Numerical simulation and hydrodynamic visualization of transient viscous flow around an oscillating aerofoil

Unsteady viscous flow around a large-amplitude and high-frequency oscillating aerofoil is examined in this paper by numerical simulation and experimental visualization. The numerical method is based on the combination of a fourth-order Hermitian finite difference scheme for the stream function equation and a classical second-order scheme to solve the vorticity transport equation. Experiments are carried out by a traditional visualization method using solid tracers suspended in water. The comparison between numerical and experimental results is found to be satisfactory. Time evolutions of the flow structure are presented for Reynolds numbers of 3 × 10³ and 10⁴. The influence of the amplitude and frequency of the oscillating motion on the dynamic stall is analysed.