Numerical prediction of airfoil characteristics in a transonic droplet-laden air flow

Abstract

A transonic airfoil moving in an air-water droplet two-phase flow is investigated numerically to study the effect of droplet size and volume fraction. The droplets we consider are in the size 1-100 mu m and the volume fraction is in 0.01%-10%. A compressible two-fluid model is solved by the WAF-HLL scheme developed earlier by the authors which includes drag force, heat transfer, phase change, and droplet fragmentation of the droplets. The numerical results show that the droplet breakup layer can be extended to a later distance as large as about 60% of a chord length at the trailing edge. Also the droplets have made the shock wave dissolved in compression waves and the airfoil performance seriously deteriorated. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.