Aerodynamics

Summary

This course will provide the fluid dynamic background to understand how air flows around two- and three-dimensional wings and bodies and to understand and calculate the aerodynamics forces and moments acting on the objects as a result of the air flow.

Content

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Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

• Describe the physical behaviour of a flow in scientific terms, AH1
• Link flow behaviour with non-dimensional parameters (e.g. Reynolds and Mach numbers), AH2
• Describe the physical differences between laminar and turbulent flows, AH4
• Describe in detail the physical phenomena associated with the interaction of a flow with a solid wall (as a function of its characteristics, e.g. roughness), AH5
• Describe flow in simple geometries, such as over a flat plate, in a tube, or around a sphere or airfoil, AH9
• Work out / Determine the flight characteristics from a wing shape and chose a wing shape to provide the desired flight characteristics, AH10
• Describe 3D effects resulting, for example, from a finite wing span or behind a blunt body, AH11
• Solve analytically or numerically the potential flow around an airfoil, AH19

Transversal skills

• Write a scientific or technical report.
• Summarize an article or a technical report.

Teaching methods

In-person lectures
Exercise sessions

Expected student activities

Attendance and participation in lectures and exercise sessions.
Group project on airfoil characterisation during the sememster.

Assessment methods

Written examination (70%)
Airfoil characterisation project with written report during the semester (30%)

Supervision

Office hours	No
Assistants	Yes
Forum	No

Resources

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)

No

Ressources en bibliothèque

• Aerodynamics for engineering students / Houghton
• Fundamentals of Aerodynamics / Anderson

Moodle Link

• https://go.epfl.ch/ME-445

Videos

• https://mediaspace.epfl.ch/channel/ME-445%2BAerodynamics/30095