Numerical Investigation of Sidewall Interference Control on Large Thickness Wind Turbine Airfoil

Sidewall interference control is very important to ensure the accuracy of large thickness airfoil wind tunnel experimental data. In this paper, a new idea of arranging tandem vortex generators (VG) at the junction of airfoil model and wind sidewall was proposed. The numerical simulation method based the Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes equation was used to verify and optimize the configuration of VGs. The mesh generation strategy, boundary condition setting and data acquisition method were studied under the effect of the sidewall interference. The results show that the effect of VG on the junction flow control can be simulated by using appropriate calculation strategy, and the tandem VGs are proved to be a powerful method of sidewall interference control in airfoil wind tunnel experiments. This work can provide a reference for the simulation of junction flow control and the study of sidewall interference control method in large thickness wind turbine airfoil wind tunnel experiments.