Influence of the Curvature Correction on Turbulence Models for the Prediction of the Aerodynamic Coefficients of the S809 Airfoil

Abstract

Using the appropriate procedure, Computational Fluid Dynamics allows predicting many things in several fields, and especially in the field of renewable energies, which has become a promising research axis. The present study aims at highlighting the influence of the curvature correction on turbulence models for the prediction of the aerodynamic coefficients of the S809 airfoil using the Computational Fluid Dynamics code ANSYS Fluent 17.2. Three turbulence models are used: Spalart-Allmaras, Shear Stress Transport k-ω and Transition SST. Experimental results of the 1.8 m × 1.25 m low-turbulence wind tunnel at the Delft University of Technology are used in this work for comparison with the numerical results for a Reynolds number of 106. The results show that the use of the curvature correction improves the prediction of the aerodynamic coefficients for all the turbulence models used. A comparison of the three models is also made using curvature correction since it gave better results. The Transition SST model is the one that gives the best results for the lift coefficient, followed by the Shear Stress Transport kω model, and finally the Spalart-Allmaras model. For the drag coefficient, Transition SST model is the best, followed by the Spalart-Allmaras model, and finally the Shear Stress Transport kω model.