Evaluating the Aerodynamic Performance of NACA2412 and NACA23012 Under Low-Angle Conditions

Abstract

This article analyzes the aerodynamic characteristics of the NACA2412 and NACA23012 airfoils under low angles of attack. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulation is used to design geometric models and perform mesh generation, while the data were analyzed using a finite element method to calculate lift and drag coefficients for both airfoils. A solver based on pressure along with a turbulence model of K - ω SST in this analysis. Here are the results: at angles of attack from 0 to 12 degrees, basically pressure difference between upper and lower surfaces making a big difference on the lift. The maximum CL/CD for both airfoils is also found from 8 to 10 degrees angles of attack. However, the NACA2412 generally has higher lift-to-drag ratio, lift coefficient and drag coefficient compared to the NACA23012 which means better performance in flight missions. Since most of the aircraft's transport missions spend the main time in the stratosphere, this study will be beneficial for researching the choice of using NACA2412 and NACA23012 when the airflow is smooth.