Swept wing aerodynamics at transonic speeds and at different turbulence levels

Swept wings are widely used in commercial Aircraft’s to cruise at transonic speeds with drag comparatively less than straight wings at transonic speed conditions. On the other hand trainer aircrafts both for commercial and defence trainings are preferred with swept wings to attain higher critical Mach speeds which is very less in straight wing trainer Aircraft’s. Swept wings are preferred for its high lift to drag ratio low speed takeoff conditions and for near sonic flight operating conditions. Much research work on swept wings were done in past and many more are being carried out by different research centres around the globe and aircraft manufacturer’s, but still the performance and aerodynamics of swept wings at transonic speeds and under different Turbulence levels and conditions is a grey area which needs to be addressed. In this paper two different configuration of swept wing (300 and 400 sweep) is analyzed and presented for two different Transonic speeds of 0.7 Mach and 0.9 Mach. The 3D wing model analyzed and presented in this paper is of NACA2412 profile. The lift and drag coefficient of this 3d wing at 00AOA and at 40AOA is tabulated in this paper for two of sweep angles 300 and 400. K-ω SST Turbulence model is used with Ansys Fluent as CFD software. The wing model is analyzed at four different Turbulence intensity levels of 2%, 5%, 10% and 15% and the results are tabulated. Pressure plot and Mach number plot of wing at symmetric section is shown at 00 and 40AOA and at different operating speeds of 0.7 and 0.9Mach. High altitude environment conditions are considered for this analysis since the commercial aircraft and defence trainer aircrafts are meant to operate at high altitudes. Also an overview of the Swept wing flow instabilities and flow transitions are briefed in this paper.