Enhanced Prediction of Three-dimensional Finite Iced Wing Separated Flow Near Stall

TL;DR

This study enhances the IDDES turbulence model with a shear layer adapted subgrid length scale to improve the prediction of flow separation and reattachment on iced three-dimensional wings, aligning simulations more closely with experimental data.

Contribution

The paper introduces a shear layer adapted subgrid length scale to improve IDDES predictions of separated flow on iced wings, addressing limitations in resolving Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.

Findings

Improved prediction of separated shear layer (SSL) and reattachment points.

Better agreement of surface pressure distributions with experiments.

More accurate vortex rollup and pairing in instantaneous flow simulations.

Abstract

Icing on three-dimensional wings causes severe flow separation near stall. Standard improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES) is unable to correctly predict the separating reattaching flow due to its inability to accurately resolve the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. In this study, a shear layer adapted subgrid length scale is applied to enhance the IDDES prediction of the flow around a finite NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) 0012 wing with leading edge horn ice. It is found that applying the new length scale contributes to a more accurate prediction of the separated shear layer (SSL). The reattachment occurs earlier as one moves towards either end of the wing due to the downwash effect of the wing tip vortex or the influence of end-wall flow. Consequently, the computed surface pressure distributions agree well with the experimental measurements. In contrast, standard IDDES severely elongates surface pressure plateaus. For instantaneous flow, the new length scale helps correctly resolve the rollup and subsequent pairing of vortical structures due to its small values in the initial SSL. The computed Strouhal numbers of vortical motions are approximately 0.2 in the initial SSL based on the vorticity thickness and 0.1 around the reattachment based on the separation bubble length. Both frequencies increase when moving towards the wing tip due to the downwash effect of the tip vortex. In comparison, the excessive eddy viscosity levels from the standard IDDES severely delay the rollup of spanwise structures and give rise to "overcoherent" structures.