RANS Simulations of Ground Effects on Flow Past Airfoils with Increasing Camber

Steady state, Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations of incompressible flow past NACA 0012, 4412 and 8412 airfoils placed above an impermeable wall are conducted. Ground effects on airfoils of different camber are studied. The effects of varying values of wall distance from trailing edge are studied at a fixed chord-based Reynolds number of \(3 \times 10^{5}\) and two different values of angle of attack, 0° and 10°. At angle of attack of 0°, lift coefficients are observed to increase for 8412 airfoil (with higher camber) and decrease for 0012 and 4412 airfoils with decreasing wall distance from trailing edge. At angle of attack of 10°, lift coefficients are observed to increase for 8412 airfoil as well as 0012 and 4412 airfoils with decreasing wall distance from trailing edge.