Effect of Cambering on the Aerodynamic Performance of Heaving Airfoils

In the present work, a parametric numerical study is conducted in order to assess the effect of airfoil cambering on the aerodynamic performance of rigid heaving airfoils. The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are solved in their velocity-pressure formulation using a second-order accurate in space and time finite-difference scheme. To tackle the problem of moving boundaries, the governing equations are solved on overlapping structured grids. The numerical simulations are performed at a Reynolds number of Re = 1100 and at different values of Strouhal number and reduced frequency. The results obtained show that the airfoil cambering geometric parameter has a strong influence on the average lift coefficient, while it has a smaller impact on the average thrust coefficient and propulsive efficiency of heaving airfoils.