RVC - OWL

AERODYNAMIC SIMULATION REPORT

DATE: ACCURACY:

2023-05-12 REGULAR
TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION 3

PROJECT DETAILS 3

DISCLAIMER 3

3D 4
MODEL

BOUNDING BOX DIMENSIONS 4

VIEWS 5

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS 7

FORCES 7

MOMENTS 8

CONVERGENCE 8

DRAG COEFFICIENT 9

FORCE AND POWER CURVES 9

DRAG ANALYSIS 10

3D PRESSURE CLOUDS 10

SURFACE PRESSURE 13

SURFACE FRICTION 16

FLOW ANALYSIS 19

STREAMLINES 20

Vertical 20

Horizontal 22

2D SECTIONS 24

Velocity 24

Pressure 25

NOISE ANALYSIS 26
INTRODUCTION

Thank you for choosing airshaper to analyze & optimize the aerodynamics of your design. We hope that this
report will provide you with the necessary insight. Should you require further assistance, feel free to get in touch
with our experts via info@airshaper.com

PROJECT DETAILS

Project name RVC - Owl

Date 2023-05-12

Location Above the ground

Motion Static

Fluid Air

3D file lilymodel120mm.stl

Rotation - X Y Z [°] 180.0, 0.0, 90.0

Units mm

Scale 7.22858

wind speed [m/s] 7.88

Temperature [°C] 15

Density [kg/m³] 1.225

Atmospheric pressure [Pa] 101300

Blockage factor [%] 8.19e-01

Calculation algorithm v2206

Solver type RANS - steady state

Turbulence model k-omega SST

Number of cells 9.986.575

DISCLAIMER

Calculation results provided by airshaper are based on a “virtual wind tunnel”. The size of this virtual wind tunnel
is much larger than the flow phenomena you see on the following images. So don’t worry, your model was not
“clamped” between virtual walls.

No matter how accurate, simulations are always a simplification of reality, containing modeling, discretization and
iteration errors. Therefore, especially in safety critical applications, we always recommend to perform a physical
wind tunnel test. To find a wind tunnel institute suited for your project, please contact us at info@airshaper.com

3
3D MODEL

These are the dimensions of the bounding box around the object after rotation and scaling - according to the
dimensions of the virtual wind tunnel (X = flow direction, Y = sideways, Z = vertical)

BOUNDING BOX DIMENSIONS

X [m] 3.06e-01

Y [m] 8.70e-01

Z [m] 1.04e-01

Frontal surface area [m²] 2.48e-02

4
VIEWS
3D view

Front view

5
Top view

Side view

6
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

FORCES
The force generated on the object by the wind has three components:

Fx - Drag force: Along the direction of the wind

Fy - Lateral force: Perpendicular to the direction of the wind - horizontal

Fz - Lift force: Perpendicular to the direction of the wind - vertical

There are two ways in which the wind generates force:

Pressure force: arises from the pressure difference between two opposite sides of an object. It is the sum of all
the local forces pushing or pulling perpendicular to the surface.
Friction force: arises from the wind sliding across the surface of the object. It is the sum of all the local friction
forces parallel to the surface.

Note:
Negative values indicate a force acting in the direction opposite to the arrows shown below.
Original coordinate system: origin location & axis orientation as provided with the original 3D file
Wind tunnel coordinate system (shown on images): origin set to the center of the object and the axes aligned
with the air vector

WIND TUNNEL COORDINATE SYSTEM

Fx Fy Fz

Pressure 0.14 N (0.01 kg) 0.04 N (0.01 kg) 1.68 N (0.17 kg)

Friction 0.09 N (0.01 kg) 0.00 N (0.00 kg) 0.00 N (0.00 kg)

Total 0.24 N (0.02 kg) 0.05 N (0.01 kg) 1.68 N (0.17 kg)

ORIGINAL COORDINATE SYSTEM

Fx Fy Fz

Pressure -0.04 N (-0.01 kg) -0.14 N (-0.01 kg) -1.68 N (-0.17 kg)

Friction -0.00 N (-0.00 kg) -0.09 N (-0.01 kg) -0.00 N (-0.00 kg)

Total -0.05 N (-0.01 kg) -0.24 N (-0.02 kg) -1.68 N (-0.17 kg)

7
MOMENTS
The moments have been calculated around the global coordinate system as defined in the uploaded 3D model.
Moments also have a friction & pressure component and have been calculated around the X, Y and Z axis.

WIND TUNNEL COORDINATE SYSTEM

Mx My Mz

Pressure 0.04 Nm (0.00 kg·m) 0.05 Nm (0.01 kg·m) -0.00 Nm (-0.00 kg·m)

Friction 0.00 Nm (0.00 kg·m) 0.00 Nm (0.00 kg·m) -0.00 Nm (-0.00 kg·m)

Total 0.04 Nm (0.00 kg·m) 0.05 Nm (0.01 kg·m) -0.00 Nm (-0.00 kg·m)

ORIGINAL COORDINATE SYSTEM

Mx My Mz

Pressure 0.01 Nm (0.00 kg·m) -0.05 Nm (-0.01 kg·m) 0.00 Nm (0.00 kg·m)

Friction 0.00 Nm (0.00 kg·m) -0.00 Nm (-0.00 kg·m) 0.00 Nm (0.00 kg·m)

Total 0.02 Nm (0.00 kg·m) -0.05 Nm (-0.01 kg·m) 0.00 Nm (0.00 kg·m)

CONVERGENCE
Total Force (N)

Iterations
Convergence detected after 399 iterations

Force averaging window (301 iterations)

8
DRAG COEFFICIENT
Drag, or air resistance, is the force of the wind on an object in the direction of the wind. It is composed of
pressure drag (pushing/pulling normal the surface) and friction drag (sliding over the surface). In most cases the
pressure drag is dominant.
The drag coefficient is a dimensionless quantity that indicates the aerodynamic resistance of an object moving
through its medium. It is defined as follows (note: the Cd value in this report has been corrected for blockage):

The scale below illustrates typical Cd values (NASA and Wikipedia). More streamlined objects will have a low Cd,
less streamlines objects will have a high Cd. The Cd of your project has been indicated as well. Please note that
this is an indicative figure, mainly suited for comparing different concepts. For a highly accurate value, contact us
at info@airshaper.com.

0.249
FORCE AND POWER CURVES
The Cd provides a measure for the aerodynamic efficiency of an object. By approximation, the actual drag force
Fd on the object as well as the power required to propel it will vary in function of the wind speed according the
following formula:

For your project, that leads to the force & power curves shown below. Please keep in mind that this curve is an
estimation, based on extrapolation from the simulation wind speed. For more accurate forces at a given velocity,
please perform a simulation for that velocity.

Drag Force Fd(N) Required Power P(W)

2.35e-01 N 1.85 W

Velocity (m/s) Velocity (m/s)

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DRAG ANALYSIS

3D PRESSURE CLOUDS
Underpressure zones are areas with a pressure lower than that of the local surrounding air. Often these zones
are caused by abrupt changes in shape, most pronounced by abrupt changes in cross section or surface
geometry. Smooth these out to lower drag.

The following images provide insight into which features of your object are causing drag by showing “clouds” of
low pressure.

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 3D view

Total pressure coefficient (Cp)

Front view

11
Top view

Side view

12
SURFACE PRESSURE
Air impacts the object and this creates overpressure. The highest pressure is reached when the air comes to a
complete standstill (with respect to the object), for example at the nose of a car. It’s called the stagnation point
and the pressure at that location is the stagnation pressure (corresponding to a static pressure coefficient, or
Cps, of +1)

The more perpendicular a forward-facing surface is to the flow, the more likely it will create overpressure and
thus drag. Likewise, a backward-facing surface experiencing underpressure (a negative pressure coefficient) will
pull the object backwards, again creating drag. Try to reduce peaks in overpressure and underpressure by
smoothing the surface at peak locations, critical transitions etc. to recude drag.

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 3D view

Cps
1.00

5.00e-01

0.00

-5.00e-01

-1.00

Front view

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Top view

Side view

15
SURFACE FRICTION
Friction drag is caused by air sliding across the surface, generating friction in the process. The faster the air
moves along a surface, the higher the friction force. A smooth surface (a coating with low roughness for
example) can reduce friction drag.

The following images show the friction drag, mapped in color on the surface of your object. Although friction
drag typically contributes only a small amount to the total drag, it might be worth to try and re-route some of the
air to reduce it.

Also shown are streamlines, showing the pattern followed when air moves across the surface. This allows you to
find locations where detachment occurs: as long as the flow is able to follow the surface (attached flow), you will
see rather straight streamlines and at least some shear (color green to red) force associated with it. Once the
flow detaches, it will start to swirl (curly streamlines) and move slower with respect to the surface (lower shear
forces – color towards blue). To optimize airflow, look at these detachment spots and try to make transitions &
angles smoother.

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 3D view

Friction (N/m2)
4.00e-01

3.00e-01

2.00e-01

1.00e-01

0.00

Front view

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Top view

Side view

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FLOW ANALYSIS

Understanding the way the wind flows past your object is the basis for optimizing your design. In physical wind
tunnels, this is often done by releasing smoke (small oil droplets) in the air, upstream of the object, as illustrated
below (image courtesy of Paul Selhi).

These streamlines can provide multiple insights. First of all, it allows to spot laminar flow zones (steady
streamlines) and turbulent zones (swirling streamlines). The transition from laminar to turbulent often occurs
when the airflow is unable to follow the surface of the object, because the “negative angle” of the surface is too
large or because of a geometrical disturbance in the surface. This is called separation which, in most cases,
increases drag.

Another observation is the compression and expansion of these streamlines (the density of the streamlines). As
the air can be considered as incompressible, the air needs to speed up when the available cross section narrows.
Speeding up and slowing down air, by changes in geometry / cross section, can again be a source of drag.
Reducing these changes in velocity, by smoothing these geometry / cross section changes, can reduce drag.

In the virtual world, the streamlines can be colored by the velocity, allowing to detect increases/decreases in
velocity directly and not just via streamline density. The images below show the streamlines (the trajectory a
weightless particle would follow when released in the air) both for a vertical and horizontal array of “smoke”
sources.

A second, more advanced visualization technique in physical wind tunnels is to light up a 2D plane with a laser
and film it from a direction perpendicular to this plane (see images above – courtesy of Flanders Bike Valley and
formula1-dictionary.net). This makes it possible to detect in-plane movement patterns of “particles”. This is
shown in the second series of images, 2D flow patterns, colored by velocity and by pressure.

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STREAMLINES
VERTICAL
3D view

Velocity (m/s)
11.82

8.87

5.91

2.96

0.00

Front view

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Top view

Side view

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HORIZONTAL
3D view

Velocity (m/s)
11.82

8.87

5.91

2.96

0.00

Front view

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Top view

Side view

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2D SECTIONS
VELOCITY
Top view

Velocity (m/s)
11.82

8.87

5.91

2.96

0.00

Side view

24
PRESSURE
Top view

Pressure (Pa)
1.00

5.00e-01

0.00

-5.00e-01

-1.00

Side view

25
NOISE ANALYSIS

Noise estimation by means of simulations is an advanced field of engineering. Therefore, more simplified models
('acoustic analogies') have been introduced to obtain a rough estimation of the local noise generation without
going through prohibitively expensive simulations.

To reduce the noise generation in your design, look for the origin of these “noise clouds” in the following images.
Typically, noise is generated slightly downstream of the location where the flow is disturbed. Smoothen the
source and you can reduce noise generation. Avoid cavities and external parts.

26
 3D view

Noise (dB/m3)
3.88e-01

1.39

2.39

Side view

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Front view

Top view

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Back view

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