RANS-based numerical simulation and visualization of the horseshoe vortex system in the leading edge endwall region of a symmetric body

This contribution is aimed at analyzing the capabilities of popular two-equation turbulence models to predict features of 3D flow fields and endwall heat transfer near the blunt edge of a symmetric body mounted on a plate. The configuration studied experimentally by Praisner and Smith is considered. Results obtained with the in-house CFD code SINF and the commercial package ANSYS–CFX are presented and compared. Prediction capabilities of the low-Re Wilcox turbulence model and two versions of the Menter SST model, the original and the modified one, are analyzed in comparison with the experimental data. Special attention is paid to grid sensitivity of the numerical solutions. Advanced visualization of the vortex structures computed is performed with author’s visualization tool HDVIS. It has been established that the Wilcox model is not capable of predicting the development of a multiple-vortex system observed in the experiment upstream of the body leading edge. Both versions of the MSST model produce qualitatively correct results, with a considerable superiority of the modified version when compared with the quantitative data.