the Lift on a cambered airfoil depends on the interaction of pressure, vorticity, and the boundary layer. Classical inviscid flow theory alone cannot describe this process completely. In real flow conditions, viscosity becomes significant. The way circulation develops therefore influences the aerodynamic loading on the airfoil surface. Previous research has examined vortex behavior near the trailing edge. Liu’s review points out that the starting vortex helps satisfy the Kutta condition and allows circulation to form. Other studies compare lifting-surface approaches with CFD methods. These works show that geometric features, such as camber and thickness, lead to nonlinear pressure effects. Simplified potential-flow models often struggle to predict these effects accurately. This study uses CFD to investigate the NACA 2412 airfoil at a Reynolds number of approximately3.1×106. A C-type computational domain is applied with a structured quadrilateral mesh. The mesh maintains a near-wall resolution ofy+≈1, which enables reliable boundary-layer resolution. The pressure, velocity, and streamline results display clear suction peaks and smooth pressure recovery. The flow field also shows stable circulation around the airfoil. The numerical results agree well with available experimental data. Similar trends appear in Reynolds-number sensitivity and boundary-layer stability reported in earlier studies. This analysis demonstrates that CFD provides an effective connection between aerodynamic theory and real flow behavior.
Research Article
Open Access