Analyzing a NACA 23012 Airfoil Composed of a Double-Slotted Fowler Flap and a Leading-Edge Handley-Page Slat with the Use of Computational Fluid Dynamics

Today, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is more commonly used in aerospace industry, and becoming an essential engineering tool. CFD is largely being used as a preliminary design tool, and often accompanied by wind tunnel test for modeling validation. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), Prescott campus, one of the few universities in the U.S. to provide strong undergraduate hands-on CFD curriculum, allowed a group of students the opportunity to model flow over two different airfoils using CFD applications and also with the use of a subsonic wind tunnel for CFD validations. A NACA 23012 airfoil with a double slotted Fowler flap and a leading edge Handley-Page slat was created for the purpose of this analysis. This research effort is an example of using both structured and unstructured grid CFD to expose students at an undergraduate level and to recognize its relationship between experimental data on an aircraft wing design.