Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Aerodynamics 2
Bachelor in Aerospace Engineering

Report 2: Performance analysis of a finite

Aspect Ratio Wing

Chaoyi Lin Yang 100428553

Rodrigo Martín Ortiz 100432541
Report 2: Performance analysis of a finite Aspect Ratio Wing Report II

1 Introduction
In this second part of the wing analysis, several modifications are made to the previous Vortex
Lattice Method algorithm in order to include several features.
Firstly, a high-lift device is deployed on the wing to observe the changes this produces on the
wing lift and pitching moment. High-lift devices are movable mechanisms or fixed components
which the main task is to increase the amount of lift produced by the wing. Some of the common
movable high-lift devices include wing flaps and slats.
In this wing analysis, an inboard flap element (|y| < 4b ) is deployed, whose main purpose is
to increase the lift of the wing by increasing the camber of the wing.
However, along with any increase in lift comes a penalty due to a higher induced drag; that’s
why flaps are usually used during take-off or and landing and not during the cruising point of
flight due to them reducing the aircraft’s aerodynamic efficiency.
Next, compressibility effects are included in the VLM model by making use of the Prandtl-
Glauert correction. This will allow the team to study and incorporate the effect of compressibility
while assessing the aerodynamics characteristics of our wing.
The inclusion of the Prandtl-Glauert correction will expand the flight regimes for which the
VLM model is suited for. Previously, the model was only appropriate for Re >> 1 and M∞ < 0.3,
since it couldn’t take compressibility and viscous effects into account. After the Prandlt-Glauert
Analogy is considered, the only underlying assumption the new VLM needs is Re >> 1, since it
still cannot viscous phenomena, and it will be suited for all subsonic flight regimes.
The last modification applied to the VLM algorithm is about accepting wings with geometric
twist. Again, this generalization is powerful and will allow the team to test many more possible
wing configurations in the future. For now, it will allow the team to study the effect of a -1º
geometric twist in the wing root section in terms of its lift coefficient and bending moment at
the root. In principle, this kind of geometric twist will provide slightly less lift and root bending
moment. However, root stall is delayed, which can provide benefits in maneuverability.
Lastly, a reminder about our group’s geometry is made:

Figure 1: Wing Planform Geometry

1
Report 2: Performance analysis of a finite Aspect Ratio Wing Report II

ctip /croot 0.3

b/croot 3.5
ctip /croot 1.2
Λ 32◦
AR 6.01

Table 1: Wing Planform Geometry

2 Methods
2.1 High lift device: Inboard Flap
Regarding the inclusion of a flap device in our wing, the boundary conditions of the problem
need to be modified. The theoretical background of the Vortex Lattice Method was covered
in the first report, so it will be obviated. Just recall that the airfoil profile was NACA 0012,
a symmetric profile, so the nominal wing has no camber. Then, all panels were located in the
z = 0 surface, and the required boundary condition is that the induced velocity produced by the
vortex lattice matches the free-stream velocity at each of the panels.
Mathematically, it is necessary to include additional camber produced by the flap in the
boundary conditions. In a symmetrical, flat wing, the induced down-wash velocity needs to
match the free-stream vertical velocity component, i.e., bi = −U∞ ∗ α. However, on a cambered
airfoil, one needs to include the effect of camber:
dηc
ωi (x, y, 0±) = U∞ ( − α) (1)
dx
dηc
Where the slope of the camber can be approximated as = δ for small flap deflections.
dx
Then, a conditional statement is implemented in the boundary conditions section of the VLM
code to add the flap deflection only of the panels corresponding to the flap.
In order to obtain the lift and pitching moment increase produced by flap deflection, the VLM
simulation is performed for a range of viable deflections and calculating both of the parameters
increments for the set of tested deflections.

2.2 Compressibility effect

It is now time to include compressibility effects into the VLM algorithm, such that it
becomes suitable model during the whole subsonic flight envelope. Let’s begin by considering the
linearized compressible potential equation, which comes from considering the mass continuity and
momentum equations, while not neglecting the density change. In addition, the ideal gas law is
required to relate the pressure increments to density change. Finally, the linearized compressible
potential equations read as follows:
∂2Φ ∂2Φ ∂2Φ
2
(1 − M∞ ) + + =0 (2)
∂x2 ∂y 2 ∂z 2
2 ∂Φ
cp(x, y, 0±) = − (3)
U∞ ∂x
Now, we seek a transformation that reduces the number of variables in the problem. Performing
the following change of variables modifies the problem in an incredibly powerful way:
x̂ = x (4)

2
Report 2: Performance analysis of a finite Aspect Ratio Wing Report II

ŷ = βy (5)
p
β = 1 − M∞ 2 (6)

This allows to recover the incompressible version of problem, where all compressibility effects
are captured in the scaling of ŷ by the factor β. This fact is incredibly useful when modifying
the VLM code. It implies that the only necessary change is to modify the mesh by scaling the y
by the factor β. The results of this geometry change is illustrated in the following figure:

Figure 2: Geometry change due to Prandtl-Glauert transformation

After solving the problem having performed the geometry transformation in the incompressible
regime, the lift results need to be transformed into the compressible regime by use of the following
formula:
(i)
(c) CL
CL = (7)
β

2.3 Geometric twist

Regarding the modifications of the VLM model such that it accepts wings with geometric
twist, again one needs to modify the boundary conditions of the problem in order to incorporate
this effect.
Our team was faced with analysing a wing with a linear geometric twist of -1º at the root
section and 0º at the tip. Then, it is easy to notice that each wing section is subjected to a
different angle of attack. The followed procedure was to create a vector containing the geometric
twist of all wing sections, and modify the boundary condition such that each of the wing sections
experiences a slightly smaller angle of attack from tip to root. Mathematically, the boundary
conditions in each of the panels for a twisted wing are expressed in the following manner:

dηc
ωi (x, y, 0±) = U∞ ( − α − αtwist ) (8)
dx
Finally, the bending moment at the root section is calculated by multiplying the lift of each
panel by its respective distance to the root. Keep in mind that this requires huge assumptions,

3
Report 2: Performance analysis of a finite Aspect Ratio Wing Report II

like the modelling of the wing as a straight, clamped-free beam, whose length-wise parameter is
y
taken as l = cos(Λ) .

3 Results
3.1 Effect of high lift device flaps
With the discussion of the section 2.1, it can compute the slope of the Cl for each deflection
angle as it is shown in the following graph:

Figure 3: CL of several deflection angle in the flaps

As it can be seen in figure 5, the lift coefficient curve shifts upwards for higher flap deflection
angles. In other terms, the angle of attack of zero lift decreases, while still maintaining the same
d∆CL
.
dδ
d∆CL
Having that, the effect of high-lift devices can be computed, in which ∆CL =
dδ
CL |δ − CL |δ=0 and a similar procedure is followed for the pitching moment ∆CMy . In order to
get the slope of those values, linear fitting in Matlab is done to get the values which are the
following:

VLM
d∆CL
0.000274
dδ
d∆CMy
-4.94e-05
dδ
Table 2: Effect of high-lift device on ∆CL and ∆CMy in the incompressible regime, M∞ = 0

4
Report 2: Performance analysis of a finite Aspect Ratio Wing Report II

Figure 4: Lift coefficient increment due to flap deflection

Figure 5: Nose down pitching moment increase due to flap deflection

3.2 Analysis of the lift in the subsonic regime

This section contains the results computed with the VLM using Prandtl-Glauert analogy
to transform from a compressible problem to a incompressible problem and later reverse the
transformation to get the right values for the slope of the lift coefficient vs AoA.
Having that in mind in the following graph, it will show the lift coefficient at different M∞
as well as with the estimation from the LLT for an elliptical distribution at M∞ = 0.

5
Report 2: Performance analysis of a finite Aspect Ratio Wing Report II

Figure 6: Comparison of different lift coefficient

From the figure 6 it can be seen how increasing the Mach number the lift increases at low
Mach number, this is because it is taken into account the compressibility effects of the air; that
is, increasing the Mach number, cause the air to deflect more sharply around the airfoil, by which
generates lift. However, this transformation could divert of the ’true’ value the higher the Mach
number it is considering.
So quantitative value of different Mach numbers are the following:

M∞
0 0.2 0.4 0.6
dCL
0.0688 0.0707 0.0769 0.0889
dα
Table 3: Effect of high-lift device on ∆CL and ∆CMy in the incompressible regime, M∞ = 0

3.3 At CL = 0.15 and Mach number M∞ = 0.6

This section is going to consider the plot of the lift coefficient at M∞ = 0.6. Then, the angle
of attack for the target lift coefficient is obtained for the nominal and twisted cases.
As exposed in the section 4, a wing with a geometric twist could be subjected on a change on
the angle of attack of the wing. In this case the root of the wing is angled downwards. With this
in mind, a higher angle of attack is expected to be needed to achieve CL = 0.15 with the twisted
wing configuration.

6
Report 2: Performance analysis of a finite Aspect Ratio Wing Report II

Nominal Twisted
CMroot 0.1194 0.1184
α 1.6882º 1.704º

Table 4: Root bending moment coefficient for CL = 0.15 (including angle of attack) at
M∞ = 0.6, nominal and twisted configurations.

In the table 4 it can see how the coefficient of the bending moments changes slightly, that is
when the wing is twisted, it will produce a slightly lower bending moment. This can be due to
the fact that the angle of attack change to achieve CL = 0.15 is quite small. Then, the twisted
wing observes less overall angle of attack, resulting in reducing the load at the wing’s root. The
effect of this achievement would increase if the tip was angled downwards instead.

4 Conclusion
In this report, the effect of flaps is demonstrated. Along that, it has been learnt that flap
deflection just decreases the angle of attack of zero lift, not the lift slope. In addition, the aircraft
will also experience a nose down moment.
This are key factors to take into account in the landing approach. Deployment of flaps will
help the pilot both increase the aircraft lift at relatively slow speeds while helping to slow it down
due to the extra induced drag. The pilot will also need to account for the nose down pitching
moment, maybe compensating with some extra elevator angle.
Secondly, the Prandtl-Glauert analogy allows the computation of p the compressible problem
in the incompressible side, by changing variables with a factor of β = 1 − M∞ 2 , which it takes

into account all compressibility effects, while keeping the computations extremely easy. A key
result was observed while including compressibility into the Vortex Lattice Method simulation.
A greater lift slope is observed for higher and higher Mach numbers. The model will increase
the lift up to Mach 1. However, this will not occur in reality due to trans-sonic effects, where
shock-waves generate due to the flow acceleration, largely decreasing the wing efficiency.
Finally, the study of geometric twist gives an idea of how this parameter is affecting the
wing (increasing or decreasing the effective AoA) and the importance of taking into account
to improve stall characteristic of the wing (when the aircraft is near stall condition) and also
contributes to the aerodynamic stability. Regarding structural concerns, a twisted wing will
reduce the structural demands when referring to the bending moment at the wing’s root.