EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION ON A 2-D WING – GROUND COLLISION

The wing-ground collision is an important aerodynamic practical problem. All the aerodynamic characteristics of the wing are changing due to interference with the ground. In the present paper, the collision of 2-D airfoil section with the ground is investigated experimentally and numerically. The investigation involved a series of wind tunnel experimental measurement. For that, a wing model with NACA4412 airfoil section was fabricated using CNC machine. An experimental set up has been designed and constructed to simulate the collision phenomena in low speed wind tunnel. Numerical simulation of the wing collision has been carried out using FLUENT software. The investigations are carried out at different Reynolds numbers (ranging from 105 to 4 x105), different angles of attack (ranging from -4o to 20o), and different heights from the ground. The boundary conditions during the landing and take off stages are determined and used in the simulation. The numerical model is validated by comparison with previous and recent experimental data and it is within acceptable differences. The results have shown that the aerodynamic characteristics are considerably influenced when the wing is close to the ground, mainly at angles of attacks 4o to 8o.

Keywords: NACA4412, Airfoil Section, Collision, Aerodynamic Characteristics, wings.