AERODYNAMIC OPTIMIZATION OF NACA 0012 AIRFOIL

Abstract

Airfoils are used to produce lift force to carrying the weight of the aircrafts. Aerodynamic forces are directly related to airfoil shape. The force parallel to the direction of relative motion is defined as drag, and the force perpendicular to the direction of movement is defined as lift. Hence, airfoil shape is directly affecting the aerodynamic performance of the wings. In this study, aerodynamic optimization of an airfoil is performed using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis to increase the aerodynamic performance of the wings. Commonly used NACA 0012 Airfoil is optimized at different angle of attack values using a commercial CFD program ANSYS.