Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
A computational study has been undertaken of 3D vortical separation from the curved surface of a prolate spheroid at high angle of attack (10° and 30°). Attention focuses on the predictive capabilities of a new variant of non-linear, low Re eddy-viscosity model and full second-moment closure, the latter coupled to a low Re k-ε Boussinesq-viscosity model which is applied to the semi-viscous near-wall region. The study demonstrates that both anisotropy-resolving formulations return very similar predictive performance which is in several respects superior to that achieved with the k-ε model based on the linear stress-strain relations. At the higher incidence angle, transition is free, and this is the source of considerable uncertainty in respect of the sensitivity of the predicted leeward flow to the location of transition. While none of the models is fundamentally capable of capturing natural transition, the ability of the non-linear model to suppress turbulence generation by irrotational straining at the windward impingement region, thereby preventing (bypass) transition by diffusion of turbulence from the freestream to the laminar boundary layer, is exploited to demonstrate that the sensitivity of the separated leeward flow to the location of transition is weak.