Coandã effect

The Coandã effect is the tendency of stream of fluid to stay attached to a convex surface, rather than Article Related
to follow a straight line down in its original direction. The Coandã effect is also known as "boundary
layer attachment" and was named after the Romanian discoverer Henri Coandã, who was the first to Articles
understand the importance of this phenomenon for aircraft development.

What is known today as the Coandã effect, was described by the discoverer himself as the "Deviation Antonov An-72
of a plan jet of a fluid that penetrates another fluid in the vicinity of a convex wall". He made the Boeing C-17
discovery during experiments with his Coandã-1910 aircraft, which is the first aircraft ever to use a
motorjet. Images

Causes
The Coandã effect can be explained by a spoon held in the instance of a stream of water and largely
on the basis of surface tension or Van der Waals forces. In case of gas flow against a surface with
ambient gas or liquid flow in ambient liquid, then the Coandã effect can be explained on the basis of
momentum and entrainment of the fluid. In the event of gas flowing over an airfoil, the gas is drawn
down to adhere to the airfoil by a combination of the greater pressure above the gas flow and the
lower pressure below the flow caused by an evacuating effect of the flow itself, which as a result of
shear, entrains the slow-moving fluid trapped between the flow and the down-stream end of the upper Click for a large image
surface of the airfoil. The effect of spoon attracting a flow of water is basically caused by that same
effect. Click here for all our photos

Aviation Applications
The Coandã effect has an important effect on aircraft performance and has several applications in
various high-lift devices. Especially where air moving over the wing can be "bent down" towards the
ground using flaps and a jet blowing over curved surface. For example, the flow from a high speed jet
engine mounted in a pod over the wing produces enhanced lift through turbulent mixing that does not
occur above a normal wing. This was first implemented in a practical sense during the United States
Air Force's AMST project. Several aircraft have been built to take advantage of this specific effect, by
mounting turbofans on the top of the wing in order to provide high-speed air over the wing, even at
low airspeeds. At this moment only one aircraft has gone into production using this system to a major
degree, Antonov An-72 "Coaler". Other aircraft like the McDonnell Douglas YC-15 and Boeing C-17
Globemaster III also employ this effect, though to a less substantial degree.

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