AERODYNAMICS COURSE ASSIGNMENT

Matlab code for constant strength vortex panel

method to find streamlines over an airfoil
Prithivi Boylla(SC16B015), Jagriti Saha(SC16B019), P A V Sidhartha(SC16B039),
K Surya Sudhakar(SC16B054), Rasesh Tabiyar(SC16B055), Ujjval Sai(SC16B057),
Yaswanth Ram(SC16B060), Akshita Arora(SC16B065)
April 7, 2018

Panel methods are ideal for concept design analysis due to their rapid turnaround time and relatively
easy surface modeling, but this is countered by their inability to predict boundary layers and flow separation.Panel
methods can also model subsonic inlets and outlets relatively easily, such as engine intakes on aircraft and cooling
inlets and outlets on cars. This report discusses how to plot streamlines around an airfoil generated by using first
order vortex panel method by writing a code in MATLAB. The panel solutions were verified using Cp plots and the
code was then extended to contour plot the stream-lines. It was found that when the Kutta condition is applied the
streamlines leave the airfoil smoothly at the trailing edge while that is not the case when the condition is relaxed.

AIM Introduction
Panel method is used to model fully-attached, high-
The aim of this exercise is to develop a matlab code to Reynolds-number, subsonic (Mach number < 1) flow.
obtain the streamline pattern over NACA airfoils by us- Such conditions are found in abundance around stream-
ing constant strength vortex panel method and to study lined shapes such as aircraft, cars, submarines and yachts.
the effect of circulation on the flow field on relaxing the
Therefore, these methods are widely used to calculate
Kutta condition. properties of the flow over an airfoil/aircraft in both 3D
and 2D. These methods are adept at calculating the lift
force and form drag force (also known as pressure drag)
on a wing, wing-body and whole aircraft as long as vis-
cous effects are negligible i.e., away from stall conditions.
Nomenclature Aircraft commonly use high-lift multi-element airfoil con-
figurations during take-off and landing. Multi-element
airfoils are also used on Formula 1 racing cars as a com-
xj , zj starting point of jth panel pact method for generating downforce (lift force directed
xj+1 , zj+1 ending point of jth panel downwards). Panel methods can model such configura-
xi , zi mid-point of ith panel tions relatively easily and accurately. They are numer-
xl , zl point where lumped vortex is placed (c/4 of panel ical models based on simplifying assumptions about the
length) physics of such flow.
αj angle made by panel with horizontal But on the other hand panel method is not so
lj length of jth panel useful for predicting boundary layers and flow separation.
aij influence coefficient (tangential component of Also, we are bounded by only incompressible and irrota-
velocity of jth panel at ith collocation point) tional flow where the viscous effect of air in the flow field
γj strength of vortex of jth panel is neglected, and the net effect of viscosity on a wing is
u, v components of velocity in global coordinate frame summarized by requiring that the flow leaves the sharp
up , vp components of velocity in panel coordinate frame trailing edge of the wing smoothly (Kutta-Condition).
r1 distance of (x,z) from starting point of panel To find the potential at the surface, we dis-
r2 distance of (x,z) from panel end point tributed ”Singularities” of unknown strength over the dis-
θ1 , θ2 angles made by lines joining (x,z) and cretized portion of the surface panels. Therefore the flow-
panel end points with the horizontal field solution is found by representing the surface by a
number of panels and the integral equations are trans-

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formed into an easily solvable set of simultaneous linear
equations to which the kutta condition is coupled. By
solving this linear set of algebraic equations we can de-
termine the unknown strengths of the singularities, in this
case, constant-strength of the vortex distribution on each
panel.

Theory
Half cosine spacing:

A semicircle is divided by the number of panels Figure 1: Constant strength vortex distribution along the
i.e. ∆β = nπ and the corresponding x stations are found x-axis
by using the following cosine spacing formula:

x = 2c (1 − cosβ) However, the constant-vortex panel method is

more difficult to use in comparison to other numerical
Once the x axis is divided into N panels panel methods owing to the fact that the self-induced ef-
with strength γj , the N + 1 panel corner points fect of this panel is zero at the center of the element and
(xj=1 , zj=1 ), (xj=2 , zj=2 ), ..., (xj=N +1 , zj=N +1 ) are com- hence the influence coefficient matrix, without a pivot-
puted. The collocation points can be placed at the ing scheme, will have a zero diagonal. Also, when using
center of each panel and the values of these points the Kutta condition at an airfoil’s trailing edge the re-
(xi=1 , zi=1 ), (xi=2 , zi=2 ), ..., (xi=N , zi=N ) are computed quirement that γ1 + γN =0 eliminates the lift of the two
too. trailing-edge panels. Consequently, if N panels are used,
The normal ni and the tangent ti , are found then only N-2 independent equations can be used and the
from the surface shape η(x), are defined as: scheme can not work without certain modifications to the
method.
(−dη/dx,1) A possible modification of the boundary condi-
ni = (dη/dx)2 +1 = (−sinαi , cosαi )
tion, which will eliminate the zero self-induced effect, is
ti = (cosαi , sinαi ) to use an internal zero tangential velocity boundary con-
∗
dition. Note that if for an enclosed boundary ∂Φ ∂n = 0,
The boundary condition that must be satisfied as required by the boundary condition then the potential
by the solution, in reference to the Laplaces condition, inside the body (without internal singularities) will not
is the zero normal flow across the thin wings solid surface: change that is, Φ∗i = const. Consequently, the normal
and tangential derivatives of the total potential inside
5.(Φ + Φ∞ ).n = 0 the body are zero:
∗ ∗
∂Φ ∂Φ
The constant-strength vortex distribution ∂n = ∂l = 0

γ(x) = γ =const. is placed along the x axis as shown

In this particular case the inner tangential ve-
in figure. The influence of this distribution at a point
locity condition will be used and at each panel :
P is an integral of the influences of the point elements
between x1 and x2 . Its evaluation results in the following
(U∞ + u, W∞ + w)i .(cosαi , sinαi ) = 0
equations:
The influence coefficient aij is now defined as the velocity
component tangent to the surface. The general influence
coefficient is then
aij = (u, w)ij .(cosαi , sinαi )

Use of this boundary condition ensures a

nonzero value for the self-induced inuence of the panel.
At the center of the panel, from eqs. for up and wp above,
we have

up (x, 0±) = ± γ2

2
 wp (x, 0±) = 0 Flow of the code
Consequently, when i = j the inuence coefcient
becomes

aii = − 12

The free-stream tangential velocity component

RHSi is found by

In this case the free stream may have an angle

of attack. Specifying the boundary condition for each(i
=1→ N)of the collocation points results in a set of al-
gebraic equations with the unknowns j (j =1→ N). In
addition the Kutta condition needs to be specified at the
trailing edge:

γ1 +γN =0 Operation of the code

But now we have N+1 equations with only N un- Generation of airfoil:
knowns. Therefore, one of the equations must be deleted
(e.g., the kth equation) and by adding the Kutta condi- The input of the airfoil’s NACA code, the angle of attack,
tion the following matrix equation is obtained: free stream velocity and the number of panels are taken.
Using the half cosine spacing method, the coordinates of
the end points of each panel are found and converted in
clockwise direction.
Similarly, collocation point (taken as the mid-
point of each panel), length of each panel and angle made
by each panel with respect to horizontal are calculated
and stored in an array named data. The data array has
10 columns in which xj , zj , xj+1 , zj+1 , xi , zi , αj , lj , xl , zl
are stored respectively.

Once the strength of the vortices j is known, Influence coefficients:

the velocity at each collocation point can be calculated
The velocity components tangential to the surface of air-
using the equation:
foil due to unit strength singularity are calculated as the
γ 2 influence coefficients and stored in the influence matrix.
Cp = 1 − Q2i The panel end points and collocation points are
∞

calculated in the panel coordinate frame using the rota-

Now that the code is verified using the results tion matrix. These points are further used to calculate
of Cp plots, a grid can be generated around the airfoil to the velocity components in panel coordinate frame.
calculate the stream function ψ and the contours of the
streamlines can hence be plotted. The ψ due to a single
panel is given by the following equation and the ψ values Establish RHS:
due to each of the panels are summed up and then added
The free-stream tangential velocity component RHSi is
to the stream function of the free-stream.
Rl γ p found by the equation given below and stores in rhs ma-
Ψ = − 0 2π ln (x − x20 ) + (y 2 )dx0 trix.

γ r2
Ψ= 2π (x ln r1 − l ln r2 + y(θ2 − θ1 )) RHSi = −(V∞ cosα, W∞ sinα).(cosαi , sinαi )

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 One of the equations is deleted (e.g., the kth Results
equation) and the Kutta condition at trailing edgee
(γ1 + γN = 0) is added in its place. The results are obtained as the Cp plots and stream-line
Thus, the gamma matrix is found by taking in- contours for given airfoil at a given angle of attack. They
verse of the influence matrix and multiplying it by the are presented in the figures of appendix for both with and
RHS matrix. without the Kutta condition.

Plotting of streamlines: Conclusion

• The entire region is divided into a mesh of 600*600
grid points. A matlab code for constant vortex panel method for ob-
taining streamline pattern over NACA airfoil was gener-
• It is checked if the point lies inside the airfoil. This ated successfully. As expected, from the above obtained
is done by writing the linear equation of the panel graphs of streamline pattern it was observed that on ap-
above/below of which the point lies and check- plying Kutta condition the ow leave the sharp trailing
ing whether the y coordinate of that point lies edge of the NACA airfoil smoothly. But on relaxing
above/below the panel. the Kutta condition circulation is noted near the trail-
ing edge.
• If it is found that a point lies outside the airfoil,
the corresponding value of grid point is calculated
with respect to panel coordinate frame using rota- References
tion matrix.
[1] Low-Speed Aerodynamics by Katz and Plotkin
• The value of streamfunction at every grid point is
calculated using the formula given in theory and [2] Panel methods to Innovate a Turbine Blade by P M
the contour of streamlines is plotted. V Subbarao, Professor, Mechanical Engineering De-
partment, IIT Delhi

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Appendix

Figure 2: Cp plot for NACA2412 airfoil at 5 degrees angle of attack; Kutta condition applied.

Figure 3: Cp plot for NACA2412 airfoil at 10 degrees angle of attack; Kutta condition applied.

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Figure 4: Stream-line contour plot for NACA2412 airfoil at 5 degrees angle of attack; Kutta condition applied.

Figure 5: Stream-line contour plot for NACA2412 airfoil at 5 degrees angle of attack; Kutta condition applied.

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5d Cp.jpg

Figure 6: Cp plot for NACA0012 airfoil at 5 degrees angle of attack; Kutta condition applied.

Figure 7: Stream-line contour plot for NACA0012 airfoil at 5 degrees angle of attack; Kutta condition applied.

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5d Cp wk.jpg

Figure 8: Cp plot for NACA0012 airfoil at 5 degrees angle of attack; Kutta condition relaxed.

Figure 9: Cp plot for NACA0012 airfoil at 5 degrees angle of attack; Kutta condition relaxed.

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Figure 10: Cp plot for NACA0012 airfoil at 0 degrees angle of attack; Kutta condition relaxed.

Figure 11: Cp plot for NACA0012 airfoil at 0 degrees angle of attack; Kutta condition relaxed.

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Figure 12: Stream-line contour plot for NACA2412 airfoil at 0 degrees angle of attack; Kutta condition relaxed.

Figure 13: Stream-line contour plot for NACA2412 airfoil at 5 degrees angle of attack; Kutta condition relaxed.

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