Aerodynamics and Design for Ultra-Low Reynolds Number Flight
Aerodynamics and Design for Ultra-Low Reynolds Number Flight
Aerodynamics and Design for Ultra-Low Reynolds Number Flight
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Chapter 8<br />
are also opportunities to use this work as a starting point <strong>for</strong> research in new directions<br />
<strong>and</strong> as a source of supporting technology <strong>for</strong> work in related fields.<br />
In the area of airfoil per<strong>for</strong>mance <strong>and</strong> design there is a fundamental need <strong>for</strong> more data,<br />
whether experimental or computational, to increase the confidence in the results<br />
provided not only by INS2d, but by any number of other codes, currently available or in<br />
development, that are capable of these calculations. Since its initial publication in 2001,<br />
this data has already been used by others outside of the Stan<strong>for</strong>d community as a point of<br />
comparison, <strong>and</strong> these comparisons are welcomed <strong>and</strong> encouraged, but this work is still<br />
very limited <strong>and</strong> without exception computational.<br />
Adding new <strong>and</strong> relevant experimental data to the almost non-existent current offerings<br />
would provide an invaluable counter-point to computational results. High-quality airfoil<br />
testing at these <strong>Reynolds</strong> numbers is a technical challenge due to the possible<br />
requirement <strong>for</strong> a fluid medium other than air. This complicates the acquisition of<br />
<strong>for</strong>ces, moments, <strong>and</strong> pressure distributions, but this should not be a deterrent.<br />
Technology has improved significantly since Thom <strong>and</strong> Swart tested their h<strong>and</strong>-shaped<br />
airfoil in 1940 <strong>and</strong> it would be exciting to see what modern experimental methods could<br />
bring to this problem.<br />
Within the scope of airfoil optimization, there is room <strong>for</strong> improvement over the simple<br />
geometry model imposed in Chapter 3. The promising results shown here involve only<br />
four design variables. This low number is dictated by the optimization method<br />
employed, but application of a more sophisticated optimizer would permit much more<br />
freedom in defining the airfoil. One challenge is how to accomplish this efficiently<br />
given that the operating points of interest are so close to the steady-state operating limits.<br />
The rapid rotor analysis method has been demonstrated <strong>and</strong> proven as a tool <strong>for</strong><br />
preliminary design, but the issues of three-dimensional boundary layer effects <strong>and</strong> wake<br />
effects on the prescribed inflow velocities warrant further work. One area of<br />
investigation is the effects of vortex dissipation on the wake structure. The<br />
OVERFLOW-D results depict fairly rapid dissipation of the wake structure, but it has<br />
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