A study of long separation bubble on thick airfoils and its consequent effects

• Effects of long separation bubbles on airfoil performance have been discussed.
• The bubble is found to induce a camber-effect on the airfoil.
• Effects of Re, TI and angle of attack on the bubble have been presented.
• Appropriate modelling methodology of the separation-induced transition is presented.
• Comparison of γ–Reθ and κ–κL–ω model for separation bubble in 2D is presented.

A parametric study has been performed to analyse the flow around the thick-symmetric NACA 0021 airfoil in order to better understand the characteristics and effects of long separation bubbles (LoSBs) that exist on such airfoils at low Reynolds numbers and turbulence intensities. In the article, the prediction capabilities of two recently-developed transition models, the correlation-based γ–Reθ model and the laminar-kinetic-energy-based κ–κL–ω model are assessed. Two-dimensional steady-state simulations indicated that the κ–κL–ω model predicted the separation and reattachment process accurately when compared with published experimental work. The model was then used to study the attributes and the effects of LoSBs as a function of the angle of attack, freestream turbulence intensity and Reynolds number. It was observed that LoSBs considerably degrade the aerodynamic performance of airfoils and lead to abrupt stall behaviour. It is, furthermore, illustrated that the presence of the LoSB leads to an induced camber effect on the airfoil that increases as the airfoil angle of attack increases due to the upstream migration of the bubble. An increase in the Reynolds number or turbulence levels leads to a reduction in the bubble extent, considerably improving the airfoil performance and leading to a progressive trailing-edge stall.