Aerodynamic characteristics of membrane airfoil compared to rigid naca 4412 airfoil
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Date
2018-06
Authors
Chan Min Xhao
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Abstract
Membrane airfoil is said to have the flexibility to change its surface geometry to adapt to
the airflow. This means that it has the potential to balance the pressure gradient, resulting
with a delayed stall and also the capability to expand its camber to increase the overall lift.
The paper aims to study the aerodynamic performance of a ribbed-structure airfoil (NACA
4412) wrapped in a thin sheet of latex rubber membrane and compare it with the original
rigid airfoil. The results from this experiment showed that the lift-to-drag ratio of the
membrane airfoil improved when compared to its rigid counterpart with investigations
carried out at low Reynolds number from around Re = 30,000 ∼100,000. Due to the
characteristics of the membrane being frail, high flow velocity will not be suitable.
Aerodynamic forces are measured using external force balance at subsonic wind tunnel.
Also, this study will attempt to measure the membrane deflections of the airfoil using the
concept of elastic modulus.