loss has not been fully understood yet. In the present study, two series of numerical investigations were conducted to study the effects of Reynolds number on the aerodynamic characteristics of compressor cascades. At first, the incompressible flow fields in the two-dimensional compressor cascade composed of C4 airfoils were numerically simulated with various values of Reynolds number. Compared with the corresponding experimental data, the numerically estimated trend of total pressure loss as a function of Reynolds number showed good agreement with that of experiment. From the visualized numerical results, the thickness of boundary layer and wake were found to increase with the decrease of Reynolds number. Especially at very low Reynolds number, the separation of boundary layer and vortex shedding were observed. The other series, as the preparatory investigation, the flow fields in the transonic compressor, NASA Rotor 37, were simulated under the several conditions, which corresponded to the operation at sea level static and at 10 km of altitude with low density and temperature. It was found that, in the case of operation at high altitude, the separation region on the blade surface became lager, and that the radial and reverse flow around the trailing edge become stronger than those under sea level static condition.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.44-52
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• 2002

Aerodynamic characteristics of a flapping airfoil in low Reynolds number flows are numerically studied using the unsteady, incompressible Navier-Stokes flow solver with a two-equation turbulence model. For more efficient computation of unsteady flows over flapping airfoil, the flow solver is parallel-implemented by MPI programming method Unsteady computations are performed for low Reynolds number flows over a NACA four-digit series airfoils. Effects of pitching, plunging, and flapping motion with different reduced frequency, amplitude, thickness and camber on aerodynamic characteristics are investigated. Present computational results yield a better agreement in thrust at various reduced frequency with experimental data.

• Transactions of the KSME C: Technology and Education
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2014

In this study, analyzed the aerodynamic characteristics of Kline-Fogleman airfoils and wings with those more efficiency at low Reynolds number. It was found that lift to drag ratio is enhanced in the range of Reynolds number below $2.4{\times}10^5$, especially, can be improved up to 26% at Reynolds number is $1{\times}10^4$. It was confirmed that the most advantage case in terms of lift-to-drag ratio is Middle case and lift-to-drag ratio is improved to 20% at 80% of the wing area is Kline-Folgeman airfoil. At this time, endurance time increase to 12%. Also taking the structural stability of the wing and lift-to-drag improvement into account, designed to be from 50% to 80% the size of the Kline-Fogleman Airfoil would be advantageous.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.99-107
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• 2014

In this study, aerodynamic characteristics of Kline-Fogleman airfoils are numerically investigatied which has been widely used in remote control aircraft operating at low Reynolds numbers. The comparison of aerodynamic characteristics was conducted between NACA4415 and Kline-Fogleman airfoil based on NACA4415. ANSYS Fluent was employed with the incompressible assumption and $k-{\omega}$ SST turbulence model. It was found that lift coefficient was significantly enhanced in the range of Reynolds number from $3{\times}10^3$ to $3{\times}10^6$. Especially in the region of Reynolds number below $2.4{\times}10^5$, the lift-to-drag-ratio was improved by 26% using the Kline-Folgeman airfoil compared with NACA4415 airfoil.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.33.2-33.2
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• 2011

The 'NREL Phase VI' model with a 10.06m diameter was tested in the NASA Ames tunnel to make a reference data of the computational models. The test was conducted at the one rotational speed, blade tip speed 38m/s and the Reynolds number of the sectional airfoils in that test was around 1E6. The 1/5 scale down model of the 'NREL Phase VI' model was used in this paper to study the power characteristics in low Reynolds number region, 0.1E6 ~ 0.4E6 which is achievable range for the conventional wind tunnel facilities. The torque generated by the blade was directly measured by using the torque sensor installed in the rotating axis for a given wind speed and rotational speed. The power characteristics below the stall condition, lambda > 4, was presented in this paper. The power coefficient is very low in the condition below the Re. 0.2E6 and rapidly increases as the Re. increases. And it still increases but the variation is not so big in the condition above the Re. 0.3E6. This results shows that to study the performance of the wind turbine blade by using the scaled down model, the Re. should be larger than the 0.3E6.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2013

An aerodynamic design tool was developed for small wind turbine blades based on the blade element momentum theory. The lift and drag coefficients of blades that are needed for aerodynamic blade design were obtained in real time from the Xfoil program developed at University of Illinois. While running, the developed tool automatically accesses the Xfoil program, runs it with proper aerodynamic and airfoil properties, and finally obtains lift and drag coefficients. The obtained aerodynamic coefficients are then used to find out optimal twist angles and chord lengths of the airfoils. The developed tool was used to design a wind turbine blade using low Reynolds number airfoils, SG6040 and SG6043 to have its maximum power coefficient at a specified tip speed ratio. The performance of the blade was verified by a commercial code well known for its prediction accuracies.