Beta Testers Wanted for my Add-In (Airfoil Tools) - testing import, export, update, foils, struts, and turbines

[OceanHydroAU]

Hi Everyone!  I've made LOADS of updates and additions to my product.  If you can spare 10 or so minutes to "try and break it" for me, I'd be *extremely* grateful.  I've tested it HEAPS myself, but mostly only on my Mac, so I need some Windows users to go over it, plus more Mac (Apple recently changed how programs install on OSX)...

Things that need checking include...

Updates: (your store add-in should tell you there's an update, and it should update if you click the box to do that)

Help and Documentation: do I explain everything well enough?

Import: (I do extensive repairs etc - it works with all 3000+ airfoils I've found around the internet, but who know what other file weirdness might be lurking out that which I still need to know about to repair)

 

Export: Does it write stuff out the way you need, and work OK, and import it OK again?

 

Foils and Struts - all new foils and struts are here, plus new cool things to do with them, plus a load of bug fixes

 

Turbines - do they function sensibly?

 

Propellers are coming next.

Interested? THANKS!! Reply here, or email me: OceanHydroAU@gmail.com 

[maccleery]

Amazing work! These are terrific improvements that are going to be valuable for the development of our tethered wind turbine electricity generation drones. For example, we are building large wings with chords on the order of 0.6 meters, so having the ability to set the number of spline points is important to end up with smooth curves.

We are looking forward to the airfoil polars export capability you are working on, so we can more easily simulate the wings in X-Plane before manufacturing and flying them in the real world. The .DAT import/export is a nice step in that direction (by making it easier to calculate the polars externally.) 

BTW, another feature that would be amazing would be the ability to automatically include control surfaces like ailerons, and perhaps even placing actuators like servos inside the wings. 

THANK YOU for the big investments you are making! This is an amazing tool. 

[OceanHydroAU]

Hi,

Yes, export already semi-works now in the beta. I still need to code automatic re-orientation (XY as well as Z), "nose-tail detection", and unwrap, as well as test that my normalization works OK on "extremely non-unit shapes".  Regardless of all that - export, then re-import (which does all the fixups already), then export again will produce something perfect for analysis.

Performance analysis also work as well, but it only produces numbers at this stage, and lots of them, not pretty charts or anything.  It's impossible to describe just how much time it takes to design these to be both useful and attractive, especially when numbers can vary so much in scale.

CFD Optimisation also works as well (takes about 1 day to run), but there's about 100 input parameters for each run, so it's going to be a mega-pile of work to turn those into a user-interface that normal people can use!

3D shapes are a long way down my "to do" list - I want to fully sort out all the 2D stuff first, then finish my "AFD" setup (CFD = computational fluid dynamics - computers pretending to make stuff better.  AFD = actual fluid dynamics - three-d printers making real foils that are analyzed in real life and iterated to make them better.) so that when my code inserts wings and props and so on, I can guarantee they'll perform exactly how I say in real life - because "real life" is where they came from.

Have you looked at https://www.aeolus-aero.com/ ? My code does the sections right now, and his code does their arrangement - a nice synergy.

[hommelm]

Hi,
the tool looks not bad, i had to test a little bit more.
There is one Question. Is there a possibility to open the trailing edge from the profile to an given measurement.
If i construct a wing to manufacture a laminating form i need not a trailing edge with "0". 
Normally i draw a line with the measurement i need cross the center then i turn uper and under Spline around the center point at the leading edge to open the profile at the end. Then i set the leading edge to tangential so that the nose radius goes not to the inside. At the end i close the upper and under spline with the line at the trailing edge. 
At the end it looks like the profile at the picture.

Can you do this automatic with your tool over a query about the thickness from the trailing edge ?

 

[OceanHydroAU]

Hi, yes, that's the "Min Thickness" option which is available in the current beta release.

You might also like the "Camber line" option as well, which inserts the camber line along with extended ends, which can be used a the mold parting line (e.g. if you're making these from pre-preg carbon fibre).

 

 

[phill_scott]

I design all my wings using my own tools and process, so will check this and ASP out to see if they're an improvement. 

Have you looked at any verification cases and geometry to baseline your code against?

[OceanHydroAU]

I've done assorted tests with 3D-printed models (wings for lift and Cm, turbines (air and water) for RPM and power, and revolved struts for cowling drag) using scales and measures.

I've just taken delivery of about $500 worth of instrumentation for the automated test stand I'm constructing - my "next phase" of optimisation is to move away from CFD and on to "AFD" (*Actual* fluid dynamics): initially it's for drone props (static thrust tests are much easier) but it's designed also for moving ones (entire test rig revolves for automation, and mounts to my car for verification).  Designs are 3D printed on my SLA machine, extensively analyzed (including front and back profile airflows, sound, thrust, torque, etc across a wide RPM range) and my CFD particle-swarms are then augmented by AFD genetic optimisation.

This is a big project - I've been working more than 8 years on this so far...

What's your existing tools/process?  I'm very interested to hear how other people are doing this - most of the papers/doc I read online are people who just pick something someone else recommended, or "fake" CFD designers who (if they bother at all) only do limited validation, and if they do, they (without actually confessing) typically adjust their CFD to match the experiment, so it's not actually validating anything (validation means *checking *the CFD matches, not *changing* the CFD to match after it didn't work first try), with no guarantees that results work for any other cases...

"improvement" is of course very specific to whatever your goals are - my system has a wide range of targets.  The built-in database is optimised for superior L/D (or 1/D for struts) at +/- 6 degree AoA.  I'm using the "share" option in my code to develop add-on shapes that are additionally optimised for a wider range of Re at the same time.  My AFD code will be optimising for noise-reduction and improved thrust with reduced unwanted torque.  I've got plans to let people set their own optimum targets in future - the CFD takes about 1 to 7 days to run per-foil, depending on which targets you've chosen.  I'm not yet sure how fast the AFD is going to be - I can print about 20 x 300mm small props at once, taking about a day to make and another day to test.