Numerical Study of Incompressible Slightly Viscous Flow Past Blunt Bodies and Airfoils

Abstract

A grid-free numerical method is used to simulate incompressible flow at high Reynolds numbers. The numerical method simulates the flow inside the boundary layer by vortex sheets and the flow outside this layer by vortex blobs. The algorithm produces a smooth transition between the sheets and the blobs. The accuracy of this hybrid numerical method is tested in several numerical experiments. In the first experiment, the algorithm is used to simulate slightly viscous flow past a circular cylinder. In the second experiment, the algorithm is used to simulate flow past a Joukowski airfoil at various angles of attack. In the latter case, the computations simulating the flow at the airfoil’s trailing edge do not “blow-up”. In both experiments, the calculated flow and its functionals (such as lift and drag coefficients) are in good agreement with both theoretical results and wind tunnel experiments.