Computer Aided Design and Finite Element Analysis of an airfoil with arbitrary dimensions, material and number of spars,

using ANSYS and SolidWorks.

Given:
X and y coordinates for the airfoil skin on a dimensionless scale. Chord length = 4ft. Applied torque= 200000 lb-in

Required:
Design of airfoil, specifically skin thickness, number and thickness of spars, and material selection. Such that it will not fail at the designated applied torque.

Model construction and FEA.

Solid modeling done in SolidWorks, physical analysis done with ANSYS. The SolidWorks Files are uploaded online and are available for viewing and download. The ANSYS project files are available upon request if needed.

Design log:
First was typing the coordinates in excel and checking the general shape.

Then trying to import to Solidworks and failing. having to export to a text file and putting in the correct format for the importation of a 3d curve through the xyz point coordinates. Finally after several trials producing the curve in the workspace;

0950in -0001.2in 0in 0850in -0003.7in 0in 0750in -0006.2in 0in 0650in -0008.7in 0in 0575in -0010.5in 0in 0525in -0011.7in 0in 0450in -0013.7in 0in 0350in -0017.5in 0in 0275in -0027.5in 0in 0225in -0042.5in 0in 0175in -0055in 0in 0125in -0060in 0in 085.0in -0057.5in 0in 060.0in -0052.5in 0in 037.5in -0042.5in 0in 017.5in -0027.5in 0in 05.00in -0010in 0in 05.00in 0012.5in 0in 017.5in 0037.5in 0in 037.5in 0065in 0in 060.0in 0087.5in 0in 085.0in 0106.2in 0in 0125in 0128.7in 0in 0175in 0146.2in 0in 0225in 0157.5in 0in 0275in 0161.2in 0in 0350in 0148.6in 0in 0450in 0126.2in 0in 0525in 0108.7in 0in 0575in 0097.5in 0in 0650in 0081.2in 0in 0750in 0058.7in 0in 0850in 0035in 0in 0950in 0011.3in 0in

then converting the entity into a sketch to add solid features to it. After that weighting the options of whether to offset the sketch, or sweep a skin cross section, or modeling as a shell, as well as taking into consideration whether to close the sketch or not, also what should be added to the into the z direction if the airfoil is to be modeled in 3d, the 2d option is not possible from Solidworks since sketches can't be imported, only parts can. And while I have went through the trouble of converting the xy coordinates of the profile into the standard format for a 3d curve in ANSYS as well, and succeeded in importing it into the geometry workspace,

the simplest operations such as offsetting the sketch were very hard if not impossible to preform, hence the 2d analysis option directly in ANSYS has been scratched, and a 3d model with unit depth will be considered. The reason for the unit depth is to make the problem in 2 dimensions only, while keeping it easy to input to the program. Back to the sketch, we have to scale it to get the chord length of 4 feet as opposed to the dimensionless coordinates we were given. after scaling and measuring the chord length it's too big in inches, so we change the coordinate source files into inches and rescale to 0.001 inches*12 inches*4 feet= 0.048x which gives a chord length of 45.6 in, or 3.8 ft, which plus the aileron would be 4 feet. The aft portion left open since it doesn't carry any torque. The skin was offset outwards with a thickness of 0.2 inch. And two vertical spars were added 10 and 25 inches from the leading edge respectively. Their thickness was offset in each direction evenly (mid plane), resulting in a total thickness of 0.3 inches. A detailed drawing is attached to clearly display all this. Then the clamp is made to hold the airfoil and apply the torque evenly to it, the clamp and the skin+two spars are assembled together and imported into ANSYS.

The material is assigned as structural steel, for both skin and spars, with a young's modulus of 29008000 psi and a yield strain of 36260 psi. A moment loading (torque) is applied to the exposed cross section of the airfoil, while a fixed condition is applied to the clamp.

Results are approximated for the equivalent stress, but most importantly, the safety factor for the structure, which is the ratio of the stress at a point to the yield stress of the material.

As can be seen, the minimum safety factor is 1.4, which means the material is far enough from failing. However, with a large portion of the structure at a safety factor of 15, the design may be overdone, and refinements can be done to save on material and weight by better placing the spars to distribute the stress from the torsion more evenly. Another possible improvement as well is to smoothen out the jutting parts of the spars which cause stress distribution irregularities as well as aerodynamic problems.

Summary of design parameters:

2 spars, 1st is 10in from the leading edge. 2Nd is 15 in away from the 1st spar. Both spars thickness 0.3in. Skin thickness 0.2 in. material is structural steel with properties: E= 29008000 psi tensile yield strength= 36260 psi

Summary of FEA results:

Min SF= 1.4 Max normal stress= 8620psi max shear stress =46000psi in conclusion, the proposed design is safe.

Soft copy of the SolidWorks modeled parts(not simulation) can be found on:
http://grabcad.com/library/airfoil-with-2-spars http://grabcad.com/library/airfoil-with-2-spars/files

References
i Internet source (2012): references, how to input points into ANSYS: http://www.cfdonline.com/Forums/cfx/72996-how-insert-points-designmodeler-ansys.html ii Internet source (2012): import to SolidWorks, convert and scaling: http://worldofcadcam.com/2012/05/16/how-tomake-a-solid-from-coordinates-in-solidworks-using-curve-command.html