pgj wrote:When the OWG presented its findings, it suggested that CFD models gave diametrically opposite results to wind tunnel models.
Yeap - if those results were the centreline velocity plots presented, they were absolute crap.
The entrainment and energy exchanges in the wake looked all wrong.
pgj wrote:
Can anyone explain to a total green-horn how this could happen?
With great ease. Even experienced people can miss out one little thing, and it can snowball into a big problem.
There are dozens of things that could go wrong.
pgj wrote:
I am also interested to find out what external/environmental models are used, where they come from, and how they are calibrated.
Sorry, you will have to explain what you mean by external/environmental?
For calibration, there are two base techniques - (1) validate physics, or (2) replicate the a full geometry and compare to (expensive to acquire) experimental data.
Its recommended to do both, as usually (2) will not tally up correctly based on default model properties from commercial codes. Having done (1), you can decompose the errors from (2) and adjust your model appropriately. After that, you need to perform additional tests on separate full geometries to make sure you aren't tailoring the model to 1 result.