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The Impact of CFD on the Airplane Design Process: Today and Tomorrow
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Abstract
CFD now stands alongside the wind tunnel in terms of importance to aerodynamic design. Its usage by engineering designers involves many thousands of runs per year, and the rate is increasing. For the simpler aerodynamic flows where viscous effects are modest, CFD has become the dominant tool for aerodynamic design. The primary role of the wind tunnel for such flows is for validation of a design and for determination of aerodynamic characteristics over the broad flight envelope. For more complex flows that are dominated by strong viscous effects, CFD is beginning to make a contribution.
It is thought by many that the principle challenge for the future is to develop better computers and algorithms in order to better address the computation of complex flows over complex airplane geometries. But recent experiences involving the application of CFD to the design of the new Boeing 777 airplane has taught us that the challenge for the future is really much broader. This recent experience has brought into focus a clearer understanding of where the leverage of CFD really is, and what codes must be able to do in order to contribute in truly significant ways to the design of superior airplanes. This paper discusses the characteristics of the codes that are found to play a truly central and effective role in airplane design, and describes the challenges that must be met and overcome.
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Citation
Bengelink, R. and Rubbert, P., "The Impact of CFD on the Airplane Design Process: Today and Tomorrow," SAE Technical Paper 911989, 1991, https://doi.org/10.4271/911989.Also In
References
- Rubbert, P. E. “On the Continuing Evolution of CFD for Airplane Design,” Supercomputing '91 Tokyo, Japan April 10-12 1991
- Garner, P. L. Meredith, P. T. Stoner, R. C. “Areas for Future CFD Development as Illustrated by Transport Aircraft Applications,” AIAA Paper No. 91-1527 AIAA 10th Computational Fluid Dynamics Conference Honolulu, Hawaii June 24-27 1991
- Abid, R. Vatsa, V. N. Johnson, D. A. Wedan, B. W. “Prediction of Separated Transonic Wing Flows with a Non-equilibrium Algebraic Model,” AIAA 89-0558 1989
- Johnson, D. A. King, L. S. “Mathematically Simple Turbulence Closure Model for Attached and Separated Turbulent Boundary Layers,” AIAA Journal 23 11 November 1985 1684 1692