MHD & EHD: Magnetic Force Effect on an Airfoil

What You'll Build

This lesson walks you through a CFD simulation of the Magneto-Hydro-Dynamic (MHD) effect on a NACA 0015 airfoil — an example of active flow control, where an external field is used to manipulate the flow and improve aerodynamic performance. The NACA 0015 is a symmetric airfoil that produces no lift at zero angle of attack, making it an ideal baseline for isolating the influence of the magnetic force.

In this project, you'll investigate flow separation and stall, then apply a magnetic force to see how it delays separation and boosts lift.

What You'll Learn

• What MHD (Magneto-Hydro-Dynamics) is and how a magnetic body force can be used to control a flow field

• Why a symmetric NACA 0015 airfoil is the ideal test case (no lift at zero angle of attack)

• How to design a 2-D airfoil geometry in Design Modeler

• How to generate an unstructured triangular mesh around the airfoil in ANSYS Meshing

• How to enable and configure the MHD module in ANSYS Fluent to apply a magnetic force to the flow

• How to run a comparative study of the lift coefficient across multiple angles of attack, both with and without MHD

• How to identify the flow separation point and the maximum angle of attack before separation occurs

• How to demonstrate that the magnetic force accelerates the boundary-layer flow, keeping it attached to the surface and delaying stall to a larger angle of attack

• How to post-process velocity and pressure contours, streamlines, and velocity vectors to visualize boundary-layer energizing and increased leading-edge suction

Why It Matters

Active flow control via MHD and plasma actuators is a frontier topic in aerospace and energy. The MHD-module workflow you learn here applies to lift enhancement, drag reduction, stall delay, and flow-control research across aircraft, turbines, and high-speed vehicles.