URANS Simulations of Separated Flow with Stall Cells over an NREL S826 Airfoil

摘要

A series of wind tunnel measurements and oil flow visualization was recently carried out at the Technical University of Denmark in order to investigate flow characteristics over a 14% thick NREL S826 airfoil at low Reynolds numbers. This paper aims at presenting numerical simulations of the same airfoil using unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) approach. Results of the simulations are demonstrated in terms of mean flow velocity, lift and drag, as well as pressure distribution, and validated against available experimental data. The simulations are carried out with a wide computational domain (with a span-to-chord ratio of 5) and it is illustrated that the URANS approach is capable of predicting 3D spanwise structures, known as stall cells.