In this article we present recent developments in numerical methods for performing a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of the formation and evolution of a wingtip vortex. The development of these vortices in the near wake, in combination with the large Reynolds numbers present in these cases, make these types of test cases particularly challenging to investigate numerically. We first give an overview of the Spectral Vanishing Viscosity-implicit LES (SVV-iLES) solver that is used to perform the simulations, and highlight techniques that have been adopted to solve various numerical issues that arise when studying such cases. To demonstrate the method's viability, we present results from numerical simulations of flow over a NACA 0012 profile wingtip at Rec = 1.2 · 10 6 and compare them against experimental data, which is to date the highest Reynolds number achieved for a LES that has been correlated with experiments for this test case. Our model correlates favorably with experiment, both for the characteristic jetting in the primary vortex and pressure distribution on the wing surface. The proposed method is of general interest for the modeling of transitioning vortex dominated flows over complex geometries. = cut-off mode of the SVV filter P = P = M − 1 polynomial order of the spectral element. ε SV V = diffusion from the SVV filter Q = SVV kernel

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Emerging commercial and academic tools are regularly being applied to the design of road and race cars, but there currently are no well-established benchmark cases to study the aerodynamics of race car wings in ground effect. In this paper we propose a new test case, with a relatively complex geometry, supported by the availability of CAD model and experimental results. We refer to the test case as the Imperial Front Wing, originally based on the front wing and endplate design of the McLaren 17D race car. A comparison of different resolutions of a high fidelity spectral/hp element simulation using under-resolved DNS/implicit LES approach with fourth and fifth polynomial order is presented. The results demonstrate good correlation to both the wall-bounded streaklines obtained by oil flow visualization and experimental PIV results, correctly predicting key characteristics of the time-averaged flow structures, namely intensity, contours and locations. This study highlights the resolution requirements in capturing salient flow features arising from this type of challenging geometry, providing an interesting test case for both traditional and emerging high-fidelity simulations.