Numerical analysis of turbulent flow around hydrofoils using the finite-volume method

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to carry out numerical simulation of turbulent flow around two-dimensional hydrofoils by finite volume method with non-orthogonal body-fitted grid. The governing equations are expressed in Cartesian velocity components and solution is carried out using SIMPLE algorithm for collocated arrangement of scalar and vector variables. Turbulence is modeled by the k- turbulence model and wall functions are used to bridge the solution variables at the near wall cells and the corresponding quantities on the wall. The numerical procedure is employed to compute the pressure distribution on the surface of NACA 0012 and NACA 4412 hydrofoils for different angles of attack and the results are validated by comparing with experimental data. The grid dependency of the solution is studied by varying the number of cells of the C-type structured mesh. The computed lift coefficients of NACA 4412 hydrofoil at different angles of attack are also compared with experimental results to further substantiate the validity of the numerical methodology.