Abstract
In the paper, the large eddy simulation of the flow fields around the NACA0012 airfoils and the MEL053 wind turbine airfoils developed by Mechanical Engineering Laboratory (MEL), Japan, is to be presented and discussed, with a special emphasis on the airfoil characteristics at the high angles of attack. As the subgrid scale models, the (conventional) Smagorinsky or dynamic subgrid scale model is used, and the numerical results are compared with the experiments. At high angles of attack, the quantitative agreement with the experiments is observed when the dynamic subgrid scale model is used. On the other hand, the Smagorinsky subgrid scale model over-predicts the subgrid stresses near the leading edge of the suction surface, poorly predicts the location of the re-attachment of the flow, and thus poorly predicts the static pressure on the airfoil. The difference in the numerical results between the Smagorinsky and dynamic subgrid scale models is less conspicuous for the MEL053 airfoils since the MEL053 airfoils have more tendency to stall near the trailing edge.
