Oscillation frequency and amplitude effects on the wake of a plunging airfoil

Abstract

The flow over a NACA 0012 airfoil, oscillated sinusoidally in plunge, is simulated numerically using a compressible two-dimensional Navier-Stokes solver at a Reynolds number of 2 x 10(4). The wake of the airfoil is visualized using a numerical particle tracing method. Close agreement is obtained between numerically simulated wake structures and experimental wake visualizations in the literature, when the flow is assumed to be fully laminar. The wake structures, and the lift and thrust of the airfoil, are shown to be strongly dependent on both the Strouhal number and the reduced frequency k of the plunge oscillation at this Reynolds number. Leading-edge separation appears to dominate the generation of aerodynamic forces for reduced frequencies below approximately k = 4 but becomes secondary for higher frequencies. Wake structures appear to be controlled primarily by trailing-edge effects at all frequencies tested up to k = 20. Aerodynamic force results obtained at this Reynolds number show marked differences from those predicted by potential flow analyses at low plunge frequency and high amplitude but are similar at high frequency and low amplitude, consistent with the effect of leading-edge separation.