Numerical simulation of incompressible Navier-Stokes and Euler equations to the vortical flow about a delta wing

Summary

An algorithm based on the method of artificial compressibility is used to solve the incompressible Navier-Stokes and Euler equations in 3D generalized curvilinear coordinates. The choice of the pseudocompressibility parameter β is discussed and a function form of β which accelerates the convergence effectively is presented. Numerical simulation of the vortical flow about a 70° delta wing is made by both Euler and Navier-Stokes methods. Comparison of the computed results and the experimental data indicates that the Euler method can capture the global flow feature, i.e., separation from the sharp leading edge and the formation of the leading-edge vortex; the Navier-Stokes method depicts not only the flow features captured by the Euler method, but also the boundary layer effects and specifically the secondary separation induced by the leading-edge vortex on the wing upper surface. Thus, the Navier-Stokes method shows a much improved correlation with the experimental data.