Design modification of airfoil by integrating sinusoidal leading edge and dimpled surface

Airfoil is widely used for aircraft wings and blades of helicopters, turbines, propellers, fans and compressors. Many researches have been conducted on focusing the leading edge, surface and trailing edge of airfoil in order to maximize airfoil lift and to reduce drag. Literature shows that using protuberances along the leading edge of NACA 2412, it is possible to attain better performance from the baseline. Besides, the inward dimpled surface of NACA 0018 produces lesser drag at a positive angle of attacks. However, there is no literature that integrates sinusoidal leading edge and dimpled to attain the benefits of the both. In this study, simulation has been done for design improvement of airfoil by integrating sinusoidal leading edge and dimpled surface. Simulations have been run using finite element method environment. Significant improvement has been observed from the simulation results.