Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Numerical investigation of three-dimensional flow separation

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:5673489

The steady, three-dimensional laminar and turbulent boundary-layer equations are solved in a streamline coordinate system and in a self-adaptive grid system using Matsuno's finite-difference method. Techniques are developed for calculating laminar and turbulent separation for both the incompressible and compressible flow using the boundary-layer equations. Any type (bubble type or free vortex-layer type) of major separation line can be calculated at any angle of attack on ellipsoids of revolution by this boundary-layer code. Results are presented for ellipsoids of revolution at angles of attack up to 45{degree} for incompressible flow. Agreements with other numerical and experimental results are very good for laminar flows. Turbulent flows are also investigated with algebraic turbulence models proposed by Rotta and Cebeci and Smith. Good agreement with experimental results was obtained at small angles of attack, but only qualitative agreement was obtained at a high angle of attack for turbulent flow. This boundary-layer code can be applied to the general body shapes. Also, compressible flow can easily be solved with this method if the inviscid solution is provided.

Research Organization:
North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (USA)
OSTI ID:
5673489
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English