Flow analysis in airfoil NACA 4415 through CFD

with application in the wing of the Air Tractor

At-802 aircraft intended for agricultural irrigation
techniques in Ecuadorian Andes and coastal areas.
Reascos, Kevin1 ; Quinchuela,Jean2 ; Ayala, Byron3 ;
Quillupangui, Alexander4
1,2,3,4 Escuela Politcnica Nacional, Facultad de Ingeniera Mecanica, Quito,
Ecuador.

Abstract
This research is a comparison between experimental data from previous studies and data from
numerical methods obtained in the simulation performed in ANSYS and XFOIL for NACA 4415.
The purpose of this study is to determine the performance of this profile in atmospheric conditions
in areas of the Ecuadorian Andes and coast. The study of the profile includes the evaluation of
the lift and drag coefficients and elevation for an angle of attack between 0◦ < AOA <20◦ and
considering a Reynolds number of 5x104 for the validation.

Keywords: Arfoil, ANSYS, XFOIL, lift and drag coefficients, angle of attack, validation.

1. INTRODUCTION
Aerodynamic characteristics of an airfoil play a crucial
role in the designing and performance of an aircraft. The
changes in any of these parameters (Mach number, Lift &
Drag coefficients) will result in appreciable loss in stability
of the aircraft[1].Airplane wings produce lift by creating
pressure difference between top surface and bottom sur-
face[2].
In accordance with the purpose pursued, the design varies.
The profiles can be thinner or thicker, curved or polygonal,
symmetrical or asymmetric, and even the profile can vary
along the wing.
As for the outlet, the only thing can be assumed is that the
gauge pressure is zero (Ambient atmospheric condition is
imposed at outlet). As for the airfoil itself, we will treat
it like a wall. No slip boundary conditions are imposed.
When the pre-calculations are ready, FLUENT can be
run to complete the simulation by loading the Fluid Flow
(FLUENT) box by dragging and dropping it into the project
schematic. Now it is ready to create the geometry for the
simulation. Both pressure and velocity measurements are
made for angles of attack of 0◦ < AOA <18◦ for NACA
4415 at fixed Reynolds number of laminar flow.
Lift and Drag

The resultant aerodynamic force F on an airfoil can be

1.1 Operation parameters resolved into a lift force L perpendicular to the direction
of undisturbed flight and a drag force D in the direction
1.1.1 Validation of flight. In steady level flight the drag is balanced by the
thrust of the engine, and the lift equals the weight of the
aircraft. These forces are expressed no dimensionally by
The airfoil has been simulated by solving the equations for defining the coefficients of lift and drag:
conservation of mass and momentum having density 1.225
kg/m3 and viscosity kg/m-s at room temperature 288.16
k. In a density based steady solution environment convert FD
CD = 1 2
the governing equations of flow in to algebraic equations 2 ρ · A ·U
that can be solved numerically and the inlet of the system FL
velocity is defined entering at 0◦ AOA (as per the problem CL = 1 2
statement), at a total magnitude of one. We will also define 2 ρ · A ·U
the gauge pressure at the inlet to be zero. Where
FD and FL = lift and drag force
CL = lift coefficient
CD = drag coefficient
ρ = density of the fluid
A = reference area
U = velocity of the undisturbed flow

Since the advent of aviation, the application of the airplane

in the field of agriculture was identified, however, the costs
for this technique in earlier times were too high and did not
justify the investment. Currently thanks to the development
of aeronautics, the method is more accessible and aircraft
are built or converted for agricultural use, usually for the
aerial application of pesticides (fumigation) or fertilizers
(fertilizers). The most common agricultural aircraft are
fixed-wing aircraft, such as Air Tractor, Grumman AG Cat,
PAC Fletcher, or Rockwell Thrush Commander [5].
The aircraft of the Air tractor series are intended for flight
conditions involving high atmospheric pressures, which is
why they are widely used in coastal regions. The model
At-802 is the most profitable model of the series since it
provides medium performance and its cost is moderate.
1.1.1 Case study
In the present research work is intended to know the rela-
tionship between the height at which an aircraft intended
for agriculture and its elevation and drag is, so two cities
are selected, Manabi belonging to the Ecuadorian coast
and quito belonging to the Ecuadorian Andes . Each of
these cities presents its own atmospheric conditions, which
are located in the international standard atmosphere (ISA),
having these conditions for the two cities, through ANSYS
FLUENT and XFOIL you get lift and drag coefficients for
each of the Selected angles.
Table 1. Operating conditions
Conditions
City ISA
Manabi +11
Quito +20
Fig.1. Geometry NACA 4415
Simulation
Here the boundary condition, solver parameter and turbu-
lence model parameters according to the problem has been
set, after which the FLUENT will be used for whole input
data and for calculation purpose[3,4].
Assumptions
• The flow is 2D.
• Pure air is considered.
• Process is adiabatic and isothermal.
• Gravitational force is not considered.
• Pure dry air is considered for analysis purpose.
3. MESH
The geometry obtained was imported into Ansys with the
aim of creating the mesh that allows to analyze the fluids
flows. The flow domains are divided into smaller subdo-
mains. Subdomains are formed by 3D tetrahedral geomet-
ric primitives and quadrilaterals and 2D triangles.
The mesh analysis is performed assuming that the rele-
vance center is good and the smoothing is high in the C
mesh domain presented in the figure. Sharp outer corners,
such as those at the back edge of an aerofoil, present a
challenge to meshing.The refinement of the elements of
the mesh in the environment of the profile increases, the
refinement decreases as the elements of the mesh move
away from the surface of the profile.

Table 2. ISA parameters

ISA +11 ISA+20
p [kg/m3] 1,13 0,87
u [Pa.s] 1,85 E-05 1,81 E-05
v [m/s] 75 75
h [m] 0 −10 2850
T [C] 26 17
Re 687162 543990

Fig.2. Mesh for NACA 4415

2. METHODOLOGY
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Geometry

4.1 RESULTS
The coordinates for NACA 4415 were imported into Solid-
Works and the 2D geometry was created according to the
dimensional specifications of the airplane wing. Using the Results for Coefficient of Lift Vs Different angle of attack.
software extrusion tools, 3D geometry was obtained.
 Fig.3. Variation of lift and drag coefficient to AOA for
NACA 4415.
The graph presents the values of CL and CD for different
angles of attack obtained by simulation in Ansys and Xfoil,
under the conditions and parameters corresponding to the
case study, also presents the respective validation with
experimental data obtained in a wind tunnel. The results
obtained by simulation follow the same trend of the experi-
mental data, presenting a growing behavior both the CL and
the CD, but reaches a point where the CL begins to decrease
as the angle of attack increases, however, the CL values
with respect to CD values are higher. The data obtained by
simulation present errors with respect to the experimental
data due to certain factors influencing the experimentation
and cannot be considered in the simulation.
Fig.4. Variation of lift and drag coefficient to AOA for
NACA 4415 in Manabi and Quito.
Fig. 4 shows that the values of the coefficients of lift and
resistance to AOA vary minimally, however, determines
the speed of flight to which in the region of Andes should
operate, which is 97 km/h compared to the 75 km/h needed
in the coastal region.
Fig.5. Cl/Cd to AOA for NACA 4415.
Fig.5 shows the relationship of the lift and drag coeffi-
cients, this relationship is called aerodynamic efficiency,
whose value for the case analyzed in the present investi-
gation is in a range of 6-8 degrees.
4.2 DISCUSSION
The variables selected for the determination of the perfor-
mance of an agricultural aircraft in regions of the Ecuado-
rian highlands and coast indicate that it is a viable solution
for the cultivation of land. Once the data collected for a
range of 0 to 16 degrees had been validated, 25 percent
errors were achieved between numerical methods (ANSYS
FLUENT and XFOIL) and experimental data, this was
taken into consideration to continue the case study in local
regions and allow an extrapolation of results to later expand
the study range. By varying the angle of attack of the
airfoil within the range of 0 to 20 the effect on sustain-
ability and drag measurements was determined, however,
the data by itself do not yield practical conclusions, so it
was necessary to implement a relationship between these
two coefficients determining the ideal angle of flight which
is in 7 degrees. In turn, the study range was extended to
20 degrees to extrapolate in which measurement rate the
ratio of coefficients decreases following its trend from 16
degrees. This allows us to elaborate an approximate profile
of minimum flight conditions established in international
standard norms, from which the temperature was selected
in cities of Manabi and Quito as representatives of each
region. The new data obtained confirm that the angle of
attack does not differ under Ecuadorian conditions, but it
results in an increase in speed, the minimum required is
75 km/s in Manabi and 97 km/s for Quito, this aspect
indicates that the relationship Lift-drag is the minimum
possible to achieve a constant flight.
Consequently, the expectations posited in the proposed
hypothesis were met and these results generate questions
about the applicability of the data given that an exhaustive
study to fully reproduce the experimental conditions is far
from the research time to be invested and improvement of
techniques of simulation. The preliminary results provide
hope on the usefulness of agricultural aircraft when it is
known that the necessary adjustments do not imply an
exaggerated rethinking to exceed the predetermined mini-
mum conditions and ensure flight success, however, aspects
such as irrigation dispersion, energy efficiency, design and
production of aircraft, etc., delimit the scope of the study
and oblige to adjust the data to meet this series of require-
ments.

5. CONCLUSION
The previous knowledge necessary in the elaboration of
the investigation, because in this way it was possible to
determine two representative measures such as the coef-
ficients of lift and drag that summarize and concentrate the
variables considered in the investigation. The successful
convergence of these measures allowed the extrapolation
of results outside the 16-degree range, in addition to cor-
relating standardized atmospheric measurements that are
necessary to achieve the best sustainability-drag relation
that ensures a constant flight in the cities of Quito and
Manabi.
The lift and drag coefficient obtained by simulation and
experimentation under particular conditions of operation,
when compared to each other and to verify the expected
theoretical behavior, like the increase of CL by decreasing
the CD, the validation of the simulation is accepted, despite
there are errors about 22.5 percent on average between each
data, for our objectives is in an acceptable range, this error
can decrease by optimizing the simulation procedure. 6.
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