ECCOMAS 2024

Numerical investigation of electroactive morphing effects through traveling wave actuation on an A320 wing in low subsonic regime and Reynolds number of 1 Million

  • Marouf, Abderahmane (UNISTRA)
  • El akoury, Rajaa (Institut de Mécanique des Fluides de Toulouse)
  • Abou Khalil, Jacques (IMFT - Laplace)
  • hoarau, yannick (UNISTRA)
  • Rouchon, Jean-François (Laplace)
  • Braza, Marianna (IMFT)

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A new bioinspired electroactive morphing concept through Traveling Waves (TW) applied along a rear part of the suction side of the “Reduced Scale (RS) A320 morphing wing prototype of the HORIZON-2023-PATHFINDER-Open-Project N° 101129952-BEALIVE- "Bioinspired Electroactive multiscale Aeronautical Live skin" has been numerically investigated in low subsonic regime (Mach number of 0.063), Reynolds number of 1 Million and incidence of 10°, corresponding to take-off conditions. The TW are implemented over an optimised zone of the wing’s suction side. The effects of this morphing concept, (examined in parallel through experimental studies by IMFT & LAPLACE Laboratories) are investigated in respect of aerodynamic performance increase. The simulations used the Navier Stokes Multi-Block (NSMB) code, including the Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) methodology for dynamic grid deformation, and the Organised Eddy Simulation (OES) turbulence modelling approach. The RS prototype has a 70 cm chord and span of 56 cm, operating at an incidence angle of 10°. A boundary layer separation occurs in the static (non-morphing) case, at around 80% of the chord. The significant shear downstream results in the formation of Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) vortices, and farther downstream, to von Kármán (VK) vortex shedding. A very large parametric investigation has been carried out, involving thousands of combinations of the following parameters to analyse the influence on the aerodynamic forces and study optimal regimes: wavelength (λ), frequency (f), amplitude (a), and the actuation zone location, [x_0/C,x_f/C]. The oscillations created by the waves interact with the separation and the shear layers and promote a more organized flow structures with a significant reduction of the spanwise secondary instability. This is obtained through manipulation of the detrimental effects of surrounding turbulence through this morping concept and producing significant impacting feedback effects on the upstream wall pressure distribution, leading to increased performances. For optimal sets of the TW parameters, an increase in the lift-to-drag performance reaching 9% has been obtained The optimal parameters are used in the experimental studies carried out in the BEALIVE project, where the traveling waves can be materialised through novel piezo-actuators.