CFD study on NACA 4415 airfoil implementing spherical and sinusoidal Tubercle Leading Edge
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 23, 2026

Finite Element Modeling for the Simulation of the Quasi-Static Compression of Corrugated Tapered Tubes
Published on: January 6, 2023
S M A Aftab1, K A Ahmad1,2
1Dept of Aerospace Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, 43400, Malaysia.
Abstract:
The Humpback whale tubercles have been studied for more than a decade. Tubercle Leading Edge (TLE) effectively reduces the separation bubble size and helps in delaying stall. They are very effective in case of low Reynolds number flows. The current Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study is on NACA 4415 airfoil, at a Reynolds number 120,000. Two TLE shapes are tested on NACA 4415 airfoil. The tubercle designs implemented on the airfoil are sinusoidal and spherical. A parametric study is also carried out considering three amplitudes (0.025c, 0.05c and 0.075c), the wavelength (0.25c) is fixed. Structured mesh is utilized to generate grid and Transition SST turbulence model is used to capture the flow physics. Results clearly show spherical tubercles outperform sinusoidal tubercles. Furthermore experimental study considering spherical TLE is carried out at Reynolds number 200,000. The experimental results show that spherical TLE improve performance compared to clean airfoil.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Steady, Laminar Flow in Circular Tubes
Thin-Walled Hollow Shafts
Spherical and Cylindrical Capacitor
Conventionally, considering the symmetry, the electric field between the concentric shells of a spherical capacitor is directed radially outward. The magnitude of the field,...
Torsion of Noncircular Members
Deformation in a Circular Shaft
Deformations in a Symmetric Member in Bending
When the member is segmented into tiny cubic elements, it is observed that the primary stress...

