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13.021MarineHydrodynamics
Lecture24CLiftingSurfaces


Introduction

Liftingsurfacesinmarinehydrodynamicstypicallyhavemanyapplicationssuchashydrofoils,keels,rudders,propellerblades
andyachtsails.Aliftingsurfaceisathinstreamlinedbodythatmovesinafluidatasmallangleofattackwitharesultantlift
forcenormaltothedirectionofflow.

Considerthefoilinfigure1inauniformfreestream.Thestraightlinejoiningthecenterofcurvatureoftheleadingedgetothe
trailingedgeisthechord.Thecamberlineismidwaybetweentheuppersurfaceandthelowersurfaces.Thedistancebetween
thechordandthemeancamberlineisthecamber.Theanglebetweenthefreestreamandthechordlineiscalledtheangleof
attack.

Figure1Dimensionsoffoil



Thehydrodynamicforcethatpointsinthedirectionofthefreestreamisdefinedasthedragforce,whilethecomponent
normaltothefreestreamintheupwarddirectionistheliftforce.Theliftanddragforcesvarywiththeangleofattack.These
forcesareesxpressednondimensionallybydefiningthecoefficientsofliftanddragwithrespecttotheplanformareaA.

MechanismofLiftGeneration

Itispossibletoapplypotentialflowtheorywithnocirculationtoanairfoil,leadingtotheflowpatternshowninfigure2.Itis
apparentfromthefigurethattheflowpatternhassomepeculiarfeatures.

Figure2aPotentialFlowaroundanairfoil Figure2bPotentialflowattrailingedge



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Thereexistsastagnationpointontheuppersurfaceofthefoiljustforwardofthetrailingedgeandtheflowtravelsfromthe
lowersidetotheuppersidearoundthetrailingedge.

Considerthepressuredistributionassociatedwiththisflow.Considerthepressuredistributionassociatedwiththisflow.Recall
thatforbothpotentialandviscousflow,anddeducingfromthecentrifugalforcesactingonaparticlemovinginacurvedpath,
thepressuregradientnormaltoastreamlineofradiusrisgivenby

Thisindicatesthatlargepressuregradientsareassociatedwithsmallradiiofcurvature(recallflowaroundacorner).The
Bernoulliequationshowsthatsuchrapidchangesofpressureareaccompaniedbycorrespondingrapidchangesinvelocityand
thatthevelocityincreaseswithdiminishingradius(andpressure)andtheoreticallyreachesaninfinitevalueatacorner(radius
=0).Therefore,wecanconcludethattheflowpatternshowninfigure2indicatesinfinitevelocitiesatthetrailingedge.

Figure3belowshowsafoilattwodifferentanglesofattackinapotentialflowfield.

PotentialFlow(angleofattack=0degrees) PotentialFlow(angleofattack=22degrees) PotentialFlow(angleofattack=45degrees)

Figure3PotentialFlowaroundafoil
Nowconsiderthefoilinaviscousflowatthesameanglesofattack.Notethedifferencesbetweenthepotentialflowandthe
viscousflow.Duetopressuredragandfrictiondrag,aboundarylayerdevelopsandthepotentialflowpatternisnolonger
valid.

ViscousFlow(angleofattack=0degrees) ViscousFlow(angleofattack=22degrees) ViscousFlow(angleofattack=45degrees)

Figure4ExperimentalFlowaroundafoil
Astheboundarylayerdevelopsandfrictionforcesbuildup,theflowpatternchanges.Thestagnationpointmovestothe
trailingedgeandcirculationiscreated.Thecirculationisdefinedas

Thevelocityonthetopsurfaceislowerthanthatonthelowersurface.Apressuredistributionisdevelopedaroundthefoil.
Thepressurechangesandthevelocitychangesarearesultofanonzerocirculationaroundthefoil.Noticethatevenina
viscousflow,asymmetricalfoilatazeroangleofattackwillnotproducelift.Circulation(andthereforelift)isgeneratedwhen
anasymmetryisintroduced,eitherbyintroducingacamberoranangleofattack.

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Theresultatthetrailingedgeistwostreamstravelingatdifferentvelocities.Thiscausesastartingvortexatthetrailingedge.
Oneparticularlyinterestingfeatureisthatareducedpressureexistsnearthetrailingedgethatactstodeflecttheflowfromthe
undersidetotheuppersurfaceofthefoil.Thevortexiseventuallyshedandextendstoinfinity,leavingapositivepressureat
thelowersurfaceandanegativepressureattheuppersurface.

Noticethatthecirculationshedfromtheleading
edgehastheoppositevorticityofthestarting
vortexthatisshedoffthetrailingedge.

Figure5Developmentofstartingvortex

Oncetheflowpatternhasbeenestablished,theeffectofthesefrictionforcesareconfinedtotheboundarylayersonthe
surfaceofthefoilandtothethinvortexsheetinthewakeofthefoilandatthetrailingedge.Intheremainderoftheflow,
velocitygradientsaresmallandtheflowissmoothlycurved,thereforeitmaybeexpectedthatpotentialflowtheorywouldbe
asatisfactorytoolforanalyzingtheairfoilperformance.

Thereisonesituationinwhichaninfiniteidealfluidmovingatauniformvelocitycanexertaforceperpendiculartoitsgeneral
directionofmotiononabodyimmersedinit.Thisariseswhencirculationexistsaboutthefoil.

Bytheprincipleofconservationofangularmomentum,theformationofthevortexmusthaveresultedinthedevelopmentofa
rotarymotionofequalangularmomentum,butintheoppositedirection(ascanbeseeninfigure6).

Figure6Wingtipvortices

Thiscirculationinfact,doesexistandsurroundstheairfoilroughlyassketchedinfigure7.

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Figure7Circulationaroundanairfoil


TheExperiment

Considerasymmetricalairfoil(NACA0012)inawindtunnel.Severallocationsonthesurfaceofthefoilhavestaticpressure
tappingsconnectedtoamultitubemanometer.

Figure8Foilinawindtunnel

Sincethefoilissymmetric,pressurereadingsareonlytakenonasinglesideofthefoil.Thepressureprofilecanbeobserved
onbothsidesofthefoilbymakinguseofpositiveandnegativeanglesofincidence.

Theinitialtestshowsthatanegativepressure,asuctionpressure,existsontheuppersurface,andasmallerpositivepressure
existsonthelowersurface(Seefigure9).Thesuctionpressureinfactcontributesaboutthreequartersoftheliftforce.

Figure9Pressuredistributionaboutanairfoil

AccordingtoBernoulli,thecorrespondingstaticpressureontheuppersurfaceisdiminishedandthepressureonthelower
surfaceisincreased.Atthesametime,theproportionofthefluidstreamflowingabovetheairfoilincreases,theflowbelowthe
airfoildecreasesandthepositionoftheforwardstagnationpointisdisplaceddownwards(figure10).Thevelocityatthe
trailingedgeisnolongerinfinite.TheconditionoffinitevelocityatthetrailingedgeisknownastheKuttacondition.

Figure10aPotentialFlowstagnationpoint Figure10bViscousFlowstagnationpoint

Thenexttest(figure11)showsthatwhentheangleofattackexceedsabout11degrees,thereisasuddenfallinthesuction
pressurewhich,insteadofcomingtoasharppeakneartheleadingedge,becomesnearlyuniformacrossthewholechordofthe
airfoil.Theairfoilisthenstalled.

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Figure11PressureDistributionsatvaryinganglesofattack


Observethefoilinthesmoketunnel(figure12)athighanglesofattackandnotethattheflowseparatesneartheleadingedge
andgivesrisetoawideturbulentwake.

figure12aFoilinviscousflowatvaryinganglesof
figure12bFoilofvaryingthicknessinviscousflow
attack

KuttaJoukowskyTheorem

Nowthatwehaveobservedthatcirculationcreateslift,howmuchliftiscreated?TheKuttaJoukowskytheoremfor2Dfoils
statesthattheliftforceisequaltothecirculationtimesthedensitytimesthevelocityofthefluid.Theminussignisby
conventionduetothedirectionofcirculation.

ThevalidityoftheKuttaJoukowskytheoremcanbeconfirmedasfollows.Figure13showsthevelocitydistributionaround
theairfoilatanangleofattackof6degrees,calculatedfromtheobservedpressureusingtheBernoulliequation.Toallowforthe
presenceoftheboundarylayer,thesecalculatedvelocitiesareassumedtoapplytoaprofilelyingatanarbitrarydistanceof
1mmfromtheairfoilsurfaceandthecurvesshowvelocityagainstthelengthofthisprofile,measuredfromtheleadingedge.
Thecorrespondingcirculationiscalculatedfromthecirculationequationandfromthecorrespondingliftcoefficient.The
resultingvalueCL=0.6,isinreasonableagreementwiththevalueCL=0.567calculatedfromthepressuredistributionshown
infigure11.

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Figure13CirculationaroundairfoilKuttaJoukowskytheorem

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References

1FluidMechanicswithEngineeringApplicationsDaugherty

2AfirstcourseinfluiddynamicsPatterson

3FluidMechanicsforEngineersP.S.Bana1969

4FluidMechanics:ALaboratoryCoursePlint/Boswirth

5MarineHydrodynamics,J.N.Newman

6Multimediafluidmechanics,Copyright2000byStanfordUniversityanditslicensors,AllRightsReserved(termsandconditions
ofUse)

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