The Vortex Generators located over the airfoils are generally small in size. Due to its small size and shape, the mesh requirements are high and mesh generation becomes complex. In this study, the source term modelling approach termed as BAY model developed by Bender et al. is used to simulate the effect of Vortex Generators. One of the advantages of BAY model is its simplicity eliminating the complex grid requirements around the Vortex Generator for the Computational Fluid Dynamic simulations. Comparing with the BAY model approach, mesh resolved Vortex Generator approach will need more number of cells in the domain. Hence using the B AY model is advantageous in computational cost also.
The solver EllipSys3D, which is an incompressible structured multi-block finite volume based RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes) solver, is used for the studies. Parametric studies using BAY model are carried out for different heights, lengths, chord wise locations and spacing of Vortex Generators on a wind turbine airfoil. The qualitative results predicted using BAY model are in lined with experimental results from literature showing that it is capable to mimic the effect of Vortex Generators. So overall due to its simplicity source term modelling through BAY model can be used for quick parametric studies.
