Performance Assessment of Transition Models for Three-Dimensional Flow Over NACA4412 Wings at Low Reynolds Numbers

The performance of the transition models on three-dimensional (3D) flow of wings with aspect ratios (AR) of 1 and 3 at low Reynolds number was assessed in this study. For experimental work; force measurements, surface oil and smoke-wire flow visualizations were performed over the wings with NACA4412 section at Reynolds numbers of 2.5 × 10⁴, 5 × 10⁴, and 7.5 × 10⁴ and the angles of attack of 8 deg, 12 deg, and 20 deg. Results showed that the AR had significant effects on the 3D flow structure over the wing. According to the experimental and numerical results, the flow over the wing having lower ARs can be defined with wingtip vortices, axial flow, and secondary flow including spiral vortex inside the separated flow. When the angle of attack and Reynolds number was increased, wing-tip vortices were enlarged and interacted with the axial flow. At higher AR, flow separation was dominant, whereas wing-tip vortices suppressed the flow separation over the wing with lower AR. In the numerical results, while there were some inconsistencies in the prediction of lift coefficients, the predictions of drag coefficients for two transition models were noticeably better. The performance of the transition models judged from surface patterns was good, but the k–k_L–ω was preferable. Secondary flow including spiral vortices near the surface was predicted accurately by the k–k_L–ω. Consequently, in comparison with experiments, the predictions of the k–k_L–ω were better than those of the shear stress transport (SST) transition.