Experimental results and complimentary computations for airfoils with vortex generators are compared in this paper, as part of an e_ort within the AVATAR project to develop tools for wind turbine blade control devices. Measurements from two airfoils equipped with passive vortex generators, a 30% thick DU97W300 and an 18% thick NTUA T18 have been used for benchmarking several simulation tools. These tools span low-to-high complexity, ranging from engineering-level integral boundary layer tools to fully-resolved computational uid dynamics codes. Results indicate that with appropriate calibration, engineering-type tools can capture the e_ects of vortex generators and outperform more complex tools. Fully resolved CFD comes at a much higher computational cost and does not necessarily capture the increased lift due to the VGs. However, in lieu of the limited experimental data available for calibration, high _delity tools are still required for assessing the e_ect of vortex generators on airfoil performance.

The flow around a wind turbine airfoil equipped with Vortex Generators (VGs) is examined. Predictions from three different Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) solvers with two different turbulence models and two different VG modelling approaches are compared between them and with experimental data. The best results are obtained with the more expensive fully resolved VG approach. The cost efficient BAY model can also provide acceptable results, if grid related numerical diffusion is minimized and only force coefficient polars are considered.