Numerical Study of the High-Lift Aerodynamic Characteristics of Dropped Hinge Flap Coupled with Drooped Spoiler

In this paper, the commercial code FLUENT is employed to evaluate the aerodynamic characteristics of high-lift multi-element airfoils. A two-element airfoil consisting of a leading edge droop nose, a trailing edge dropped hinge flap, as well as a drooped spoiler is designed based on the SC(2)-0410 supercritical airfoil and the GA(W)-2 flap. Parametric study is conducted to analyze the aerodynamic influences of the deflections of the dropped hinge flap and the drooped spoiler. Then, comparison is made between the dropped hinge flap coupled with the drooped spoiler and a conventional Fowler flap without spoiler drooping, given the identical leading edge droop nose. Numerical simulation results show that: (1) With the same flap deflection, the lift coefficient slightly increases at small angles of attack and slightly decreases at large angles of attack, as the spoiler deflection increases; (2) With the same spoiler deflection, the lift coefficient remarkably increases at both small and large angles of attack, as the flap deflection increases; (3) With the same flap deflection of 30°, dropped hinge flap with drooped spoiler obtains a higher lift coefficient at small angles of attack and a lower lift coefficient at large angles of attack, compared to Fowler flap; (4) By increasing the dropped hinge flap deflection to 40°, dropped hinge flap with drooped spoiler obtains a higher lift coefficient at both small and large angles of attack, compared to the original Fowler flap.