Comparison of reduced order aerodynamic models and RANS simulations for whole aircraft aerodynamics

Carrizalez, Martin; Dussart, Gaetan; Pontillo, Alessandro; Lone, Mudassir; Carrizales, Martin A.; Dussart, Ga�tan X.; Lone, Mohammad M.; Portapas, Vilius

Abstract

© 2018, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA. All rights reserved. Verification and validation of models are critical steps in developing confidence in engineering design processes. The focus of this paper is the verification of reduced order aerodynamic models used in a simulation framework for flight dynamic modelling of flexible aircraft. This framework, known as CA2LM, is designed for rapid assessment of aircraft configurations at the conceptual design stage. Therefore, it utilizes methods that are computationally cheap and require verification with higher order methods. The results presented in this paper allow a comparison between reduced order and Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) models in subsonic conditions at a whole airframe level. Another motivation for this paper is that although such reduced order models are used widely in industry (from conceptual design to flight loads assessments) such a comparison is not found in open literature. Thus, the discussion focuses on the comparison in steady trimmed flight conditions, and identifies key areas where the reduced order models need corrections. Moreover, the effects of including wing deformation due to flight loads are discussed. Overall, it was found that differences in lift coefficient tend to remain below 12% and as expected, as for the drag coefficient the differences found were of around 20%.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference, 2018
• Acceptance Date: Jan 8, 2018
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2018
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Book Title: 2018 AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2018-0773
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/872269
• Publisher URL: http://doi.org/10.2514/6.2018-0773
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : 2018 AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference