Study of flow control mechanisms with OpenFOAM

The main focus of the study is the implementation of a Zero-Net-Mass-Flux (ZNMF)boundary condition on the airfoil NACA 4415, with the intention of evaluating the ef-fects of an Active Flow Control (AFC) mechanism in the boundary layer and in theairfoil performance. The structure of the current Thesis begins with an introduction onComputational Fluid Dynamics, the definition of an OpenFOAM case and a brief de-scription on periodic forcing Active Flow Control mechanisms, composing the Chapter 1.The Chapter 2 consists in the definition of the geometric and phyisical conditions of thestudy and overviews the procedure to implement AFC. The description and execution ofthe computational domain is addressed in Chapter 3 with its respective quality check.Having the finite volume discretization of the domain, the Chapter 4 presents the Open-FOAM set up. A mesh independency test is carried out in Chapter 5 in order to selectthe proper mesh to follow the study. The results obtained of the Baseline case are anal-ysed in Chapter 6 with the aim of implementing the slot of the ZNMF, afterwards, theAFC parameters are defined and the new mesh and boundary conditions are generated.In Chapter 7 the results are exposed making a comparative study with different inletvelocity configurations. Finally, the conclusions of the Thesis are discussed in Chaper 8and the future work of the study is presented