A numerical study of the effects of aerofoil shape on low reynolds number aerodynamics

A numerical study of the effects of airfoil shape on low Reynolds number aerodynamics is presented. The large-eddy simulations are performed with 6 ^th-order compact finite difference scheme and 10^th-order low pass filter, and 2^nd-order backward implicit time integration with inner iterations. Systematic numerical excesses show the feasibility of the current simulations to predict flow fields around fixed-wing configurations involving a laminar separation and laminar-to-turbulence transition at low Reynolds number. At the Reynolds number of 2.3×10⁴, two types of thin and asymmetric airfoils as a target airfoil shape of micro-size air vehicle are considered. The results show that the airfoil cross section affects the formation of a laminar separation bubble and the transition to turbulence in the three-dimensional flow around the wings at low angle of attack and hence significant influence on the aerodynamic performance.