Lift error of 2D flow around airfoil
 

Hi.
I am doing 2d simulation of flow around airfoil with kw SST model.
My Reynolds number is around 3e4 to 5e4.
I am using low reynolds number approach, k=1e-12, w=omegawallfunction, nut=calculated at wall.
Wind tunnel data is available, my goal is to compare Cd, Cl, Cm result of CFD and experiment.

So far, Drag coefficient and Momentum coefficient are close enough to experiment, say less than 3 % error.

But lift is significantly different from experiment.
At experiemnt Cl was minus and order of e-1, say -0.1 to -0.2.
But CFD result is plus and order of e-1. say 0.1 to 0.2.

I checked lift direction definition in controldict, it looks ok and it works in other cases.

Can any one suggest what can I try to fix lift issue?

Thanks in advance.

Hello misospider,

i am working on the same topic right now. Calculating the lift, drag and pressure coefficients of an airfoil.
However I am using High Reynolds approach. Therefore I have set up simulations using simpleFoam with KomegaSST and the SpalartAllmaras turbulence model.

My experience so far is, that the simpleFoam solver with KOmegaSST is quite good in predicting the lift coefficient, but is far away from the drag results. So just the opposite you discovered. Maybe we can work together and get the best out of two worlds :)

Could you maybe share more information on your setup? Solver, boundary conditions etc?

Also I want to use PimpleFoam for transient simulations, but when using it, my deltaT is around 1e-5, which seems to me really small.( using a Co of 3 and nOuterCorrectors 5). The length of my Farfield is 100c (c=1m) that means it takes 2s for the air to flow through my simulation area, which takes around 48h?! Maybe any ideas on that? Or experience using pimple?

Thanks!

A few things that I can think of:
1) Check your mesh. As you are running at a low Re you are prone to having vortex shedding. If you mesh is not fine enough to capture those effects off the airfoil, that maybe causing the distortion.
2) I can't remember the trend, but when I was running airfoil simulations we got better data by rounding the trailing tip instead of having it come to a sharp point.
3) Try running your simulation at a lower angle of attack for comparison and not stall. (Not sure what AOA your running)
4) With the vortex shedding I would suggest assuming the solution is unsteady, aka using a transient solver.

I hope this helps!

Joshua

Since the Re is low, I suspect the kOmegaSST will work with this problem. As far as I know OpenFOAM implementation of kOmegaSST is for highRe only and can be used with wall functions. (There are community developed lowRe versions of kOmegaSST but must be compiled, you can find them in this forum)

You need to resolve the boundary layer so do not use wall functions. Due to the Reynolds regime transition phenomena will also be important. In that case the most suitable and available model for your problem may be considered as kkLOmega, this model is also not perfect though. If the AoA is low you can also start with the SA model.

The initial boundary conditions, yPlus (must be <1), solver settings (must be transient), grid resolution and quality are also very important...

Re:
 

Sorry for the late reply.

I am still in same problem, but I have found some clues.

I was using same domain size as wind tunnel, but after changing domain into larger domain, the values are more reasonable.

Also I have tried k-kl-w model, it works better in wind tunnel domain, but its value has larger error in larger domain.

I am going to discuss this issue with my supervisor, once I got some insights will post here.

Thanks for the all your replies and help!

Hi, this is an old thread. But if anyone is still interested to run a simulation on the S1223 airfoil, please take a look at:

Numerical Investigation on the Pressure Drag of Some Low-Speed Airfoils for UAV Application.

https://doi.org/10.37934/cfdl.13.2.2948

Unsteady 3-equation k omega intermittency SST was used. Good comparison with XFOIL and experimental data. Transition features also shown through cf and cp plots.

Learn how I designed the mesh here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZRqBu9Ss2U