The research
My Bristol research investigated whether a smoothly morphing wing could deliver the high lift normally provided by conventional multi-element flaps. The concept combined Fish Bone Active Camber (FishBAC), which changes an aerofoil’s shape continuously, with circulation control: a jet of air blown tangentially over a curved surface, using the Coandă effect to keep flow attached and increase lift. It is an early engineering question with a practical destination: whether a different wing architecture could become a credible alternative for high-lift aircraft systems.
My contribution
Working under Dr Benjamin K. S. Woods, I designed the circulation-control slot and plenum for a modified NACA 23012 aerofoil, then built a two-dimensional computational study across morphing deflections, angles of attack, and blowing strengths. I evaluated mesh convergence and benchmarked the baseline lift predictions against published experimental and XFOIL data. After OpenFOAM failed to converge satisfactorily, I used STAR-CCM+ with an unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes approach and a Spalart–Allmaras turbulence model for the results, testing at a Reynolds number of 540,000.
The output
The simulations produced lift curves, drag polars, and flow visualisations showing how the blowing jet delayed separation over the morphing surface. At the strongest tested blowing setting, maximum lift coefficient reached approximately 3.4 at 30° morphing deflection; the report also found an 18.6% advantage in maximum lift over a double Fowler flap in its lowest-blowing comparison with published data. These results established computational promise rather than a flight-ready design: increased deflection brought drag and stall-angle trade-offs, drag prediction needed further work, and COVID restrictions prevented new wind-tunnel testing. The next step was experimental validation of the combined concept.