What is aerodynamics the study of

AIA papers are now available with open access without page charges from the authors. All manuscripts submitted to AIA will go through a peer reviewing process. Only papers with novelty and significant contribution in aerodynamics will be published. AIA invites researchers to submit their papers to this new journal.

The topics can be original research output, comprehensive review, innovative engineering applications, and technical improvements in all fields of aerodynamics. Papers from emerging multidisciplinary subjects are sincerely welcome. It has an international membership of renowned aerodynamicists from institutions worldwide. The editorial board will take great efforts to ensure the publications of high-quality articles.

AIA will provide a platform for fast publication of comprehensive studies on the frontier of aerodynamics. The Center of Pressure CP is a point where the force generated by the total sum of the surface pressure acts.

This force can be calculated as the surface integral of the pressure field and can be used to calculate the stability of an aerodynamic body.

For example, when analyzing the aerodynamics of a bullet shot from a gun, the distance between the CP and the center of gravity can create a rotating moment thus making the projectile less accurate. Easily speaking you can imagine the Center of Pressure as something like the center of gravity where the average weight of an object is. The center of gravity of a hammer, for example, is far away from the middle because the handle is usually a lot lighter than the head.

The same goes for aerodynamics. The center of pressure allows engineers to balance the lift of an aircraft. This quantity describes the relative pressures in an incompressible flow and can be calculated as. In aerodynamics, the description, measurement, and simulation of a near wall velocity and other quantities are always a challenge. As the flow decelerates rapidly near a solid wall, the viscosity effects become significant in a thin region also known as the boundary layer.

Boundary layers are classified into two main groups: laminar boundary layers at low Reynolds numbers and turbulent boundary layers at high Reynolds numbers. Read more about Reynolds number here.

Turbulence plays a significant role in aerodynamics. Turbulence is by nature a chaotic, irregular phenomenon observed in less viscous fluids. In general, unsteady vortices appear in many sizes in the flow field and interact with each other and the solid body which usually generates them. Capturing the turbulence accurately has troubled the CFD community for years yet there are several ways using which one can simulate them effectively to achieve accurate aerodynamic results.

What is turbulent flow? Would you like to perform aerodynamic analysis? Within few seconds you can create a SimScale account and access tutorials, validation cases, public projects, etc. Give SimScale a try! There are countless applications that can be associated with aerodynamics. Almost all the transportation devices and big structures we have around experience airflow in and around them and an accurate airflow analysis will result in the efficient design of these entities.

Following are some of the many areas where aerodynamics analysis is paramount:. As described in the History above, the first studies of aerodynamics appeared with the desire of flight. Later on, the aerospace industry and its continuous research and development on aircraft required many mathematical models, measurement devices, wind tunnels and so on, all designed to understand aerodynamics better. Nowadays it is a key field of study to reduce emissions, reduce environmental noise and improve human comfort.

The terms lift, drag, and moment commonly appear in the design process of an aircraft. The automotive industry is very competitive these days. With the desire to build environmentally friendly or even zero-emission vehicles, the reduction of drag is a key aspect of the development process. Brake cooling and HVAC airflow can also be mentioned here as some of the main topics of aerodynamics. The importance of lift force appears mostly when studying stability and when designing race vehicles.

With the continuous improvement of performance in sports, the aerodynamics of race bikes, swimmers, Formula 1 cars is becoming more and more important. In a competition, where even milliseconds count, the reduction of the drag by 0. Modern CFD tools allow the engineers to simulate tiny to extremely large scale bodies in many different scenarios.

As shown in Figure 6, the aerodynamic profile of a biker can have a significant influence on the efforts provided by the biker to achieve higher speeds. Especially the shape of the rims and the seatpost can have a huge influence on the aerodynamic performance as they can create a lot of turbulence. Turbulence should be avoided for the best possible performance. Here usually pressure losses are calculated as a result of viscous aerodynamic forces, separation at corners and bendings and sudden expansions.

In the case of tall buildings and skyscrapers forces due to wind loads can be quite significant due to their large surface area. Besides the wind load force on the structure, pedestrian comfort can be also assessed at lower levels. Separations on the structure as well as high-speed regions can affect humans, making it sometimes impossible to even walk. Building and urban aerodynamicists simulate those scenarios with CFD tools these days.

A very important technology towards sustainable energy resources is the wind turbine. As it usually consists of 3 aerofoils placed in an airflow, all the aspects of aerodynamics are present. Drag is used as a measure of the efficiency of the turbine, and lift as a measure of the power extracted from the wind. Moments are used to calculate the loads on the blades. SimScale provides a very interesting Project Spotlight about the optimization of wind turbine blades. Go and check it out if you are interested in finding out more about this interesting topic.

This can occur at any airspeed, in any attitude, with any power setting. The air no longer flows along the top surface but instead breaks away and forms turbulent swirls on top of the wing. This causes the plane to lose lift and start to fall, sometimes rather abruptly. Another thing that can happen in an airplane is a spin. The Airplane Flying Handbook defines a spin as "an aggravated stall that results in what is termed 'autorotation' wherein the airplane follows a downward corkscrew path.

One reason for this is the danger of going into a flat spin in which both wings and all of the control surfaces are stalled, and the aircraft falls like a maple tree seed.

Automobiles started using aerodynamic body shapes in the early part of their history. As engines became more powerful and cars became faster, automobile engineers realized that wind resistance significantly hindered their speed. The first cars to adopt improved aerodynamics, or streamlining, were racing cars and those attempting to break the land speed record.

Regarding the aerodynamics of a racing car , Dr. Joe David, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and known as "Mr. Stock Car" at North Carolina State University, said, "Most of the horsepower generated by a racing engine is eaten up by the high-pressure air pushing the front of the car and the low-pressure air — a partial vacuum — dragging at the car from behind. However, drag cannot be the only consideration. While lift is desirable for an airplane, it can be dangerous for an automobile.

In order to maintain better control for steering and braking, cars are designed so the wind exerts a downward force as their speed increases. However, increasing this downward force increases drag, which in turn increases fuel consumption and limits speed, so these two forces must be carefully balanced.

Many classes of racing cars use movable winglike airfoils to adjust the downward force of the air on the car. When setting up a racing car, one must also consider turbulence caused by other cars on the track.

This requires setting the airfoils on the car to produce a greater downward force during the race than is needed for qualifying when the car is on the track by itself. This is why lap times during qualification are usually much faster than they are during the race. Many of the same aerodynamic principles used in racing also apply to regular cars and trucks.