Numerical investigation of the laminar separation bubble control by blowing/suction on an airfoil at low Re number

A laminar separation bubble appears generally on the Eppler387 airfoil at low Reynolds number. In the present paper, control of the laminar separation bubble over the Eppler387 airfoil at low Reynolds number using suction or blowing is investigated computationally employing the Fluent solver. Numerical simulations are carried out with a range varities of the key control parameters of jet locations, jet angles and jet velocity ratios. Numerical simulations showed that employing the gamma-theta transition model coupling the SST k-ω turbulence model can predict the location and extent of the laminar separation bubbles accurately; blowing/suction control is effective in suppressing the laminar separation bubble over the airfoil and increasing the lift-to-drag radio at low Reynolds number obviously. The results with larger suction velocity ratios are better at the fixed suction jet locations while the smaller blowing velocity ratios results are better at the fixed blowing jet locations. Furthermore, suction on the airfoil's upper surface is more effective to control laminar separation bubbles than blowing control.