CFD ANALYSIS OF THE AERODYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF SWEPT BACK WING BY CHANGING ITS TAPER RATIO

In this paper, efforts were made to predict the aerodynamic characteristics of swept back wing employed in F-18 aircraft by changing its taper ratio. NACA 4412 airfoil coordinates were chosen for designing the wing with a span of 22 cm. a set of wings was constructed by varying its taper ratio and the flow features over the wing were analyzed at various angles of attack (0, 5, 10, 15 degrees). Designing of wing was carried out using CATIA V5 software. Discretization and simulations of the models were done using ANSYS CFX software. The lift coefficient, drag coefficient and aerodynamic coefficient values were calculated using the simulation result and the values were plotted against angle of attack. From the computational analysis, the pressure variation, Mach number variation, velocity variation and turbulence contours were observed. The observed results of different wing configurations were compared among themselves to figure out the aerodynamically efficient configuration. The investigated concept of swept back wings with variable taper ratio seems to be an alternative for improving aircraft's aerodynamic efficiency.