Fluid flow around NACA 0012 airfoil at low-Reynolds numbers with hybrid lattice Boltzmann method

TL;DR

This paper evaluates a hybrid lattice Boltzmann method for simulating low-Reynolds number flow around a NACA 0012 airfoil, demonstrating its accuracy and robustness for aerodynamic analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a hybrid lattice Boltzmann method combining standard and unstructured finite-volume approaches, showing improved accuracy near curved surfaces.

Findings

High accuracy in flow simulation near solid walls.

Effective at Reynolds numbers up to 10^4.

Enhanced numerical efficiency with grid refinement.

Abstract

We simulate the two-dimensional fluid flow around National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) 0012 airfoil using a hybrid lattice Boltzmann method (HLBM), which combines the standard lattice Boltzmann method with an unstructured finite-volume formulation. The aim of the study is to assess the numerical performances and the robustness of the computational method. To this purpose, after providing a convergence study to estimate the overall accuracy of the method, we analyze the numerical solution for different values of the angle of attack at a Reynolds number equal to $10^3$. Subsequently, flow fields at Reynolds numbers up to $10^4$ are computed for a zero angle of attack configuration. A grid refinement scheme is applied to the uniformly spaced component of the overlapping grid system to further enhance the numerical efficiency of the model. The results demonstrate the capability of the HLBM to achieve high accuracy near solid curved walls, thus providing a viable alternative in the realm of off-lattice Boltzmann methods based on body-fitted mesh.