A NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF HYDRODYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF WEDGE SHAPED HYDROFOILS IN NONCAVITATING FLOW

In this paper, a numerical study on the flow around the wedge shaped hydrofoils with a rectangle tail is presented. In contrast to the NACA sections, the wedge shaped hydrofoils are easily fabricated and possess suitable hydrodynamic characteristics, especially for high speeds. The simulations are carried out based on the CFD approach using commercial software. The structured mesh is utilized for the domain to obtain the best results. The non-dimensional parameter Y+<50, is necessary to obtain the accurate results. The governing equations are solved by the finite volume method based on the RANS equations. The realizable k-ε model is employed to consider the turbulence of water flow around the foils. In order to verify the results, a symmetric NACA0012 section is employed to obtain the best settings for most accurate results. In the next stage, the best settings are utilized to obtain the hydrodynamic characteristics of wedge shaped hydrofoils such as lift and drag coefficients and stall angle. The major focus of this study is to obtain the effects of main geometrical parameters, including chord length and angle of wedge on the hydrodynamic performance of hydrofoil in noncavitating conditions. The Numerical results showed that the large wedge length ratios (>80%) increases the stall angle and maximum lift coefficient

Keywords:

Hydrodynamic Characteristics , Wedge Shaped Hydrofoil , Computational Fluid Dynamics , Lift Coefficient , Drag Coefficient