Simulation of low speed cavity flow with complex geometry

Modelling of noise and pressure fluctuations from the flow over a cavity is of critical importance to the understanding of loads within the cavity to ultimately allow for accurate fatigue life prediction of bodies subjected to such flows. The length to depth (L/D) ratio is a critical parameter in determining key flow characteristics. This paper details a computational study to model low-speed cavity flow for complex geometries. Two base cavities will be used, with L/D = 0.5 and L/D = 1. In addition to these clean cavities, a half-closed configuration and a geometry comprised of a curved upstream ramp will also be studied. All computations will are performed at standard ground atmospheric conditions with a freestream airspeed of 60 m/s. The Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations conducted in this study are performed using an explicit, massively parallel, fully compressible structured multi-block Large Eddy Simulation flow solver. The effects of the complex geometries are compared against the clean cavity by observing the variations in the root-mean square and mean pressure coefficients, along velocity field flow visualisations. Conclusions will be drawn as to the effect of the different geometries.