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Numerical Investigation into Single and Double Gurney Flaps for Improving Airfoil Performance

Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec G1V 0A6, Canada

*M.Sc. Student, Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory LMFN (Laboratoire de Mécanique des Fluides Numérique), Department of Mechanical Engineering.

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Guy Dumas

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2745-5809

Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec G1V 0A6, Canada

†Full Professor, Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory LMFN, Department of Mechanical Engineering; (Corresponding Author).

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Published Online:24 Apr 2023https://doi.org/10.2514/1.C037304

Abstract

The impact of single and double Gurney flaps of heights within the range of $h_{GF} = 0.000 c - 0.075 c$ is determined for a typical symmetrical airfoil (NACA 0015) by numerical simulations using an unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes approach. The optimal scaling of the Gurney flap to maximize the lift-to-drag ratio of the airfoil is revisited and confirmed to depend on the boundary-layer thickness in the region where it is deployed. Appropriate scaling rules for both single and double Gurney flap are proposed. Studying the Gurney flap’s pressure distribution at a finely resolved level highlights its effect on the overall foil’s pressure distribution. Finally, the unsteady simulations carried out are harnessed to determine the shedding frequencies generated by the flaps and the flow structures associated with them, hinting at the physical mechanisms by which Gurney flaps may increase lift at a low drag cost, thus improving the lift-to-drag ratio of the airfoil.

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Journal of Aircraft, volume 60 issue 6 cover

Volume 60, Number 6November 2023

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Copyright © 2023 by Benoît Genest and Guy Dumas, Université Laval. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., with permission. All requests for copying and permission to reprint should be submitted to CCC at www.copyright.com; employ the eISSN 1533-3868 to initiate your request. See also AIAA Rights and Permissions www.aiaa.org/randp.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge access to the high-performance computing resources provided by Calcul Québec‡ and the Digital Research Alliance of Canada§ (RAPI qcy-255), as well as the financial support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC Discovery Grant RGPIN-2018-04527 and NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarships – Master’s (CGS M) program scholarship).

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Received28 November 2022
Accepted11 March 2023
Published online24 April 2023

Numerical Investigation into Single and Double Gurney Flaps for Improving Airfoil Performance

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