Two-dimensional analysis of tandem/staggered airfoils using computational fluid dynamics

The two-dimensional analysis, using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), of tandem/staggered arranged airfoils of the canard and wing of an Eagle 150 aircraft and also the aerodynamic tests conducted in an open-circuit wind tunnel are presented in the paper. The wind tunnel tests were carried out at a speed of 38m/s in a test section of size 300mm (width), 300mm (height) and 600mm (length), at Reynolds number 2.25 × 10⁵. The tests were carried out with tandem and staggered placement of the airfoils in order to determine the optimum position of the wing with respect to the canard and also to determine the lift coefficient at various angles of attack. The CFD code FLUENT 5 was used to investigate the aerodynamic performance of a two-dimensional model to validate the wind tunnel results. The flow interaction was studied in the tandem and staggered arrangements in the wind tunnel as well as by the computational method. The k-e turbulence model gave exceptionally good results.