Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of High Aspect Ratio Wing Application

The aviation industry is attempting to enhance the aerodynamic performance by increasing the aspect ratio of the wing, which can be associated with the usage of the High Aspect Ratio (HAR) wing. Aerodynamic performance can be analyzed using different approaches and one of the approaches is through the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis. However, prior research demonstrates a vague technique for CFD analysis, which makes it challenging for new researchers to learn the precise steps using the CFD approach. Therefore, this study aims to demonstrate the process of CFD analysis in a detailed technique using Ansys software and compare the aerodynamic performance at three options domain sizes. The aspect ratio of AR-16 was used with the Spalart–Allmaras turbulence model and the result of the mesh independency study was validated with the lift coefficient. The best mesh was verified with different turbulence models either using k–ω SST or Standard k–ε. The result shows that the best mesh for the HAR wing is the base mesh with a low percentage difference compared to fine mesh. In the domain sizes, the second option with the reduction of 20% domain size produced a higher lift-to-drag ratio than first and third options with a percentage error of less than 6% at the angle of attack, AoA 9°. Moreover, the 20% domain size reduction can reduce approximately 20 min of computational time, as well as contribute to the computational time efficiency in the CFD analysis of the HAR wing.