Study on effect of semi-circular dimple on aerodynamic characteristics of NACA 2412 airfoil

The present work is an attempt to enhance the aerodynamic efficiency of NACA 2412 airfoil through surface modifications, for various angles of attack. The surface of NACA 2412 airfoil is modified by providing semi-circular outward and inward dimples on the lower surface. The lift and drag coefficients were determined at the different angle of attack ranging from 0° to 12° using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. During the study the NACA2412 airfoil was modeled in ANSYS Workbench, the structured mesh was generated in ICEM-CFD, and the flows were analyzed using ANSYS Fluent solver at a Reynolds number of 2 × 105. The CFD analysis showed decreased pressure drag and increased lift since the flow separation was delayed due to the turbulence created by the semicircular dimples. The effects of surface modifications on aerodynamic efficiencies of airfoil were compared for the different angle of attack, and the inward dimple was proved to be more beneficial.