Aerodynamic drag analysis of a 3D wing profile at high speed (80 m/s). Checking mesh quality and result validity.

Project Support
1

Hi everyone,

I am simulating the aerodynamic drag of a 3D wing profile and I would highly appreciate it if someone could review my project setup and results to tell me if they are realistic and objective.

Model & Setup Details:

  • Wing dimensions: Span 1m, Chord 60mm, Thickness 6mm.
  • Flow speed: 80 m/s (approx. 288 km/h).
  • Physics setup: Incompressible, Steady-state, k-omega SST model (End time: 1000s, Delta t: 1s).
  • Mesh details: 6 million cells. I used a smaller External Flow Volume, a Cartesian box for region refinement, and a manual surface refinement on the wing.
  • Note: I received a minor warning about mesh quality metrics outside recommended ranges, but visually the mesh and the profile shape look perfect and not deformed.

Simulation Results:
The simulation achieved excellent convergence with a perfectly flat force plot at the end of the 1000 iterations. The extracted forces at 80 m/s are:

  • Total Drag: 3.2 N
  • Pressure Force: 1.2 N
  • Viscous Force: 2.1 N

Why I am asking for a review:
In my previous attempt with a much coarser mesh (around 350k cells), the automatic mesh settings deformed the fine geometry into a simple wedge/triangle shape. That faulty run yielded a Total Drag of 6.0 N (Pressure: 4.0 N, Viscous: 2.0 N).

After refining the mesh to 6M cells to capture the perfect aerodynamic profile, the Pressure Force dropped significantly from 4.0 N to 1.2 N, cutting the total drag almost in half.

My questions for the community:

  1. Given that the viscous force is dominant (approx. 64% of total drag) and the force plot is completely stable, do these values (3.2 N total drag at 80 m/s) look objective and realistic for a wing of this size?
  2. Is a 6M cell mesh sufficient for this Reynolds number, or should I refine the boundary layers even further to ensure the y⁺ values are optimal?

Here is the link to my public project: https://www.simscale.com/workbench/?pid=2004101406667325192&location=mesh:45b53e6a-7655-4762-8bae-2ad486b0cc4f&hostSimulationSpecId=d78467f5-9207-4086-96d2-b81a82a533b2

Thank you very much for your time and guidance! Jan