Rapid Transonic Wing Aerodynamic Design For Performance Prediction

摘要

A method for rapid prediction of the transonic aerodynamic performance of civil wing-body configurations is described. The key requirement is to provide aerodynamic performance data to support wider multidisciplinary design choices during conceptual design. During these early stages of design there is limited detailed geometry information defining a wing-body configuration. In particular, a high quality 3D wing surface shape, which has been aerodynamically shaped to define a high-quality transonic cruise wing design, is not available. Hence, use of high-fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) methods provides limited benefits in terms of predicting the future aerodynamic performance that can be achieved for a particular wing-body configuration choice. A semi-automated Rapid Aerodynamic Process (RAP) framework is described, which enables transonic aerodynamic design knowledge to be combined with the use of mid-fidelity aerodynamic methods. Results from RAP are compared with 3D RANS CFD data for the NASA Common Research Model (CRM) wing-body test case at the design transonic cruise condition. Individual components of induced, viscous and wave drag are compared, together with analysis of the impact of varying the operating Mach number and lift coefficient.