The vortex lattice method (VLM), which models the lifting surfaces as thin sheets of a sum of vortices, can accurately predict the aerodynamic properties of the wing at low Reynolds number and moderate angle of attack computationally economically. However, since the VLM, with Reynolds number or the angle of attack increasing, will lose its accuracy, it is necessary to count for viscous effect to get better aerodynamic predictions. In this paper, after a literature summary of the available VII methods, a novel 3D viscous-inviscid interactive (VII) method for arbitrary aircraft wings is formulated. The novel 3D VII method developed in this paper introduces blowing sources to account for the viscous effect based on the VLM. It is better than the strip theory for that it takes other strips' viscous influence into account. For the method developed by this paper, the source strengths can be known from proper iteration using XFOIL, which makes the governing equations still simple algebraic equations to solve. The numerical result compared with that using software XFLR5, another published nonlinear VLM method and experimental data is validated good accuracy for the drag and lift prediction under high Reynolds number.
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