2-D and 3-D CFD Investigation of NREL S826 Airfoil at Low Reynolds Numbers

Abstract

In this study CFD investigation of flow over the NREL S826 airfoil is performed. NREL S826 airfoil was designed for HAWTs of 10-15 meter diameters. However, it is used in the NTNU wind turbine rotor model and low Reynolds number flow characteristics become important in the validations with the test cases of this rotor model. The airfoil CFD simulations are carried out in 2-D and 3-D computational domains. The k-omega SST turbulence model with Langtry-Menter (gamma-Re-theta) transition prediction model for turbulence closure is used in the calculations. The Delayed DES is also performed in the stall region for comparisons. The results are compared with the available METUWIND experimental data, and are shown to be in fair agreement. It is observed that 3-D CFD analysis provides increased accuracy at increased computational cost.