Navier-stokes applications to high-lift airfoil analysis

This article presents applications of a compressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes method to the calculation of flows about a transport-type multielement airfoil. The unstructured-mesh method used utilizes multigrid techniques for computational efficiency and includes a selection of turbulence models. The airfoil used to benchmark the computational capability is a three-element airfoil configured for landing for which extensive experimental data have been acquired both on and off the airfoil surface at high Reynolds numbers. Comparisons of computational results vs experimental data shown here include traditional airfoil performance calculations due to configuration changes. Also discussed are detailed comparisons of computational results and experimental data obtained in the flap well region to assess the applicability of existing turbulence models to the flap slot flow. Performance comparisons are conducted for configurations tested at chord Reynolds numbers of 5 x 10 6 and 9 x 106 and the flap well study is based on data obtained on a similar airfoil at a chord Reynolds number of 5 x 10 5.