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One of the major flow phenomena associated with low Reynolds number flow is the formation of separation bubbles on an airfoil’s surface. NACA4415 airfoil is commonly used in wind turbines and UAV applications. The stall characteristics are gradual compared to thin airfoils. The primary criterion set for this work is the capture of laminar separation bubble. Flow is simulated for a Reynolds number of 120,000. The numerical analysis carried out shows the advantages and disadvantages of a few turbulence models. The turbulence models tested were: one equation Spallart Allmars (S-A), two equation SST K-ω, three equation Intermittency (γ) SST, k-kl-ω and finally, the four equation transition γ-Reθ SST. However, the variation in flow physics differs between these turbulence models. Procedure to establish the accuracy of the simulation, in accord with previous experimental results, has been discussed in detail.

The Humpback whale tubercles have been studied for more than a decade. Tubercle Leading Edge (TLE) effectively reduces the separation bubble size and helps in delaying stall. They are very effective in case of low Reynolds number flows. The current Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study is on NACA 4415 airfoil, at a Reynolds number 120,000. Two TLE shapes are tested on NACA 4415 airfoil. The tubercle designs implemented on the airfoil are sinusoidal and spherical. A parametric study is also carried out considering three amplitudes (0.025c, 0.05c and 0.075c), the wavelength (0.25c) is fixed. Structured mesh is utilized to generate grid and Transition SST turbulence model is used to capture the flow physics. Results clearly show spherical tubercles outperform sinusoidal tubercles. Furthermore experimental study considering spherical TLE is carried out at Reynolds number 200,000. The experimental results show that spherical TLE improve performance compared to clean airfoil.

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In this work, the characteristic design of the humpback whale flippers is incorporated and investigated on NACA 4415 airfoil at very low Mach number. The effect of Tubercle Leading Edge on NACA4415 airfoil has been studied. This novel study attempts to mimic the effect of tubercles on the airfoil wing to improve lift and delay stall. The results showed significant improvement in aerodynamic performance of TLE when compared to CW. TLE, in comparison to wing with vortex generators, performed better. An improvement in lift by about 13.6% was obtained contrary to only 6.3% increase in case of VG under same Reynolds number. In addition, it was also observed that incorporation of tubercles further delayed stall and continued to produce lift at high angle of attacks.

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In this paper, a methodology is presented to perform force analysis of wing and fin assembly of a micro fish like device through strongly coupled two-way fluid structure interaction approach. The scanning device operates underwater and is towed by a surface vessel through a tow cable. Device fins are actuated by ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) actuators, an EAP actuator. Fins act as riser, depressor and stabiliser against roll motion of the device. During tow, wing and fin assembly of the device come under hydrodynamic forces. These forces are influenced by fin displacement under IPMC actuation and wing's angle of attack for same towing conditions. To fully investigate wing and fin assembly performance, we must consider the interaction between their structure and fluid (water) and model the coupling mechanism accurately for fluid structure interaction (FSI) analysis. To obtain an accurate prediction to the hydrodynamic forces on wing and fin assembly of the device, it is necessary to conduct dynamic analysis of the surrounding fluid by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A numerical simulation of three dimensional model of the assembly is performed in ANSYS WORKBENCH by coupling transient structural and Fluid Flow (CFX) analysis systems. The objectives of this study are as follows: 1) To build an accurate three-dimensional CFD model of the wing and IPMC actuated fin 2) To quantify the lift and drag forces acting on the wing and their corresponding coefficients 3) To demonstrate the influence of wing's angle of attack and fin displacement on generation of lift and drag forces. The presented methodology is also applicable to self-propelled micro robots.