A numerical investigation of laminar airfoil stall

Abstract

<p>The details of an interacting boundary layer algorithm capable of calculating large scale laminar separation past airfoils at low speeds is given. Rationale behind various convergence acceleration methods is given. It is shown that linear based acceleration methods are limited to 50% savings in convergence rate. A nonlinear extrapolation method is proposed and tested on two simple model problems. Savings exceed the 50% limitation of the previous methods. Boundary layer results for laminar flow past symmetric airfoils at zero incidence are presented as a test of the methods. Leading edge marginal separation results at finite Reynolds numbers are presented. Richardson extrapolation of successive calculations is used to improve accuracy. Results for a zero thickness uncambered plate at angle of attack are presented.</p>