CFD Modelling of a flat plate

Abstract

Performance of an aircraft wing depends on the smoothness of the air flow over it. Any accumulation of frost, snow or ice on the wings or other horizontal surfaces will substantially alter the lifting characteristics of the airfoil and also changes the values of aerodynamic forces exerted on the airfoil. So any small change in flow parameters could affect its performance in a larger scale. This can sometimes be disastrous too. The wings of the airplane are also susceptible to corrosion also due to the excess humidity level. When it comes to large airfoils like aircraft wings, these parameters have to be maintained perfect so that the probability of failure is minimized. The basic test surface for investigating the effects of various parameters to the underlying boundary layer is the universal flat plate. Therefore a flat plate is used for this study.
The present paper concentrates on analyzing various flow parameters of cold air while it flows over a flat plate. Modeling and analysis of the flow were performed using FLUENT, version 6.3. The results obtained are purely the simulation software based calculations.