Direct numerical simulations of membrane wings at low reynolds number

Serrano Galiano, Sonia and Sandberg, Richard (2014) Direct numerical simulations of membrane wings at low reynolds number. 53rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Kissimmee, United States. 05 - 09 Jan 2015. 15 pp . (Submitted) (doi:10.2514/6.2015-1300).

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of membrane wings at low Reynolds numbers were performed at different angles of attack using a new high-fidelity fluid-structure interaction computational framework. A newly implemented boundary data immersion method coupled to a membrane structural solver was used in a well validated DNS code. DNS performed at lower Reynolds number Re=2500 agree well with reference data, validating the new numerical set-up. For higher Reynolds number Re=10,000, where the membrane becomes unsteady and the flow motion becomes more chaotic, it is found that spectra of membrane deflection and pressure coefficient are still closely correlated. The computational set-up is employed for preliminary studies of the stability characteristics of separation bubbles with vortex shedding for membrane aerofoils. The evolution of initial perturbations introduced on the flow field were investigated recording the temporal growth of the spanwise Fourier modes of the perturbations. Regions of amplification of perturbations were identified for the case at higher Reynolds number and angle of attack.

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AIAA2015_paper_Florida.pdf - Accepted Manuscript

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