Effect of pitching angle, pitch-pivot-point, blade camber and deflected sharp leading edge on performance and vortical flows of reversed pitching airfoils

Abstract

The goal of the present work is to investigate the influence of several parameters on the performance and flow structures of reversed pitching airfoils. Firstly, the effect of the turbulence model is evaluated, and the results show that the SST transition model has a better prediction in the instantaneous lift coefficient of a reversed pitching airfoil and the transition locations of a stationary airfoil. Then, effects of the pitching angle, pitch-pivot-point, blade profile and morphed leading edge with various deflection angles and positions on the performance, unsteady vortical flow, near-wall transition and trajectory of main vortices, are analyzed. The main results show that both the mean pitching angle and pitching amplitude have the impact on the vortical flows, but depends on the reduced frequency. Then, the delayed flow structure by shifting the pitch-pivot-point from the leading edge (LE) to trailing edge (TE) can be explained by the distribution of the effective attack-of-angle. Moreover, the symmetrical, asymmetrical and inverse asymmetrical airfoils have great effect on the first (FMLC) and second maximal lift coefficients (SMLC). Finally, upward deflected LE decreases the negative lift coefficient while downward morphed LE improves it considerably due to the geometry curvature leading to the large flow separation. In addition, it is observed that the generation of vortices is earlier when the deflection position close to the middle surface. It is believed that this work can provide some guidelines to have a better design of energy devices with oscillating airfoils/hydrofoils.