Experimental and numerical investigation of the flap application in an airfoil in combination with a cross flow fan

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study flap application in the airfoil comprising a cross flow fan by experiment and numerical simulation.Design/methodology/approachAn airfoil was made and tested in a blowing wind tunnel. Because of complicated shape of the airfoil, distributed quantities in the flow field cannot be measured. They were computed by establishing a CFD code validated by the experimental data. The k‐ε model was used for the Reynolds stress modeling. Flow was considered incompressible, two dimensional and steady‐state. The pressure‐velocity coupling was performed by the SIMPLEC algorithm and convection terms were discretized by using the second‐order upwind discretization scheme.FindingsComputed aerodynamic coefficients were in good agreement with the experimental results. Flap augmented lift and pitching moment coefficients of the airfoil considerably. It was perceived that the airfoil aerodynamic coefficients decrease with the Reynolds number, its lift and pitching moment coefficients increase and its drag coefficient decreases with the fan speed. Static pressure difference between the airfoil surfaces increased with the flap angle and consequently at higher flap angles it must have larger aerodynamic coefficients as proved by the experiments. This pressure difference increases with the Reynolds number that is equivalent to higher aerodynamic forces. It was shown by the numerical solution that surface pressure on the airfoil upper wall decreases with the fan speed while it is not sensitive to the fan speed on the airfoil bottom wall.Originality/valueThis is the first instance in which flap application in the airfoil with forced airflow provided by an integrated cross flow fan is studied.