Abstract—This study focused on determining the aerodynamic performances of a homebuilt aircraft wing model developed from the NACA 23012 airfoil model with a thickness to chord ratio (t/c) of 12%. The performances are indicated by the lift coefficient (CL) and drag coefficient (CD) which were determined using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and an experiment conducted on the subsonic wind tunnel. A freestream velocity (U) of 40 m/s was applied while the angles of attack (α) were varied at -5˚, 0˚, 5˚, 10˚, 15˚, and 20˚ and the flap angles at -15˚, 0˚, 15˚, 30˚, and 45˚. The results showed that the alteration of the flap angles increased the maximum CL and CD values. This was indicated by the maximum value of 2.357 and 2.2084 recorded for the CL at 15˚ angle of attack and 45˚ flap angle for the computation analysis and experiment respectively. Meanwhile, the maximum value of CD was 1.2563 at a 20˚ angle of attack and 45˚ flap angle for the computational analysis. The CL/CD ratio was found to be 1.5501 at the particular position of the airfoil while the maximum value was 9.2982 at 0˚ angle of attack and 15˚ flap angle.

Index Terms—airfoil, angle of attack, flap angle, computational fluid dynamics, lift coefficient, drag coefficient

Cite: Nasaruddin Salam, Rustan Tarakka, Jalaluddin, Dandhy Iriansyah, and Muhammad Ihsan, "The Effects of Flap Angles on the Aerodynamic Performances of a Homebuilt Aircraft Wing Model," International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, Vol. 11, No. 12, pp. 908-914, December 2022. DOI: 10.18178/ijmerr.11.12.908-914

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