Aerodynamic performance of transonic dense gas flows past an airfoil

Dense gasdynamics studies the flow of gases in the thermodynamic region above the upper saturation curve, close to the liquid-vapor critical point. In recent years, great attention has been paid to certain substances, known as the Bethe–Zel’dovich–Thompson (BZT) fluids, which exhibit negative values of the fundamental derivative of gasdynamics for a whole range of temperatures and pressures in the vapor phase. This can lead to nonclassical gasdynamic behaviors, such as rarefaction shockwaves, mixed shock/fanwaves, and shock splitting. Theuncommon properties of BZT fluids can find practical applications, for example, in the reduction of losses as a result of wave drag and shock/boundary-layer interaction in organic Rankine cycle turbines. The presentwork provides a detailed numerical study of transonic BZT fluid flows past a simplified configuration, represented by an isolated NACA0012 airfoil. The objective is to investigate the influence of BZT effects on the airfoil performance (specifically on the lift-to-drag ratio).