A numerical study of the NACA 0012 airfoil fitted with a harmonically morphing trailing edge flap (TEF) is performed at an angle of attack of 4° and a Reynolds number Re = 0.62 × 10~6 . The study focuses on high frequency, low amplitude configurations for the morphing flap and their effects on the aerodynamic performance and flow structures in the wake. Dynamic meshing methods implemented in the commercial software Ansys Fluent and driven by an in-house user-defined function (UDF) were used to model the TEF deformation using a modified unsteady parametrization. The Stress Blended Eddy Simulation (SBES) hybrid turbulence model was used for all parametric studies. For a fixed amplitude, a range of morphing frequencies (lower and higher than the natural shedding frequency) was explored. Obtained results show that at certain high frequencies a slight increase in aerodynamic efficiency could be achieved- compared with a baseline design. When the morphing frequency was fixed at its shedding value, the range of amplitudes investigated indicated the presence of an optimal morphing amplitude for which up to 3% increased aerodynamic efficiency could be obtained. Some preliminary results for upstroke and downstroke TEF oscillations are briefly presented to illustrate some differences compared with the main morphing strategy adopted in the paper.
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