Simulation of Transitional Flow over Airfoils using the Spectral Difference Method

This work addresses the simulation of transitional flow over airfoils under low Reynolds number conditions (Rec ≤ 60000). The flow solutions are obtained by means of an Implicit Large Eddy Simulation (ILES) using a newly developed unstructured, parallel solver that employs the high-order spectral difference (SD) method for spatial discretization. The calculations are performed on the SD7003 airfoil section at an angle of attack of 4 at Reynolds number of 10000 and 60000. The SD7003 airfoil was selected due to the availability of experimental and computational results. The use of the SD method without an added subgrid-scale model appears to be capable of accurately predicting the laminar separation, transition and reattachment locations. To the authors’s knowledge, the present study is the first attempt to analyze transitional flow using the SD method.