Aerodynamic performance enhancement of an Airfoil using trapezoidal vortex generators

Flow separation on wings, blades and vehicles can be delayed or even suppressed by the use of vortex generators (VG). Numerous studies, documented in the literature, extensively describe the performance of triangular and rectangular VG winglets. This paper aims to focus on the use of non-conventional VG shapes, more specifically an array of trapezoildal-perforated VG tabs.

In this study, computational fluid dynamic simulations are performed on an inline array of trapezoidal VG with various dimensions and inclination angles, in addition to considering perforations in the VG centers. The methodology of the present numerical study is validated with experimental data from the literature.

The performance and the associated flow structures of these tested non-conventional VG are compared to classical triangular winglets. For the proposed non-conventional trapezoidal VG, at the onset of stall, a 21% increase of lift over drag on the airfoil is observed. The trapezoidal VG enhancement is also witnessed during stall where the lift over drag ratio is increased by 120% for the airfoil and by 10% with respect to the triangular winglets documented in the literature.

The originality of this paper is the use of non-conventional vortex generator shape to enhance lift over drag coefficient using three-dimensional numerical simulations.