Experimental and numerical study for hydrodynamic characteristics of an oscillating hydrofoil*

The present article reports the experimental Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) investigation and the corresponding numerical simulation results about the water flow over the oscillating hydrofoil and its unsteady dynamic characters. The experimental study focuses on the effect of mean angles of attack. The comparison between the PIV results and numerical prediction about the flow field using Fluent well demonstrates the capability of CFD on the simulation of the water flow around the pitching hydrofoil. The numerical results indicate that the forced oscillating frequencies have evident effects on the flow separation and vortex shedding. The simulations about the hydrodynamic drag and lift coefficients were also performed.