Simulation of the Flow over NREL's S834 Airfoil at two different Reynolds numbers

Spyridon D. Skaltsogiannis, Eleni C. Douvi, Dimitra C. Douvi, Dionissios P. Margaris

Aerodynamic performance, Computational Fluid Dynamics, S834 airfoil, Turbulence models

The current study examines the steady-state two-dimensional subsonic flow over NREL’s S834 airfoil at various angles of attack using a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code. The simulations were performed for various angles of attack and at two different Reynolds numbers, Re=3.5×10⁵ and Re=5×10⁵. The Spalart-Allmaras, the Realizable k-ε and the Standard k-ω turbulence models were tested to find which is the most suitable to accurately predict the aerodynamic coefficients of the airfoil. Additionally, in order to validate the numerical results a comparison against reliable experimental data was also conducted. Calculations have shown that at low angles of attack the relative error of the computational results was negligible, although for high angles of attack this error is significantly high.

https://doi.org/10.31871/IJNTR.7.5.21