Airfoil design in solidworks/floworks

zelito · May 31, 2009, 10:19

Hi guys,

some time ago I found a very nice guideline for airfoil design in Solidworks that could be useful for some people here.

http://www.dur.ac.uk/g.l.ingram/down...ofoilGuide.pdf

take a look in the link.
It's quite simple and useful if you use data from airfoils data files.

Cheers

hamedhpt · September 3, 2009, 11:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by zelito

Hi guys,

some time ago I found a very nice guideline for airfoil design in Solidworks that could be useful for some people here.

http://www.dur.ac.uk/g.l.ingram/down...ofoilGuide.pdf

take a look in the link.
It's quite simple and useful if you use data from airfoils data files.Cheers

Thanks.It was so useful.

but how can we get the coordinates of an airfoil?

zelito · September 3, 2009, 12:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by hamedhpt

Thanks.It was so useful.

but how can we get the coordinates of an airfoil?

hi!you have two options. Either you measure or you can look in here:
http://www.ae.uiuc.edu/m-selig/ads/coord_database.html for example.

hamedhpt · September 4, 2009, 03:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by zelito

hi!you have two options. Either you measure or you can look in here:
http://www.ae.uiuc.edu/m-selig/ads/coord_database.html for example.

Oh my god

.Thank you very much zelito.

dik · January 27, 2010, 12:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by zelito

hi!you have two options. Either you measure or you can look in here:
http://www.ae.uiuc.edu/m-selig/ads/coord_database.html for example.

great zelito.. what a database!!

Vader · January 30, 2011, 10:27

Hi All

I've posted a Solidworks macro at 3D content central that creates wing sections from the UIUC database. It will also create 4 digit and 5 digit NACA wing sections directly from the equations.

Wing Section Maker

comments welcome.

Scott Vader

Archana · February 8, 2011, 23:26

A detatiled "How to do CFD analysis in a butterfly valve ?" is what i am looking for..
It would be kind of you if you could help me...
Thanks and regards
Archana

Boris_M · February 9, 2011, 07:30

Hi Archana,
from your last posts in the CFX forum I could find what you are trying to do.
If you know how to work with configurations in SolidWorks then it's easy to create several configuration, each with a different valve angle and each configuration can be a simulation project. The Projects in FloEFD are configurations and you can change an angle and apply this change only the configuration you want it to be associated with. That way you set up one project with all the project definitions such as CV, Torque and other goals and then clone it and apply each angle to one clone (configuration) and start the whole set of projects in a batch run.
That way you get all necessary data points for your valve curve.
For the large angles you often can use the same mesh settings but for smaller ones you might want to check if the mesh is good enough.
Use the equation goals to enter the equation for CV but consider the unit conversion when switching between units that have different magnitudes and would result in x-times the value of CV if not considered since FloEFD does only calculate with the values and not with the units, it's basically just a letter behind the value.

I hope this helps.
Boris

Archana · February 9, 2011, 23:16

Thank you you the good hint
the batch processing is what i have been trying to implement but getting no where

..the major problem in doing what i am trying is the basic modeling of the valve is done in another software ..So i do the assembly in solidworks and carry out the simulation..
so creating one project at one certain angle i am able to get a simulation but for varying angles is where i get lost...And Batch run is what i am trying to do but not sure how to perform it

Boris_M · February 10, 2011, 04:26

Hi Archana,

Ok, I understand. So if you have your first simulation project defined and checked that the mesh is of a good quality you check if the angle for the valve is set with a constraint in SW. They are called mates and have the symbol of a paper-clip in the design tree. If there is no angle mate that defines the position/opening of the valve you should create one. Usually if you import geometry you don't have mates and would have to define them yourself. It is the easiest to fix all parts that are not moving or rotating by selecting these parts, then right click on the selected parts and chose "fix". with that all selected parts are fixed in space and you can now define an axis and angle for rotation with a mate. To do so select the mate feature in the assembly feature list and for the axis you simply have to select the two cylindrical faces where your valve disc is hinged. For the angle it is the easiest to select two planes, one from the valve disc and the other from a fixed part. Then you can select the angle definition in the feature and set an angle.

Now click on the angle mate in the tree to mark it and you will see it appear in the CAD area. Click now in the angle in the CAD area to highlight it and then double click it so a small window "Modify" opens up. Here you can change the value and apply it in general or select the small dropdown button on the bottom right of the window where you can choose if you want to apply the value to either "This configuration", "All configurations" or "Specify configuration".
Now if you have a project already defined make sure you have the project as active configuration and then use in the Modify window "This configuration" for the value you want to simulate in this project. Then clone the project and rename the project ideally with the corresponding angle and also modify the angle after you've cloned the project to "This configuration" again so the new angle is set for the cloned project. And so on...

At the end you should have several projects and when double clicking the different configurations in the configuration manager you should see the valve angle change automatically. Now each project you have has its own angle applied.

To start the batch run now go in the menu bar in "Flow Analysis" and there in the extension "Solve" where you find "Batch Run...". Here you see all the projects listed and you can either select them one by one for which to calculate or click in the top row for "All Projects" on what you want the solver to do (Mesh or Solve etc.) then you can also select how many processors to use for the projects and you can put the projects in a certain order by selecting the projects and use the up/down buttons on the left. If you have several cores available and several licenses you can also do for example 4 projects simultaneously with one core for each project on a quad-core computer and have them being solved simultaneously.

I hope this helps,
Boris

Archana · February 11, 2011, 00:43

Thank you so much
the information was very useful
i ll try it the way you have suggusted

and let you know about how far my answers are coming
Thanks and regards
Archana

Archana · February 15, 2011, 00:24

Thank you so much the procedure you gave me was very helpful.. i performed a batch run for 6 varying degrees successfully .
Thanks for the useful information
Thanks and regards
Archana

Archana · February 17, 2011, 01:13

MR BORIS

Thanks for the help was useful
I have a small problem..
WHen i performed the angle mate in the first case i was able to change the positions of the vane by its desired angle position in the configuration tree..
but lately in another project after performing the angle mate i am not able to change the the vane position from one configuration to another..
i save the configuration using clone project (eg 40 degree) and create another angle position for say(60degree) . then when i try accessing the 40 degree configuration it displays only the 60 degree configuration.. i am confused where i am going wrong could you let me know where the mistakes could be

Thanks and Regards
Archana

Boris_M · February 26, 2011, 16:33

Hi Archana,
I would guess you accidentally said to apply the 60 degree to all configurations. That might be the reason why your newly defined 60 degree are also set for the 40 degree project. Try the other projects too. Maybe they are also on 60 degree, that would confirm this theory.

Boris

Archana · March 1, 2011, 04:08

In the dimention small tab i selcted "this configuration" and did the same procedure as suggested and got the required movement

Thank you once again for the useful information

iglal · March 24, 2011, 21:00

thx very much
I draw my airfoil now

May 31, 2009, 10:19	Airfoil design in solidworks/floworks	#1
zelito New Member Manuel Join Date: May 2009 Location: Braga, Portugal Posts: 8 Rep Power: 16	Hi guys, some time ago I found a very nice guideline for airfoil design in Solidworks that could be useful for some people here. http://www.dur.ac.uk/g.l.ingram/down...ofoilGuide.pdf take a look in the link. It's quite simple and useful if you use data from airfoils data files. Cheers Last edited by zelito; June 2, 2009 at 07:11.

January 30, 2011, 10:27	Airfoil design in Solidworks/Floworks	#6
Vader New Member Scott Vader Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 16	Hi All I've posted a Solidworks macro at 3D content central that creates wing sections from the UIUC database. It will also create 4 digit and 5 digit NACA wing sections directly from the equations. Wing Section Maker comments welcome. Scott Vader

February 15, 2011, 00:24	Thank you	#12
Archana New Member Archana Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 10 Rep Power: 15	Thank you so much the procedure you gave me was very helpful.. i performed a batch run for 6 varying degrees successfully . Thanks for the useful information Thanks and regards Archana

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February 8, 2011, 23:26		#7
Archana New Member Archana Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 10 Rep Power: 15	A detatiled "How to do CFD analysis in a butterfly valve ?" is what i am looking for.. It would be kind of you if you could help me... Thanks and regards Archana

February 9, 2011, 07:30		#8
Boris_M Disabled Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 616 Rep Power: 23	Hi Archana, from your last posts in the CFX forum I could find what you are trying to do. If you know how to work with configurations in SolidWorks then it's easy to create several configuration, each with a different valve angle and each configuration can be a simulation project. The Projects in FloEFD are configurations and you can change an angle and apply this change only the configuration you want it to be associated with. That way you set up one project with all the project definitions such as CV, Torque and other goals and then clone it and apply each angle to one clone (configuration) and start the whole set of projects in a batch run. That way you get all necessary data points for your valve curve. For the large angles you often can use the same mesh settings but for smaller ones you might want to check if the mesh is good enough. Use the equation goals to enter the equation for CV but consider the unit conversion when switching between units that have different magnitudes and would result in x-times the value of CV if not considered since FloEFD does only calculate with the values and not with the units, it's basically just a letter behind the value. I hope this helps. Boris

February 9, 2011, 23:16		#9
Archana New Member Archana Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 10 Rep Power: 15	Thank you you the good hint the batch processing is what i have been trying to implement but getting no where ..the major problem in doing what i am trying is the basic modeling of the valve is done in another software ..So i do the assembly in solidworks and carry out the simulation.. so creating one project at one certain angle i am able to get a simulation but for varying angles is where i get lost...And Batch run is what i am trying to do but not sure how to perform it

February 10, 2011, 04:26		#10
Boris_M Disabled Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 616 Rep Power: 23	Hi Archana, Ok, I understand. So if you have your first simulation project defined and checked that the mesh is of a good quality you check if the angle for the valve is set with a constraint in SW. They are called mates and have the symbol of a paper-clip in the design tree. If there is no angle mate that defines the position/opening of the valve you should create one. Usually if you import geometry you don't have mates and would have to define them yourself. It is the easiest to fix all parts that are not moving or rotating by selecting these parts, then right click on the selected parts and chose "fix". with that all selected parts are fixed in space and you can now define an axis and angle for rotation with a mate. To do so select the mate feature in the assembly feature list and for the axis you simply have to select the two cylindrical faces where your valve disc is hinged. For the angle it is the easiest to select two planes, one from the valve disc and the other from a fixed part. Then you can select the angle definition in the feature and set an angle. Now click on the angle mate in the tree to mark it and you will see it appear in the CAD area. Click now in the angle in the CAD area to highlight it and then double click it so a small window "Modify" opens up. Here you can change the value and apply it in general or select the small dropdown button on the bottom right of the window where you can choose if you want to apply the value to either "This configuration", "All configurations" or "Specify configuration". Now if you have a project already defined make sure you have the project as active configuration and then use in the Modify window "This configuration" for the value you want to simulate in this project. Then clone the project and rename the project ideally with the corresponding angle and also modify the angle after you've cloned the project to "This configuration" again so the new angle is set for the cloned project. And so on... At the end you should have several projects and when double clicking the different configurations in the configuration manager you should see the valve angle change automatically. Now each project you have has its own angle applied. To start the batch run now go in the menu bar in "Flow Analysis" and there in the extension "Solve" where you find "Batch Run...". Here you see all the projects listed and you can either select them one by one for which to calculate or click in the top row for "All Projects" on what you want the solver to do (Mesh or Solve etc.) then you can also select how many processors to use for the projects and you can put the projects in a certain order by selecting the projects and use the up/down buttons on the left. If you have several cores available and several licenses you can also do for example 4 projects simultaneously with one core for each project on a quad-core computer and have them being solved simultaneously. I hope this helps, Boris

February 11, 2011, 00:43		#11
Archana New Member Archana Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 10 Rep Power: 15	Thank you so much the information was very useful i ll try it the way you have suggusted and let you know about how far my answers are coming Thanks and regards Archana

February 17, 2011, 01:13		#13
Archana New Member Archana Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 10 Rep Power: 15	MR BORIS Thanks for the help was useful I have a small problem.. WHen i performed the angle mate in the first case i was able to change the positions of the vane by its desired angle position in the configuration tree.. but lately in another project after performing the angle mate i am not able to change the the vane position from one configuration to another.. i save the configuration using clone project (eg 40 degree) and create another angle position for say(60degree) . then when i try accessing the 40 degree configuration it displays only the 60 degree configuration.. i am confused where i am going wrong could you let me know where the mistakes could be Thanks and Regards Archana

February 26, 2011, 16:33		#14
Boris_M Disabled Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 616 Rep Power: 23	Hi Archana, I would guess you accidentally said to apply the 60 degree to all configurations. That might be the reason why your newly defined 60 degree are also set for the 40 degree project. Try the other projects too. Maybe they are also on 60 degree, that would confirm this theory. Boris

March 1, 2011, 04:08		#15
Archana New Member Archana Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 10 Rep Power: 15	In the dimention small tab i selcted "this configuration" and did the same procedure as suggested and got the required movement Thank you once again for the useful information

March 24, 2011, 21:00		#16
iglal New Member mohammed glal Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	thx very much I draw my airfoil now