Flow around the Body by Experiment and CFD

Abstract

Evaluation of calculation accuracy is always needed when performing numerical computation. For this reason, the accuracy will be estimated by comparison with an analytical solution or experimental results. In CFD, the Navier-Stokes equation can be solved by the finite-difference methods. However, it is difficult to investigate the reliability and accuracy of the calculation results, since general flows do not an analytical solution. Moreover many guidelines exist from experience simulation about the computational domain size and other parameters. This research provides guidelines that can be used as these standards for the flow around an airfoil. First, a result calculated by a singularity method of distributing vortex sheet on an airfoil surface and a finite difference method are compared with an exact solution solved by the conformal mapping method about a potential flow, and the accuracies are checked. Finally, dealing with an actual problem of the viscous flow, the limit of the accuracy is grasped by computing the Navier-Stokes equation