Measurement of Pressure Distribution and Lift for an Airfoil

Purpose Test

design Measurement system and Procedures Uncertainty Analysis Data Analysis and Discussions

Purpose
Examine

the surface pressure distribution Compute the lift force acting on the airfoil

Test Design
Airfoil (=airplane surface: as wing) is placed in test

section of a wind tunnel where a flowing fluid (air) is operating. This airfoil is exposed to:

Forces acting normal to free stream = Lift Forces acting parallel to free stream = Drag Only two dimensional airfoils are considered: Top of Airfoil: The velocity of the flow is greater than the free-stream. The pressure is negative Underside of Airfoil: Velocity of the flow is less than the the free-stream. The pressure is positive This pressure distribution contribute to the lift

AOA, and Pr Taps Positions

Lift force
The lift force L is determined by integration of the measured pressure distribution over the airfoils surface. It is expressed in a dimensionless form by the pressure coefficient Cp where pi = surface pressure measured, p = pressure in the free-stream U = free-stream velocity where r = air density ( temperature), pstagnation stagnation pr measured at the tip of pitot tube L = Lift force b = airfoil span c = airfoil chord

pi p Cp 1 2 rU 2

U
CL

2 pstagnation p

r
2L 2 rU bc

L p p sin ds
s

CL

p
s

p sin ds 1 2 rU c 2

Pressure Distribution on the Airfoil In this experiment, the lift force, L on the Airfoil will be determined by integration of the measured pressure distribution over the Airfoils surface. The figure shows a typical pressure distribution on an Airfoil and its projection .

Software - Surface Pressure - Velocity - WT Control

PC

Data Acquisition system

Digital i/o A/D Boards Serial Comm. (COM1)

Protractor angle of attack Resistance temperature detectors (RTD) Pitot static probe Scanning valve Pressure transducer (Validyne) Digital Voltmeter (DVM)

Scanivalve Position Circuit (SPC)

Metrabyte M2521 Signal Conditioner

Scanivalve Controller (SC) Pressure Input Scanivalve

RTD

Digital Voltimeter (DVM) Scanivalve Signal Conditioner (SSC)

Pitot Tube (Free Stream)

Pressure Transducer (Validyne)

Pressure Taps

Airfoil Model
Bundle of tubes

Measurement System and data reduction

ADAS
A virtual instrument(VI) = Lift is an ADAS is used to calculate the lift coefficient Data needed:

Total # of points considered Observation point list Sampling Rate Settling Time Length of each Sample Conversion Coefficients Angle of attack

Reference Data

References plots with 6 different angles of attack: 0 Group 1,2 4 Group 3,4 6 Group 5,6 8 Group 7,8 12 Group 9,10 14 Group 11

2 . 0 1 . 5 1 . 0 0 . 5 0 . 0 0 . 5 1 . 0 1 . 5 2 . 0

A O A = 0

2 . 0 1 . 5 1 . 0 0 . 5 0 . 0 0 . 5 1 . 0 . 5 A O A = 4 1 2 . 0 02 04 06 08 0 1 0 0 x / c 2 . 0 1 . 5 1 . 0 0 . 5 0 . 0 0 . 5 1 . 0 . 5 A O A = 8 1 2 . 0

Cp

02 04 06 08 0 1 0 0 x / c 2 . 0 1 . 5 1 . 0 0 . 5 0 . 0 0 . 5 1 . 0 1 . 5 2 . 0

Cp

A O A = 6

04 06 08 0 1 0 0 02 04 06 08 01 0 0 02 x / c x / c

3 . 0 2 . 0 2 . 5 1 . 5 2 . 0 1 . 5 1 . 0 1 . 0 0 . 5 0 . 5 0 . 0 0 . 0 0 . 5 0 . 5 1 . 0 1 . 5 1 . 0 2 . 0 A 0 A = 1 4 1 A O A = 1 2 . 5 2 . 5 3 . 0 2 . 0 02 04 06 08 01 0 0 02 04 06 08 01 0 0 x / c x / c

Cp

Cp

Cp

Cp