Turbulent Flow Over an Airfoil

ANSYS Fluent Lab

Simulation of Turbulent Flow over an Airfoil

NOTE: The text file for the NACA 0012 coordinates, to be read by DesignModeler, can be downloaded via the following link: Click here

Step 2: Mesh generation

Step 3: Simulation in Fluent

Step 4: Post-Processing

Step 5: Results & Validation

Objectives

Generate a structured C-Mesh.
Display contour plots of pressure, velocity, and streamlines.
Plot pressure coefficient, wall y+, and wall friction coefficient.
Calculate the lift and drag coefficients.

Problem description

In this tutorial, we will conduct a Fluent simulation of a NACA 0012 Airfoil operating within a wind tunnel at a 6-degree angle of attack. The air density is 1.225 kg/m^3, while the fluid viscosity is 1.7894 x 10^(-5) Pa·s. The flow velocity is set at 10 m/s. For our simulation, we will employ a C-Mesh, a commonly preferred option for modeling airfoil behavior in a fluid stream.

Step 1: Geometry creation

NOTE: The text file for the NACA 0012 coordinates, to be read by DesignModeler, can be downloaded via the following link: Click here

Step 2: Mesh generation

Step 3: Simulation in Fluent

Step 4: Post-Processing

Step 5: Results & Validation

It should be noted that the wall y+ values for the SST k-epsilon turbulence model must be below 1 (y+ < 1) to achieve accurate results. Therefore, the mesh presented below requires refinement with an increasing Bias factor and the Number of divisions until a y+ value below 1 is achieved at the airfoil wall. The following curve illustrates a comparison of the pressure coefficient distribution at the airfoil wall for a Reynolds number of 2.88x10^6 and an angle of attack of 0 degrees between numerical and experimental results for the refined mesh. Good agreements have been obtained.

Figure: Comparison of Pressure Coefficient Distribution for Flow Over NACA 0012 Airfoil: Actual ANSYS Fluent Simulation vs. Experimental.

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