Numerical analysis of air flow around various airfoil types

In today's world, as an attractive aerial vehicle type, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) take part in the avionics industry with the help of developing technology. UAV sizes differ depending on the application. In this work, aerodynamic characteristics of airfoils of various small-scale UAVs were investigated in different angles of attack (AoA), numerically. 2 force components as lift and drag forces, and also the pitching moment influences an airfoil. In the analyses, maximum lift coefficient, minimum drag coefficient, moment coefficient and lift-drag ratio come forward as important parameters to find the best performing airfoil. Therefore, in this theoretical work, various airfoils were investigated in different AoAs to find lift, drag and moment coefficients in ANSYS Fluent and XFLR5. In these simulations made in ANSYS Fluent, k-ω Shear Stress Transport Turbulence Model (k-ω SSTTM) was used to compare MH 93, MH 114, S 5010, SA 7036 and SD 2030 airfoils and velocity distribution, pressure distribution, pressure coefficient and turbulent kinetic energy distribution were obtained. Obtained results were compared with the results of XFLR5 simulations. The simulations were conducted for low Reynolds numbers and for sub-sonic flow velocities by using finite volume methods. The behaviors of the airfoils were investigated from -3 to 12 degrees AoAs with an increment of 3 degrees in the analyses. Consequently, S 5010 were determined as the best performing airfoil among the sample set analyzed.