A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF AERODYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF NACA 0015 AND NACA 4415 AIRFOILS AT VARIOUS REYNOLDS NUMBER

Abstract

The shape of an airfoil is paramount to its aerodynamic characteristics. In many applications, the streamlined shape has proven to be the most effective geometry shape. Airfoils are employed in aircraft wings, tails, and other control surfaces, wind turbines, boats, and ships, among other things. The current study compares the numerical aerodynamic performance of two regularly used airfoils, NACA 0015 and NACA 4415. The study is to evaluate the performance of these airfoils in terms of lift, drag, and lift to drag ratio at various angles of attack using wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. These two airfoils were evaluated in a subsonic wind tunnel at Reynolds numbers ranging from 1×105 to 3.5×105. The NACA 0015 and NACA 4415 were tested from 0° to 18° angle of attack with a 2° interval. The conventional Sparlat-Allamaras model is used in the computational procedure. The outcome demonstrates a similarity between experimental and CFD results. The lift and drag curves for both profiles follow the same pattern. The optimum angle of attack for both airfoils is 14 degrees. However, the experimental results show that drag is greater, particularly at higher angles of attack. Both airfoils are thick, which adds structural integrity to the blades at the expense of increased drag. Furthermore, it has been shown that symmetric airfoils offer no lift at 0° AOA, making them extremely useful in control surface applications, whereas cambered airfoils provide higher lift, which is beneficial for devices requiring more lift, such as wind turbines.