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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Computational Study On Suppression Of Airfoil Flow Separation Using High-Frequency Translational Surface Actuation, Bibek Gupta Apr 2021

Computational Study On Suppression Of Airfoil Flow Separation Using High-Frequency Translational Surface Actuation, Bibek Gupta

Honors Theses

Flow separation is a phenomenon that occurs when pressure increases in the streamwise direction of a flow, making a distinctive boundary layer or separation bubble. It causes aircraft to experience an increase in drag and noise and a decrease in a lift, hence degrading their aviation performance. This study uses numerical simulations to understand better the effects of high-frequency translational surface actuation (HFTSA) on flow separation control. The numerical simulations mimic the experimental parameters of an experiment performed by Okoye et al. on using the HFTSA system to control flow separation. A symmetrical airfoil structure of chord length of 0.3 …


Effects Of Superhydrophobic Aerogel Surface Coatings On Drag Reduction, Robin A. Barabasz Jun 2011

Effects Of Superhydrophobic Aerogel Surface Coatings On Drag Reduction, Robin A. Barabasz

Honors Theses

The objective of this project was to determine if superhydrophobic aerogel-based surface coatings have an effect on hydrodynamic drag. Superhydrophobic aerogels were fabricated using Union College’s patented rapid supercritical extraction technique. These aerogels were crushed and combined with a perfluorinated ion-exchange membrane to create a superhydrophobic coating that can be painted on to surfaces. These coatings are 250% aerogel by weight to Nafion in solution, and exhibit an average contact angle with water of 160°. An investigation of the aerogel powders and films using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed that the most successful films had an average aerogel material …