Computation of the ground effect to the airfoil by singularity method

Abstract

Analytic solution of airfoil flow affected by ground is given by Fredholm integral equation of second kind. The numerical procedure for calculation of the integral equation can be given by linear equation system of prescribed vorticity distribution over the airfoil surface. When the airfoil is in the vicinity of the ground, for the case of take-off and landing, the aerodynamic characteristics are influenced by the ground. This thesis considers the effect of the ground to the lift and pressure distribution by replacing the image of isolated airfoil to the ground with concentrated single circulation instead of multiple local vortex distribution over the image airfoil surface. The analytical solution obtained by this simplified image vortex system reduces the computation time considerably and yet its accuracy is acceptable compared to the experimental data.