Copyright© 1997, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.

AIAA-97-2238

MULTI-ELEMENT AIRFOIL IN GROUND EFFECT- AN EXPERIMENTAL

AND COMPUTATIONAL STUDY

Robert Ranzenbach, Manager Research and Business Development. Member of AIAA,

Jewel B. Barlow, Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering. Associate Fellow of AIAA, &
Ricardo H. Diaz, Graduate Fellow, Student Member of AIAA

GLM Wind Tunnel, University of Maryland

ABSTRACT NOMENCLATURE

A critical aspect of the performance of the front

w i n g of a F o r m u l a One or I n d y race car is
studied by idealizing it as a negatively cambered Chordlen2th=L
two-element airfoil operating in ground effect and
determining the flowfield at various heights. When
the airfoil operates at heights roughly equal to the
airfoil thickness, significant negative lift is c
generated. As the height is decreased, there is an Gap=G
expected downforce reduction. ground
The p r i m a r y objective of this work is to
elucidate the force reduction phenomena for the
specific case of an inverted NACA 63T-215 Mod Figure 1: Nomenclature
B a i r f o i l w i t h a s i n g l e - s l o t t e d , 30% chord flap
traveling at high Reynolds number above ground
in s t i l l a i r . T h i s i s t h e road c o n d i t i o n . T h e Symbol Description
secondary objective is to compare and contrast the L Chordlengtn
flowfield about this airfoil in road conditions and G Minimum Ground Clearance, or Gap
when operating in the wind tunnel environment, H Non-Dimensionalized Gap=G/L
H
thick Non-Dimensional Gap=G/thickness
i.e. when the airfoil and the ground are not
Cl Section Lift Coefficient
m o v i n g r e l a t i v e t o each other. F i n a l l y , t h e t h i r d Section Drag Coefficient
Cd
o b j e c t i v e of t h i s w o r k is to r e v i e w and c o m m e n t Edge Velocity Magnitude
Ue
u p o n the general n a t u r e of a i r f o i l performance in
g r o u n d effect by c o m p a r i n g and c o n t r a s t i n g the
LL Freestream Velocity magnitude
U
g Velocity of Ground
r e s u l t s for a s y m m e t r i c NACA 00 I 5 a i r f o i l , a
n e g a t i v e l y cambered NACA 4412 airfoil, and the Cuf Velocity of Foil
negatively cambered two-element NACA 632-215 P Pressure Coefficient
Mod B a i r f o i l w i t h a s i n g l e - s l o t t e d , 30% chord
llap. INTRODUCTION

The a e r o d y n a m i c d e s i g n of the f r o n t w i n g is
crucial to successful performance of Formula One
and I n d y race cars. The well k n o w n d i f f i c u l t i e s
associated with the Ground Floor Boundary Layer
(GFBL) i n t h e w i n d t u n n e l t e s t i n g e n v i r o n m e n t
make e x p e r i m e n t a l s t u d y of f r o n t w i n g
performance somewhat problematic. Classic
Copyright© 1997 by Authors. Published by the boundary layer analysis is not capable of y i e l d i n g
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc. credible results when applied to the complex
with permission. d e t a i l s of bodies o p e r a t i n g near g r o u n d such as
1
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 Copyright© 1997, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
merging and/or separated boundary layers. The
most promising technology for modeling all of the
p e r t i n e n t flow d e t a i l s w i t h t h e p o s s i b i l i t y o f
a p p l i c a t i o n as a d e s i g n tool are R e y n o l d ' s
Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) methods.
MODEL PROBLEM
To evaluate the applicability of RANS methods
to the design of front wings and better understand
the force reduction phenomena, a model problem
was studied, namely an inverted NACA 632-215
Mod B a i r f o i l w i t h a single-slotted, 30% chord
flap at zero degrees angle-of-attack operating near
ground at a Reynolds number of 1.5 million based
upon chord length.
This appears to be a a reasonable simplification
to the three-dimensional flow problem of race-car
f r o n t w i n g s because typical practice is to place
large endplates onto the front wingtips to reduce
three-dimensional flow effects. Additionally, at the
h e i g h t s t y p i c a l of race car p r a c t i c e , the gap
b e t w e e n the b o t t o m of the f r o n t w i n g and the
ground is much smaller than the span of the w i n g
which suggests that there are likely large regions
near the center of the w i n g span where two-
dimensional like flow exists. These rationalizations
are not meant to i m p l y that three-dimensional
effects are u n i m p o r t a n t , but in light of the costly
c o m p u t a t i o n a l resources required to solve large
RANS problems and the significant labor required
for g r i d d i n g , they were not considered for t h i s
study.
Two classes of flows were studied, wind t u n n e l
a n d road c o n d i t i o n s . RANS c a l c u l a t i o n s were
p e r f o r m e d at v a r i o u s h e i g h t s for each class of
H o w s a n d e x p e r i m e n t s were p e r f o r m e d f o r t h e
w i n d t u n n e l cases. This s t u d y should better
i l l u s t r a t e the flowfield about front wings than
e a r l i e r s t u d i e s [ 1,2,3] because the large negative
camber and two-element nature of the inverted
N A C A 6 3 2 - 2 1 5 Mod B a i r f o i l w i t h a s i n g l e -
slotted, 30% chord flap more closely resembles
typical practice of Formula One and Indy cars.
"WIND TUNNEL" CASE
The wind t u n n e l case is modeled as a stationary
a i r f o i l and ground, w i t h a freestream velocity
U M = 1 . 0 as s h o w n in F i g u r e 2. The l i f t and drag
as a f u n c t i o n of n o n - d i m e n s i o n a l i z e d m i n i m u m
g r o u n d clearance, H. for the case of zero degrees
angle-of-attack is reported.'
American Institue of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Uf=0
Figure 2: Characteristic velocity profile- wind
tunnel conditions
I n t h e w i n d t u n n e l case, t h e b o u n d a r y
conditions on the airfoil and groundplane were set
to reflect no-slip s u r f a c e s . To r e d u c e the
c o m p u t a t i o n a l e x p e n s e of t h e s e s t u d i e s , t h e
boundary layer along the tunnel ceiling is
neglected and the boundary conditions are set to
reflect an inviscid boundary, i.e. a no-penetration
s u r f a c e . Thus t h e b o u n d a r y c o n d i t i o n s a r e
summarized as follows:
Inlet plane: (U= 1, V=0, P=extrapolated)
• Exit plane: (U=V=P=radiation)
• Groundplane: (U=V=0, P=extrapolated)
• Ceiling: (U=extrapolated,V-0,P=extrapolated)
Airfoil surface: (U=V=0, P=extrapolated)
W h e r e r a d i a t i o n r e f e r s to a n o n - r e f l e c t i n g
boundary condition[4] and extrapolated refers to a
simple first order extrapolation from the interior
points boundary condition.
"ROAD CONDITIONS" CASE
I n t h e road c o n d i t i o n s case, i . e . a n a i r f o i l
moving through an otherwise quiescent flowfield.
b o u n d a r y c o n d i t i o n s d i f f e r e n t t h a n those used in
the w i n d t u n n e l case are r e q u i r e d . The a i r f o i l is
modeled as a s t a t i o n a r y a i r f o i l , w i t h the g r o u n d
and the f r e e s t r e a m flow m o v i n g by at a r e l a t i v e
velocity of 1.0 as shown in Figure 3.
U,=0
U -1.0
Figure 3: C h a r a c t e r i s t i c v e l o c i t y p r o f i l e - road
conditions
 Copyright© 1997, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
Similar to the wind tunnel case, both the airfoil
and the g r o u n d r e m a i n as n o - s l i p s u r f a c e s as
r e q u i r e d by a solid b o u n d a r y in viscous flow.
However, to maintain the no-slip boundary
condition on the groundplane, the u-component of
velocity along the groundplane must be set to 1.0.
T h e n o r m a l c o m p o n e n t r e m a i n s a t zero a n d
pressure remains extrapolated.
The boundary conditions were set as follows:
Inlet plane: (U=l, V=0, P=extrapolated)
Exit plane: (U=V=P=radiation)
Groundplane: (U=l .0, V=0, P=extrapolated)
• Far-field: (U= 1.0, V=0, P=extrapolated)
Airfoil surface: (U=V=0, P=extrapolated)
COMPUTATIONAL METHOD
S o l u t i o n s were o b t a i n e d u s i n g a two-
d i m e n s i o n a l , m u l t i - b l o c k , structured grid RANS
solver for c o m p u t i n g the incompressible, viscous
flow around arbitrary bodies referred to as Finite
Analytic Navier Stokes (FANS).[5] Details of the
computational method are described in Appendix
A- Computational Method.
This c o m p u t a t i o n a l approach has been
previously validated by comparing computational
a n d e x p e r i m e n t a l r e s u l t s o v e r a n u m b e r of
a x i s y m m e t r i c geometries by Chen and Korpus[5]
and the vortex shedding frequency of a rectangular
block by Chen and Chen[6]. In a d d i t i o n , earlier
studies concluded that the approach was applicable
over the range of h e i g h t s s t u d i e d here when
applied to s i m i l a r problems, namely a NACA 0015
and NACA 4412 a i r f o i l in g r o u n d effect by
c o m p a r i n g experimental and computational results
for wind tunnel conditions.! 1,2,3]
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
Detailed w i n d t u n n e l measurements were made
for an inverted s t a t i o n a r y NACA 6 3 2 - 2 I 5 Mod B
a i r f o i l w i t h a single-slotted, 30% chord (lap airfoil
in ground effect. All experiments were performed
in the G l e n n L. M a r t i n Wind T u n n e l at the
U n i v e r s i t y of M a r y l a n d . The t u n n e l is a closed,
s i n g l e r e t u r n , a t m o s p h e r i c type. The test section
m e a s u r e s 2.36 m e t e r s H i g h , 3.365 m e t e r s w i d e
w i t h f i l l e t s . Test S e c t i o n A r e a i s 7 . 8 8 m".
M a x i m u m test speed is 107.3 meters/sec. The
t u r b u l e n c e f a c t o r i s -1.05 a s m e a s u r e d b y t h e
sphere test, and the t u r b u l e n c e i n t e n s i t y is 0.21%
as m e a s u r e d by hot wire. The e x t e r n a l b a l a n c e .
American Institue of Aeronautics and Astronautics
m o u n t e d b e l o w the t u n n e l floor, is a six
component yoke type balance.
D e t a i l s of the e x p e r i m e n t a l m e t h o d are
described in Appendix B- E x p e r i m e n t a l Method
and Apparatus.
RESULTS
WIND TUNNEL
S c i b o r - R y l s k i [ 7 ] describes h o w d o w n f o r c e
increases as g r o u n d clearance is reduced u n t i l
some critical h e i g h t is reached at w h i c h p o i n t
decreasing the height further causes the airfoil to
generate substantially reduced downforce or
possibly positive lift.
Experimental Results- Experimental results were
o b t a i n e d for a set of h e i g h t s at a f r e e s t r e a m
Reynolds number of 1.5 million (based upon chord
length). The expected force reduction is modeled
by the experiment.
C o m p u t a t i o n a l R e s u l t s - F i v e h e i g h t s were
studied. The values of n o n - d i m e n s i o n a l i z e d
m i n i m u m ground clearance were H=2.56, 1.00,
0.444, 0.389, 0.278, and 0.222. The expected force
reduction is modeled by the computations.
All cases were run in a t i m e a c c u r a t e m a n n e r
and convergence controlled by choice of the time
step. All cases converged to a steady solution
Physical Phenomena- When no force reduction
phenomena is present, the boundary layers along
the g r o u n d and the a i r f o i l do not merge. To
visualize this effect, rather than plot displacement
thickness, a contour plot of vorticity magnitude is
s h o w n in F i g u r e 4 for a n o n - d i m e n s i o n a l i z e d
ground clearance of H=0.278.
Figure 4: Vorticity Magnitude Plot, contour
value=7.0- Wind t u n n e l c o n d i t i o n @ H=0.278. no
force reduction phenomena present
Vorticity magnitude contours were selected so
as to p r o v i d e a v i s u a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of the
boundary layer edge. The v o r t i c i t y m a g n i t u d e
 Copyright© 1997, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.

v a l u e of 7.0 was selected by o b s e r v i n g FANS

results for a boundary layer along a flat plate and
calculating the vorticity magnitude at the boundary Two-Element Airfoil In Ground Effect

layer edge defined by Ue=.995*U00.

It can be observed that the b o u n d a r y layers
along the ground and the airfoil remain distinct
and far apart throughout the flowfield. When the
force r e d u c t i o n p h e n o m e n a is present, the
boundary layer along the ground and the airfoil do 3 0.2

merge with significant consequences.

To visualize the force reduction phenomena,
once again consider a plot of vorticity magnitude
as shown in Figure 5 for a non-dimensionalized
ground clearance of H=0.222. The phenomena of
downforce reduction occurs at this height. Observe
the groundplane boundary layer thickening
underneath the airfoil. It can be observed that just Figure 6: Drag comparison- wind t u n n e l
downstream of the flap, the distance between the
conditions
a i r f o i l and groundplane boundary layers becomes
quite small.
Experimental and computational results for lift
share common characteristics but differ in detail. This is
thought to be related to difficulties in the seal along the
groundplane/mounting disk intersection in the two-
dimensional insert and associated lift sensitivity. Both
experiment and computations however capture the
essential nature of the force reduction phenomena in
spite of the lift magnitude discrepancy.

Two-Element AirkHi In Ground Effect

-2.2

-2.4
F i g u r e 5 : V o r t i c i t y M a g n i t u d e Plot, c o n t o u r
-2.6
v a l u e = 7 . 0 - W i n d t u n n e l c o n d i t i o n @ H-0.222,
force reduction phenomena present -2.8

X experiment
-3 * compulation
Thus it appears that the force reduction o !
phenomena is a result of merging boundary layers.
The b o u n d a r y layer m e r g i n g tends to reduce the -3.4

flow velocity beneath the a i r f o i l . The reduced -3.6

airflow velocity leads to an increase in the

pressure of that region and hence the downforce is
reduced. This describes the physical rationale for
the force reduction phenomena.
Comparison- Comparison plots of experimental
Figure 7: Lift comparison-, wind tunnel conditions
and c o m p u t a t i o n a l results for l i f t and drag for the
w i n d t u n n e l cases are shown in Figures 6 and 7.
ROAD CONDITIONS
All e x p e r i m e n t a l r e s u l t s are s h o w n as upper and
T h e same f i v e n o n - d i m e n s i o n a l i z e d g r o u n d
lower confidence bounds.
The c o m p u t a t i o n a l results for drag show fairly
clearances as the w i n d t u n n e l cases were studied.
Results for road conditions are similar to the wind
good agreement with experiment when applied to
t u n n e l cases. C o m p a r i s o n o f l i f t i n t h e w i n d
the model problem.
tunnel and road conditions is shown in Figure 8.

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 Copyright© 1997, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
These r e s u l t s i n d i c a t e t h a t t h e d o w n f o r c e
generated in road conditions is slightly larger at
the same ground clearance than the downforce
generated in the wind tunnel case over the entire
range of heights studied. Lift results indicate that
at the large ground clearance H=2.56, the lift is
close to the expected freestream value Cl=-2.4.
Two-Element AlrtoH In Ground Effect
Figure 8: Lift comparison- road and wind tunnel
conditions
C o m p a r i s o n o f drag i n t h e w i n d t u n n e l a n d
road c o n d i t i o n s is shown in Figure 9. Both.sets of
results show a m o n o t o n i c increase in drag as the
height is decreased.
Two-Element Airfoil In Ground Elfect
02SJ-
I * wind tunnel
: o road conditions
0 OS
Figure 9: Drag comparison- m o v i n g ground and
stationary ground conditions
5
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Both lift and drag results indicate that at the
large ground clearances, the flow is nearly
indistinguishable from the stationary airfoil case as
one might expect. This seems q u i t e reasonable
because at these h e i g h t s , the a b s e n c e of the
groundplane boundary layer is virtually undetected
by the airfoil.
COMPARISON TO OTHER AIRFOILS
Comparison of the road condition results for the
case of the NACA 63 2 -215 Mod B airfoil w i t h a
single-slotted, 30% chord flap to earlier studies for
the case of a NACA 0015 symmetric airfoil and a
c a m b e r e d NACA 4 4 1 2 i n d i c a t e q u a l i t a t i v e
agreement but differences in detail. The earlier
studies also showed that the force r e d u c t i o n
p h e n o m e n a occurred at the h e i g h t at w h i c h the
groundplane and airfoil boundary layers merged.
To h i g h l i g h t two i m p o r t a n t d i f f e r e n c e s , a
comparison plot is shown in Figure 10 where the
gap has been non-dimensionalized by the thickness
rather than the chord to account for the different
thicknesses of the three airfoils. One can observe
that the primary difference apart from the actual
values of lift coefficient, is that the force reduction
p h e n o m e n a occurs at a much h i g h e r ground
clearance for the m u l t i - e l e m e n t airfoil (H,^^ on
the order of the 1.7) than the c a m b e r e d a i r f o i l
(H t h i c k on the order of the 0.7) or the symmetric
airfoil (H^^ on the order of 0.4).
Alrtoris m Ground Eltoct
—— NACA 0015. Cl=0 OO
X NACA 4412 01— 4 ttO
o NACA632-215ModB.CI=-2.5 QO
1.5
HltacK
Figure 10: E f f e c t of camber u p o n the h e i g h t at
which force reduction phenomena occurs
 Copyright© 1997, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
SUMMARY
Study and comparison of experimental
measurements and FANS computations for the case
of an inverted NACA 63 2 -215 Mod B airfoil with
a single-slotted, 30% chord flap in the wind tunnel
testing e n v i r o n m e n t led to the following
observations:
• As height is decreased, an increasingly large nega-
tive lift is developed until a critical height is
reached at which point decreasing the height further
causes positive increments in lift.
• Drag monotonically increases with decreased
ground clearance.
• Lift continues to be difficult to simulate experimen-
tally because of the groundplane/mounting disk
intersection seal. However, experiment and compu-
tation demonstrate the essential nature of the force
reduction phenomena.
A p p l i c a t i o n of FANS to the p r o b l e m of an
i n v e r t e d NACA 632-215 Mod B w i t h a s i n g l e -
slotted, 30% chord flap a i r f o i l m o v i n g over
stationary ground in still air, i.e. road conditions,
led to the following observations:
• Lift as a function of ground clearance is qualita-
tively similar to the wind tunnel case but more
down force is generated at any given height. Drag
behavior is also similar to the wind tunnel case.
The results indicate that the heights at which the
force reduction phenomena occurs, namely ground
clearances less than approximately 22% of front
wing chordlength, are near the operating ground
clearances of typical front wings.
Thick boundary layers and regions of separated
flow dominate the rlowfield. RANS calculations
hold great promise for modeling such flow details
in this operating region which is more consistent
with typical front wing practice.
Comparison of the FANS results for an inverted
NACA 63 2 -215 Mod B w i t h a single-slotted, 30%
chord Hap w i t h an inverted NACA 4412 cambered
a i r f o i l and a NACA 0015 s y m m e t r i c a i r f o i l in
road conditions, led to the following observations:
• height at which the force reduction phenomena
occurs is in direct correlation with the magnitude of
the lift coefficient at zero degrees angle-of-attack,
i.e. higher lift devices experience force reduction at
much higher ground clearances.
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CONCLUSIONS
The force reduction phenomena is tied to the merg-
ing of the groundplane and airfoil boundary layers, and
the associated velocity and pressure fields generated
between the two surfaces.
The observation that the force reduction phenom-
ena occurs at a much higher ground clearance (on the
order of 25% of chordlength) for high lift devices leads
to the supposition that multi-element wings typically
used by Formula One and Indy cars may be experienc-
ing force reduction phenomena. This requires further
investigation.
With the advent of the ABO scheme which allows
quick preprocessing of grids, two-dimensional RANS
computations can be performed with sufficient speed so
as to be used in the design of the front wings for For-
mula One and Indy cars. Various airfoil profiles and
angles-of-attack could be looked at simply by changing
the one grid block directly along the body. Computa-
tional speed and memory requirements are suited to
presently available workstations.
Three dimensional effects have not been studied
and require investigation.
REFERENCES
1. Ranzenbach, R.C. and Barlow, J.B., "Two-
Dimensional Airfoil in Ground Effect, An
E x p e r i m e n t a l and C o m p u t a t i o n a l Study," SAE
paper 942509, 1994.
2. R a n z e n b a c h , R.C. and Barlow, J.B.,
"Cambered Airfoil in Ground Effect- Wind Tunnel
and Road Conditions." AIAA paper 95-1909, 1995.
3. R a n z e n b a c h , R.C. and B a r l o w , J . B . ,
"Cambered Airfoil in Ground Effect- An
E x p e r i m e n t a l a n d C o m p u t a t i o n a l Study," S A E
paper 960909, 1996.
4. Han, T.Y., Meng, J.C., and I n n i s , G.E., "An
Open B o u n d a r y C o n d i t i o n f o r I n c o m p r e s s i b l e
Stratified Flows," J. Comp. Physics, Vol. 49, 1983.
5. Chen, H.C. and Korpus, R., "A M u l t i - b l o c k
Finite-Analytic Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes
Method for 3D I n c o m p r e s s i b l e Flows," ASME
Summer Fluid Dynamic Conference, 1993.
6. Chen, C.J. and Chen/H.C., "Finite A n a l y t i c
Method for U n s t e a d y T w o - D i m e n s i o n a l N a v i e r -
Stokes Equations," J o u r n a l of C o m p u t a t i o n a l
Physics 53, pp. 209-226, 1984.
7 . S c i b o r - R y l s k i , A . J . , "Road V e h i c l e
Aerodynamics," John Wiley & Sons, New York,
1984.
 Copyright© 1997, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
8. C h e n , H.C. and Patel, V.C., "Near-Wall
Turbulence Models for Complex Flows Including
Separation," AIAA J o u r n a l , Vol. 26, No. 4, pp.
641-648, 1988.
9. C h e n , H.C., P a t e l , V.C., and Ju, S.,
"Solutions of Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes
Equations for Three-Dimensional Incompressible
Flows," J. Computational Physics, Vol. 88, No. 2,
pp. 305-336.
10. Weems, K., K o r p u s , R., and F r i t t s , M.,
"RANS/Potential Flow C o u p l i n g , G r i d d i n g
I m p r o v e m e n t s , Wake and V o r t i c i t y Transport
V a l i d a t i o n , " , S A I C - 9 3 / 1 121, 1993, S c i e n c e
Applications International Corporation, Annapolis
MD.
1 1. LaBozzetta, W. et. al., "The I n t e r a c t i v e
Graphics for Geometry Generation Program (I3G),"
W r i g h t Research and Development Center
Configuration Data Management System, Chapter
6. AFWAL-TR-88-117, Eglin Air Force Base, FL,
1988.
12. W o z n i a k , R., " D e v e l o p m e n t of a Two-
Dimensional Insert," GLMWT Report, 1993.
APPENDIX A- FANS COMPUTATIONAL METHOD
FLOW SOLVER
In Cartesian coordinates, the non-dimensional-
ized incompressible, RANS equations are:
3U
d'u,
It
where U/, {« ; « ; -} , and P r e p r e s e n t the
Cartesian mean velocities, Reynolds stresses, and
pressure, respectively, and repeated indices indicate
summation.
The R e y n o l d s n u m b e r , Re = UL/\>, is based
u p o n the a p p r o p r i a t e l e n g t h and v e l o c i t y scales
used to non-dimensionalize the above relations.
The exact form of the Reynolds stresses depend
on the selection of a turbulence model. FANS uses
a two-layer turbulence model based upon the multi-
layer approach of Chen and PatelfS], consisting.of
the k£ approach for the majority of the domain,
and the o n e - e q u a t i o n kl model for the near w a l l
viscous sublayer.
T h e c u r r e n t FANS i m p l e m e n t a t i o n p a r t i a l l y
t r a n s f o r m s the RANS equations from Cartesian
American Insiiluc of Aeronautics and Astronautics
independent variables (jt,,jc 2 .0 i nto generally non-
orthogonal body-fitted coordinates ( % | , ^ 2 , t ) while
retaining the dependent variables (velocity
components, pressure, and turbulence quantities) in
a Cartesian coordinate system.
The partially transformed momentum equations
are discretized u s i n g the f i n i t e - a n a l y t i c method
developed by Chen, Patel, and Ju.[9] This method
relies upon w r i t i n g each m o m e n t u m equation in
the form of a general convection/diffusion problem,
and then linearizing across each computational cell
by assuming constant coefficients. The resulting
equations may be solved by the classic technique
of separation of variables.
Pressure/velocity coupling is accomplished using
the hybrid SIMPLER/PISO method. The usefulness
of this technique is that dependent variables reside
at the grid nodes and the mass and m o m e n t u m
are conserved simultaneously at every time step.
FANS solves the governing equations for mean
flow and t u r b u l e n c e on structured m u l t i p l e block
grids. Each block is allowed to overlap its
neighbors in an a r b i t r a r y m a n n e r w i t h the o n l y
requirement being that the entire domain be
c o m p l e t e l y covered by the u n i o n of the blocks.
Thus the onerous requirements of point-by-point
connectivity across block overlaps is eliminated.
Instead, c o m m u n i c a t i o n between blocks is
p e r f o r m e d by i n t e r p o l a t i o n . The t e c h n i q u e is
referred to as Arbitrary Block Overlap (ABO) and
is similar to Chimera grid schemes except that no
points may be outside of the flow domain.[5] At
each iteration, the approach sets variables on block
faces that are i n t e r i o r to the s o l u t i o n domain by
reading them from the appropriate m a t c h i n g block
and then c o m p u t i n g a s o l u t i o n block by block
u s i n g D i r i c h l e t b o u n d a r y c o n d i t i o n s . T h e face
values are updated after each iteration by interpolat-
ing the appropriate quantity from adjoining blocks.
The advantage of ABO is that no longer must
the grids posses smoothly fitted together blocks,
and the f i n e r e s o l u t i o n near the body does not
have to extend i n t o the far field. Thus grids can
b e p r o d u c e d w i t h s i m p l i f i e d t o p o l o g i e s , fewer
points, and most importantly significantly reduced
man-hours. A d d i t i o n a l l y , the pre-processing code
P R E F A N S [ 1 0 ] , w h i c h reads a n A B O g r i d a n d
computes all the necessary interpolation and block
connectivity information automatically, actually
r e q u i r e s less user i n p u t t h a n necessary for more
conventional multi-block structured grids.
For the e l l i p t i c RANS m e t h o d used here,
boundary conditions for the Cartesian components
 Copyright© 1997, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
of the mean velocity and t u r b u l e n c e q u a n t i t i e s
m u s t be s p e c i f i e d on all b o u n d a r i e s of the
computational domain.
Forces are computed by integrating pressure and
shear stresses over the body surface.
The two-dimensional version of FANS' total
memory requirement is 53 words per grid point,
and requires about 5.0 E-4 seconds of CPU time
per grid p o i n t per iteration on a 16 MFLOPS
workstation. Typical results for the cases reported
in this s t u d y required approximately 8000 time
steps to converge.
GRIDS
In the present calculations, a eleven block grid
was constructed using the interactive gridding code
I3G.[ 11 ] Blocks #4 and #6 are thin C-grids which
w r a p a r o u n d the s u r f a c e of the a i r f o i l . Other
blocks are added to fill in the remaining domain.
The c o m p u t a t i o n a l d o m a i n was d e s i g n e d to
coincide w i t h the extents of the 2D insert
described in A p p e n d i x B- Experimental Method
and A p p a r a t u s . As a r e s u l t , the g r i d e x t e n d s
upstream from the leading edge of the airfoil to
the leading edge of the ground plane 1.75 chord
lengths and downstream from the trailing edge of
the airfoil, 1.25 chordlength to the trailing edge of
the g r o u n d p l a n e . The top of the grid is fixed at
the tunnel ceiling height approximately 2.56 chords
above the center of the model and extends down
to the height of the groundplane which varies. The
total n u m b e r of grid p o i n t s for these grids is
30,734.
T h e g r i d f o r e v e r y case i s a l g e b r a i c a l l y
generated u s i n g spacing criteria developed from
past e x p e r i e n c e in the b o u n d a r y layer, and near
t h e l e a d i n g a n d t r a i l i n g edges. T h e f o l l o w i n g
c r i t e r i a w e r e u s e d : L o n g i t u d i n a l s p a c i n g near
trailing edge=.002*chord; Longitudinal spacing near
leading edge=.001*chord; and Transverse spacing
i n t h e w a k e n e a r t h e t r a i l i n g e d g e of t h e
airfoil=IOO*boundary layer spacing. The turbulence
model requires that the first point off the body be
at a y + = I . O w h i c h r o u g h l y c o r r e s p o n d s to a
s p a c i n g o f 1 0 / R e . F o r t h i s case, t h e r e q u i r e d
s p a c i n g of the first p o i n t off the body is a n o n -
d i m e n s i o n a l i z e d d i s t a n c e of 4.4 x 10" 6 . G r i d
i n d e p e n d e n c e studies were not u n d e r t a k e n as part
of this study.
Because of the Chimera-like capability of the
FANS code, arbitrarily overlapped grids, could be
u s e d . w h i c h r e q u i r e d o n l y simple changes to the
g r i d . b l o c k d i r e c t l y between t h e a i r f o i l a n d t h e
8
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groundplane to allow for airfoil height changes.
This made preprocessing of grids for the various
heights quite straightforward.
Chen and K o r p u s [ 5 ] h a v e s h o w n t h a t t h e
convergence is independent of blocking topology
APPENDIX B- EXPERIMENTAL METHOD AND
APPARTUS
GENERAL
Tests were performed within a two-dimensional
i n s e r t [12]. The 2D i n s e r t is of the h o r i z o n t a l
endplate type whereby two parallel wall plates
span the entire h e i g h t of the test s e c t i o n . The
leading and trailing edges of the wall plates were
constructed from a fiberglass shell with the cross
section of a NACA 0015 airfoil. The leading and
t r a i l i n g edges are separated by a p a r a l l e l m i d -
section with mounting disks on the interior walls
a n d access p l a t e s o n t h e e x t e r i o r w a l l s . T h e
mounting disks are connected to the balance
t h r o u g h a pitch control mechanism which can
p i t c h the m o d e l 360 degrees. The m o d e l was
mounted such that the quarter-chord point along
the c h o r d l i n e w a s a t t h e e x a c t c e n t e r o f t h e
wallplate mounting disks. The model was attached
to the balance through the wallplate mounting
disks as seen in Figure B-I.
G r o u n d p l a n e - A 1.83 m e t e r l o n g a d j u s t a b l e
height g r o u n d p l a n e was i n s t a l l e d consisting of a
flat plate spanning from wallplate to wallplate with
a 3.2 m i l l i m e t e r g a p i n t h e v i c i n i t y of t h e
m o u n t i n g disks to avoid any interference. The gap
was filled w i t h a s m a l l piece of soft foam to
reduce flow t h r o u g h this gap. The h e i g h t was
a d j u s t e d by p i n s and the c o u l d be f i n e - t u n e d by
screw jacks at the four corners.
Figure B-l: Exploded view of 2D insert
 Copyright© 1997, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
Tunnel Speed- Tunnel speed is controlled by
m a n u a l f e e d b a c k based u p o n t u n n e l d y n a m i c
pressure. The dynamic pressure is measured by the
following method. Two strategically placed taps on
the interior walls of the insert whose location had
been determined by previous experiment were
monitored to represent the reference static
pressure. These taps are s u f f i c i e n t l y above and
upstream of the model installation so as to not be
significantly affected by the presence of the model.
In the i n s e r t , a t o t a l probe was i n s t a l l e d . The
probe base was m o u n t e d on the East insert wall
in the v i c i n i t y of the static reference tap and the
probe tip extended to the transverse centerline of
the insert. The recorded dynamic pressure is the
corrected difference between these two pressures.
The dynamic pressure correction was determined
by comparing the above pressure difference w i t h
the total pressure measured by a NACA standard
probe placed w i t h i n the insert during a calibration
run with the g r o u n d p l a n e installed but no model
in place. The corrected t u n n e l d y n a m i c pressure
was set at a c o n s t a n t q = 992 N e w t o n s / m 2 w h i c h
corresponds to a velocity of approximately 40.2
m e t e r s / s e c or a R e y n o l d s n u m b e r based u p o n
chord l e n g t h of a p p r o x i m a t e l y 1.5 m i l l i o n . This
t u n n e l speed gave the largest possible R e y n o l d s
number without introducing significant compressibil-
ity effects in the accelerated region beneath the
airfoil. Blockage of the model was also taken into
effect by c o m p u t i n g a blockage correction factor
based upon frontal area of the model and applying
a continuity correction.
MODEL
The model was a NACA 63T-215 Mod B a i r f o i l
w i t h a s i n g l e - s l o t t e d , 30% c h o r d flap m o u n t e d
i n v e r s e l y w i t h a 0.508 meter chord and 0.61 meter
span numerical control milled out of aluminum.
FORCE DATA
Force Tares- Tare r u n s at v a r i o u s g r o u n d p l a n e
h e i g h t s were p e r f o r m e d to a c c o u n t for the
presence of the m o u n t i n g disks a c t i n g as model
support.
B a l a n c e M e a s u r e m e n t s - The process o f
m e a s u r i n g forces from the m a i n balance proceeds
as f o l l o w s : Before the w i n d is b r o u g h t up o n . a n y
data r u n , all six balances are read. These readings
become k n o w n as the "wind o f f " zeros. The
" w i n d o f f " zeros a n * t h e n s u b t r a c t e d f r o m a l l
subsequent balance measurements u n t i l the next set
«f "wind off" zeros are taken. This subtraction is
American Inslitue of Aeronautics arid Aslruriaurics
done prior to presentation of the balance readings
to the t u n n e l operator and prior to the reading
being recorded in the raw balance data files.
U n c e r t a i n t y - The u n c e r t a i n t y of the balance
m e a s u r e m e n t s is e v a l u a t e d by c o m p u t i n g the
precision of the mean of the force and moment
components through statistical analysis and
c o m p a r i n g these v a l u e s against user specified
levels of acceptable error. This process works in
the following manner. During every internal loop
of the balance data acquisition process, each of
the six balance components is sampled. This
occurs at a typical rate of 8 Hz. When eight data
p o i n t s have been s a m p l e d , t h e m e a n b a l a n c e
c o m p o n e n t and the p r e c i s i o n of each mean is
computed and compared to preset target levels. If
the computed precision of the mean is below the
target levels on all six c o m p o n e n t s , the mean
v a l u e of each c o m p o n e n t , the p r e c i s i o n of the
mean, and n u m b e r of data p o i n t s required is
recorded. If the p r e c i s i o n of the mean has not
reached its target value, then more sampled data is
acquired, and the process continues until the target
precision levels are met or the operator overrides
the system. For this e x p e r i m e n t , the target
precision of the mean for lift and drag was set at
0.44 N e w t o n s w h i c h t r a n s l a t e s i n t o 0.002 i n
coefficient form. Lift was commonly the
component w h i c h met the target precision level
last. The n u m b e r of data p o i n t s sampled to
achieve this m i n i m u m level of precision was
t y p i c a l l y 24. If it was d e s i r e d to i m p r o v e the
precision of the balance measurements, then it is
theoretically possible to s i m p l y lower the target
p r e c i s i o n l e v e l s a n d take more data u n t i l lower
levels of acceptable error are achieved. This is not
always possible in practice since the v a l u e of the
p r e c i s i o n o f t h e mean o f a n y g i v e n c o m p o n e n t
decreases e x p o n e n t i a l l y and sometimes further
improvement is too slow to achieve u n i f o r m l y for
all runs d u r i n g a fixed schedule experiment.
However, this technique does allow the q u a n t i f i c a -
t i o n and e v a l u a t i o n of the e r r o r p r e s e n t in the
balance measurements at every data point.