Optimization of the compound wing parameters in ground effect using full factorial design of experiment

Abstract

This research was a part of the Wing-In-Ground (WIG) craft development project. Parametric optimization of the compound wing parameters in ground effect is processed with computational fluid dynamic codes on full factorial design of experimental arrangement. The compound wing geometry was created by SolidWorks and Ansys Fluent is applied for evaluating the aerodynamic coefficients of NACA 4412 airfoil on various angles of attack and ground clearance. Results were validated by calculating the percent error with the existing published researches. After that, a variety of design parameters of the compound wing at constant angle of attack and ground clearance are altered to generate the aerodynamic coefficients. The variation of the three design parameters, aspect ratio varies from 1.5 to 2, span ratio from 3 to 4 and anhedral angle from 9 to 13, were arranged with the 3 k full factorial design of experiment and analyzed the result with ANOVA. Aspect ratio is recognized as the most important parameter which affect the aerodynamic efficiency following by the anhedral angle and span ratio. From regression, the optimized values of the three parameters are obtained and confirmed that they are accurate enough by comparing with the simulated results.