Investigation on the Reynolds Number Simulation of Supercritical Airfoil

The Reynolds number influences on aerodynamics of a typical supercritical airfoil were analyzed in this paper. The simulation of Reynolds number was achieved through wind tunnel test and numerical method. The maximum experimental Reynolds number reached 10 million per airfoil chord, while the numerical simulation could reach 50 million per airfoil chord which is the same order as flight Reynolds number of a transport airplane. Simulated angles of attack and Mach numbers varied from 0° to 8° and from 0.6 to 0.8 respectively. Results showed that wind tunnel test compared well with numerical method. It is also shown that the upper surface pressure distribution such as shock location and intesity was apparently dependent of Reynolds numbers, while the lower surface pressure distribution was not so sensitive to Reynolds number. It is sugested that Reynolds number is an important factor during the design of aircraft.