Reference Wing Simulation

Hi–I am currently trying to validate a simple reference wing in Simscale (https://www.simscale.com/workbench/?pid=3264969919978812504#tab_0-0).

When I input the wing geometry with the angle of attack as part of the geometry, my results are close to those from other techniques (VLM, 3D panel methods), as well as reference texts. However, if I mesh the wing with a 0 deg AoA and try to impose the AoA at the inlet boundary by changing the flow vector, my results are not close.
I believe I may have a meshing issue, or a lack of understanding of the inlet flow boundary conditions.

Any help will be appreciated!

Thanks,
Paul

Hi @promano!

Interesting project! Three important points I want to mention and you should consider changing in your mesh:

  1. The bounding box is too small. Make sure you increase its size which will have a huge impact on the results!

  2. Make sure you use inflate boundary layers (is explained in the workshop session given below)

  3. Using the parametric mesh option enables you to vary more parameters

A good tutorial on airfoils can be found her: Session 1 - CFD Master Class

Let me know if my tips helped you. Cheers and happy SimScaling!

Jousef

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Thanks! I have tried various mesh sizes, but I will go even larger on the next mesh. For some reason I haven’t been able to get boundary layer refinement to work when I use the parametric option–I almost immediately get an error message, even before a log is posted. I will review the CFD master class to see what I have missed…
Many thanks!

Paul

Let’s give it a try Paul and let me know if the tutorial helped you :slight_smile:

All the best!

Jousef

Hi @promano,

I’ll add this resource to the thread as well:

Cheers,
Anna

2 Likes

Thanks, Anna, this helped a great deal. Pawel also sent me a great tip, and I realized I had not visualized the flow field correctly. I changed my BCs to inlet-outlet as per the homework assignment and I am now getting reasonable answers.

1 Like