Nonadiabatic Compressible Flow Of Humid AirAround Airfoils

Abstract

The heat addition by the phase transition of water vapor in humid air, which changes the properties of compressible flows around airfoils, is investigated by numerical simulations. The computations are based on a recent small-disturbance approach by Rusak and Lee [11]. This approach describes the heat release by the nonequilibrium and homogeneous condensation process using the classical nucleation and droplet growth models. The nonlinear interaction between the heat transfer by the condensation, the kinetic energy of the compressible flow, and the thermal properties of the flow is explored and the similarity parameters which govern the problem are presented. The results of the calculations show good agreement with available simulations using the Euler equations. The similarity rules are used to suggest various flow cases which have a sufficiently close behavior of both the flow dynamics and the condensation properties. It is shown that nonadiabatic compressible flows of humid air may be applied to augment the aerodynamic performances of airfoils used in fluid machinery.