Name :

Roll No:

M.Karthick
AE12M009
2nd Group

Flow over NACA-0015 Airfoil

Aim:
The aim of the experiment is to estimate the lift coefficient for a NACA-0015 placed in test section of
low speed wind Tunnel. The experiment is carried out for five angles of attack.
Description:
The experiment is done in the C 15 10 Armfield Wind tunnel (Ref -1) which has a test section of
150mm X 150mm cross section and length of 455mm.
The NACA-0015 (symmetric) Airfoil of chord length 61.5 mm (Test Specimen C -15 21 from Ref -1)
is place in the test section. The Airfoil has 10 static pressure ports (connected to manometers via flexible
hoses) on its upper half of its periphery shown if figure -1.
The experiment is done for five angles of attack ( = 0O, 2O, 4O, 6O & 8O). The uniform free stream
velocity (V) was 19 m/s, which corresponds to the 70% of tunnel fan speed.

Figure -1 NACA-0015 Airfoil (C-15 21) static pressure ports.

Measuring Instruments:
The C-15 12 (Ref-1) electronic manometer is used for static pressure measurement. This is in turn
connected to the computer using the interface software. The flow speed also controlled thorough the interface
software in the computer. The electronic manometer gives the pressure readings in millimetres of H2O.
Test Procedure:
The NACA-0015 Airfoil is mounted at 0O to the free stream direction on the wind tunnel test section.
The bunch of flexible hoses which connects the static pressure ports of airfoil is connected to the electronic
manometer. The wind tunnel fan is operated at its 70% (V = 19 m/s) of the speed. The pressure readings are
1

Name :
Roll No:

M.Karthick
AE12M009
2nd Group
monitored and they are recorded when the readings are stable. Since it is a symmetric arifoil for = 0O the
pressure distribution for the lower portion of airfoil is also symmetric. The tunnel is stopped.
For other angles of attack ( = 2O, 4O, 6O & 8O) the above procedure is repeated with an additional
step. The static pressures of the bottom region of airfoil will be different for these angles of attack. To capture
the pressures at the lower regions of the airfoil, the airfoil will be tilted to negative corresponding angles of
attack ( = -2O, -4O, -6O & -8O) and once again the readings will be recoreded.
Analysis and results:
The measured static gauge pressures in mm of H2O from airfoil for all the angles of attack are
tabulated in table -1.

Lower

Upper

Region

Location From
Leading Edge
(mm)

0
3
5
7
9
22
29
36
43
50
0
3
5
7
9
22
29
36
43
50

( = 2O)
mm of H2O

( = 0O)
mm of H2O

1.00
27.90
39.10
38.20
37.60
35.40
34.00
32.10
30.60
29.90
1.00
27.90
39.10
38.20
37.60
35.40
34.00
32.10
30.60
29.90

( = 4O) mm
of H2O

2.80
11.90
18.00
10.40
28.50
19.60
30.00
22.80
31.70
26.40
30.70
26.50
30.20
26.80
28.60
25.80
27.00
24.60
26.30
23.70
1.50
8.30
34.40
46.40
44.70
55.20
42.10
49.60
39.70
44.20
36.60
40.00
34.80
38.40
32.90
36.10
31.70
30.60
29.00
28.30
Table -1 Measured values

( = 6O)
mm of H2O

( = 8O)
mm of H2O

22.10
7.00
15.60
19.80
24.60
25.50
26.30
25.90
25.00
24.30
16.30
53.90
61.10
53.80
46.90
42.90
39.70
34.80
31.00
28.70

30.30
6.40
13.60
17.80
22.70
23.80
24.90
24.70
24.10
23.80
39.00
68.80
71.40
61.30
57.50
44.00
38.90
35.50
31.90
28.90

The reference atmospheric pressure is 100539.4 Pa.

The Free Stream Velocity V = 19 m/s
The Free stream static pressure head = 21.3 mm of H2O
Gauge Pressure = Density of water X Acceleration due to Gravity X mm of H2O = w

w = 1000 Kg/m3, g = 9.812 m/s2, H = m of H2O

The absolute pressure = -Gauge Pressure + Atmospheric pressure.
Free Stream static pressure = 100330.4 Pa
2

*g*H

Name :
Roll No:

Lower

Upper

Region

Location
From Leading
Edge (mm)
0
3
5
7
9
22
29
36
43
50
0
3
5
7
9
22
29
36
43
50

( = 0O)
( = 2O)
( = 4O)
Pressure
Pressure
Pressure
(Pa)
(Pa)
(Pa)
100529.6
100511.9
100422.7
100265.7
100362.8
100437.4
100155.8
100259.8
100347.1
100164.6
100245.1
100315.7
100170.5
100228.4
100280.4
100192.1
100238.2
100279.4
100205.9
100243.1
100276.5
100224.5
100258.8
100286.3
100239.2
100274.5
100298.1
100246.1
100281.4
100306.9
100529.6
100524.7
100458
100265.7
100201.9
100084.2
100155.8
100100.9
99997.88
100164.6
100126.4
100052.8
100170.5
100149.9
100105.8
100192.1
100180.3
100147
100205.9
100198
100162.7
100224.5
100216.6
100185.2
100239.2
100228.4
100239.2
100246.1
100254.9
100261.8
Table -2 Absolute Pressure values

( = 6O)
Pressure
(Pa)
100322.6
100470.7
100386.4
100345.2
100298.1
100289.2
100281.4
100285.3
100294.1
100301
100379.5
100010.6
99940
100011.6
100079.3
100118.5
100149.9
100198
100235.3
100257.8

M.Karthick
AE12M009
2nd Group
( = 8O)
Pressure
(Pa)
100242.1
100476.6
100406
100364.8
100316.7
100305.9
100295.1
100297.1
100303
100305.9
100156.8
99864.46
99838.96
99938.04
99975.32
100107.8
100157.8
100191.1
100226.5
100255.9

Co-efficient of Lift (CL) Calculation

The Co-efficient of pressure CP at each airfoil port location is calculated using the formula given below
=

1 2
2

The Co-efficient of Lift CL is calculated by subtracting the upper portion CPU from Lower region CPL and
integrating for the full chord length
1

= 0 ( )

Using trapezoidal rule the CD is found by the following formula

1

=1,2,3..

( ) + ( )+1 +1

Table -3 &4 presents the calculation done for estimating the CL for ( = 0O, 2O, 4O, 6O & 8O).
Theoretical CL values are calculated using the following formula
= 2
3

Name :
Roll No:
Location From
Leading Edge
(mm)
0
3
5
7
9
22
29
36
43
50
61.5
0
3
5
7
9
22
29
36
43
50
61.5

Lower

Upper

Region

( = 0O)
C

( = 4O)

( = 6O)

( = 8O)
C

0.901
0.821
0.417
-0.035
-0.293
0.146
0.484
0.634
-0.790
-0.319
0.075
0.253
-0.750
-0.386
-0.067
0.067
-0.723
-0.461
-0.226
-0.146
-0.626
-0.417
-0.231
-0.186
-0.563
-0.395
-0.244
-0.222
-0.479
-0.324
-0.200
-0.204
-0.413
-0.253
-0.146
-0.164
-0.382
-0.222
-0.106
-0.133
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.901
0.878
0.577
0.222
-0.293
-0.581
-1.114
-1.446
-0.790
-1.038
-1.504
-1.766
-0.750
-0.923
-1.256
-1.442
-0.723
-0.816
-1.016
-1.136
-0.626
-0.679
-0.830
-0.958
-0.563
-0.599
-0.759
-0.816
-0.479
-0.515
-0.657
-0.599
-0.413
-0.461
-0.413
-0.430
-0.382
-0.342
-0.311
-0.328
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
Table 3 Calculated CP Values at each location.
( = 2O)

( = 0O)

X/C

( = 2O)

CPL - CPU

( = 4O)

CPL - CPU

-0.399
0.661
0.342
0.155
-0.062
-0.111
-0.160
-0.151
-0.124
-0.111
0.000
-0.785
-2.107
-2.223
-1.775
-1.606
-1.007
-0.781
-0.630
-0.470
-0.337
0.000

( = 6O)

CPL - CPU

M.Karthick
AE12M009
2nd Group

( = 8O)

CPL - CPU

CPL - CPU

0.00

0.000

0.000

-0.058

0.016

-0.160

0.035

-0.257

0.044

0.386

0.077

0.05

0.000

0.000

0.728

0.024

1.597

0.052

2.081

0.067

2.768

0.087

0.08

0.000

0.000

0.719

0.020

1.579

0.045

2.019

0.057

2.564

0.073

0.11

0.000

0.000

0.537

0.015

1.189

0.032

1.508

0.041

1.930

0.056

0.15

0.000

0.000

0.355

0.065

0.790

0.147

0.989

0.186

1.544

0.258

0.36

0.000

0.000

0.262

0.027

0.599

0.063

0.772

0.078

0.896

0.086

0.47

0.000

0.000

0.204

0.022

0.515

0.055

0.595

0.056

0.621

0.063

0.59

0.000

0.000

0.191

0.023

0.457

0.041

0.395

0.038

0.479

0.047

0.70

0.000

0.000

0.209

0.019

0.266

0.027

0.266

0.026

0.346

0.033

0.81

0.000

0.000

0.120

0.011

0.204

0.019

0.195

0.018

0.226

0.021

1.00

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

CL
(Experiment)

0.0000

0.2415

0.5163

0.6115

0.8008

CL (Theory)

0.0000

0.2193

0.4386

0.6580

0.8773

Table 4 Calculation of CL
=

( ) + ( )+1 +1

,
2

=
4

Name :
Roll No:

= 0O

= 2O

= 4O

= 6O
5

M.Karthick
AE12M009
2nd Group

Name :
Roll No:

M.Karthick
AE12M009
2nd Group

= 8O
Figure 2 CP - Vs x/C
Figure -2 shows the CP distribution versus the x/C ratio on the left side as well as the CP distribution on the
airfoil surface on the right side.
Figure 3 shows the comparison between the theoretical and experiment values.
Table 5 gives the % of deviation of experimental values from the theoretical values
% =

() ()
100
()

CL
(Experiment)
0
2
4
6
8

CL
(Theory)

% of deviation
from theory

0.0000
0.0000
0.2415
0.2193
0.5163
0.4386
0.6115
0.6580
0.8008
0.8773
Table 5 % of deviation

Figure 3 CL Vs -
6

0.00
-10.13
-17.71
7.07
8.72

Name :
Roll No:

M.Karthick
AE12M009
2nd Group

Conclusion:
The experimental data is analysed. The comparison between theoretical and experimental CL values
(shown in figure 3) shows that the experimental curve typically follows the theoretical trend.
The maximum deviation at = 4O (17.71%).The variation may be resulted due to the various
experimental uncertainties and errors in the experimental calculations (numerical integration). More number
of port locations are required to predict more precise pressure distribution and CL values.

Ref -1: Armfield Wind Tunnel Instruction Manual C 15 Issue 8, dated July 2010.