Computational investigation of biomimetic surface pattern to enhance the fluid flow over a surface

Abstract

In aerospace and mechanical industries, fluid flow analysis plays a major role. Owing to the increased use of smooth surfaced objects in fluid flow, the need to reduce the disturbances further gained its spotlight. Previous researches on fluid flows evidenced the existence of instabilities in the flow regime. Although there are many solutions to minimise the viscous forces in fluid flow, most of these are not applicable to both internal and external flows. This great barrier had been overcome at the end of this computational investigation. The identified bio-inspired solution was examined in this research work to reduce the viscous disturbances in both internal and external fluid flows. newlineNACA 0012 aerofoil and butterfly valve was taken into consideration for external and internal flow studies, respectively. Computational analysis was carried out with the help of SOLIDWORKS and ANSYS. At first, fully horizontal designs like NACA 0012 at 00 AOA and butterfly valve at 900 AOP, were analysed in external-air-flow and internal-water-flow, separately. Obtained results of NACA 0012 were validated against experimental values with the help of model and grid compatibility tests. Grid refinement test was done to evaluate the stability of results obtained from butterfly valves analysed in the internal flow regime. Computational details like viscous model, mesh size, and solution methods were determined at the end of validation. newline newline