Inviscid, Incompressible CFD Solver with Coordinate Transformation for Aerodynamic Applications

Abstract

Fluid mechanics is a complex field of study with many modern design applications. Mechanical and aerospace engineers frequently have the need to analyze fluid flow patterns for practical design purposes ranging from a complete design to a validation of results. Physical concepts, such as conservation of mass, conservation of momentum, and conservation of energy are required to fully describe any arbitrary flow pattern’s characteristics. These concepts are required to compute pressure distribution, typically used in the design of airfoils and other arbitrary shapes, which are of main interest in the aerospace and naval industries. A tool was created that employs computational fluid dynamics techniques to provide solution for flow patterns over NACA four digit airfoils. The tool uses a coordinate transformation method to analyze flow properties at desired points without the need of interpolation, which can affect accuracy of results. Additionally, the tool considers flows whose velocity potential conforms to Laplace’s linear partial differential equation on a plane. Key Terms - Computational Fluid Dynamics, Coordinate Transformation, InviscidIncompressible Flow, Laplace PDE.