Influence of heat transfer on the aerodynamic performance of a plunging and pitching NACA0012 airfoil at low Reynolds numbers

The unsteady low Reynolds number aerodynamics phenomena around flapping wings are addressed in several investigations. Elsewhere, airfoils at higher Mach numbers and Reynolds numbers have been treated quite comprehensively in the literature. It is duly noted that the influence of heat transfer phenomena on the aerodynamic performance of flapping wings configurations is not well studied. The objective of the present study is to investigate the effect of heat transfer upon the aerodynamic performance of a pitching and plunging NACA0012 airfoil in the low Reynolds number flow regime with particular emphasis upon the airfoil's lift and drag coefficients. The compressible Navier–Stokes equations are solved using a finite volume method. To consider the variation of fluid properties with temperature, the values of dynamic viscosity and thermal diffusivity are evaluated with Sutherland's formula and the Eucken model, respectively. Instantaneous and mean lift and drag coefficients are calculated for several temperature differences between the airfoil surface and freestream within the range 0–100 K. Simulations are performed for a prescribed airfoil motion schedule and flow parameters. It is learnt that the aerodynamic performance in terms of the lift C_L and drag C_D behavior is strongly dependent upon the heat transfer rate from the airfoil to the flow field. In the plunging case, the mean value of C_D tends to increase, whereas the amplitude of C_L tends to decrease with increasing temperature difference. In the pitching case, on the other hand, the mean value and the amplitude of both C_D and C_L decrease. A spectral analysis of C_D and C_L in the pitching case shows that the amplitudes of both C_D and C_L decrease with increasing surface temperature, whereas the harmonic frequencies are not affected.