Numerical simulation of influence of a gap between the main lifting surface and the aileron on aeroelastic behavior of an airfoil
Abstract
The contribution deals with numerical simulations of the interaction of two-dimensional incompressible viscous flow and vibrating airfoil NACA 0012. The flexibly supported airfoil with three degrees of freedom is performing rotation around the elastic axis, oscillations in the vertical and rotation of the aileron around the axis.
The finite element solution of the Navier-Stokes equations is strongly coupled with a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations describing the airfoil motion with large amplitudes. The time-dependent computational domain and a moving grid are treated by the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian method.
The developed method is used in the theoretical prediction of the aerodynamic damping, limit cycle oscillations and flutter instability of the airfoil, especially concerning the effects of the geometry and the size of the gap between the main lifting surface and the aileron.