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At least 433 records · Page 24

Progress Toward Generation of a Navier-Stokes Database for a Harrier in Ground Effect

The Harrier YAV-8B aircraft is capable of vertical and short-field take-off and landing (V/STOL) by directing its four exhaust nozzles toward the ground, or conventional flight by rotating its nozzles into a horizontal position. The British Royal Air Force and the United States Marine Corps have used this aircraft for more than 30 years to provide a quick reaction time for troop support, and reduce the need for long runways. The success of this powered-lift (PL) vehicle has also prompted the more recent design of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). However there are significant safety issues that must be addressed when operating a PL vehicle in close proximity to the ground. Hot Gas Ingestion (HGI) by the inlets can result in a rapid loss of powered lift; and high-speed jet flows along the ground plane can induce low pressures underneath the vehicle, causing a 'suck-down' effect. Under these conditions, departure from controlled flight may occur. Moreover, unsteady ground vortices and jet fountains can affect the aircraft,s controllability and its proximity to ground troops. The viscous, time-dependent flow fields of PL vehicles are difficult to accurately and efficiently predict using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). A number of researchers have used the time-dependent Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations to compute flows for single and multiple jets in a cross-flow. A few have added some geometric complexity to the problem by computing flows for jet-augmented delta wings near a ground plane. Smith et.al. computed for the first time a single RANS solution about a simplified Harrier. This geometry included a fuselage, wing, leading edge root extension (LERX), inlets, and exhaust nozzles. All of these investigations cite two practical problems with computing these flows: 1) the need for improved solution accuracy; and, 2) the need for faster solution methods. We view the need for faster solution methods as key to improving the solution accuracy and making this class of computation more routine. One can hardly refine grids, explore the use of advanced turbulence models, and generate databases when it takes weeks of dedicated computer time for a single solution. Chaderjian, Ahmad, Pandya, and Murman have focused on reducing the time-to-solution for this very difficult and complex problem through process automation and exploitation of parallel computing. They began with the Harrier geometry reported, and added a deflected wing flap and empennage for greater realism. To date more than 80 solutions have been carried out. This paper will describe this process and progress made in reducing the time required to generate a simple longitudinal force and moment database for a Harrier in ground effect. It shows a typical snap-shot from an unsteady streakline animation, where fluid particles are colored by temperature. The ground vortex and a jet-fountain vortex are highlighted. It also shows a similar streakline image, where HGI occurs due to the vehicle in close proximity to the ground. It is show the mean lift coefficient as a function of angle of attack and height. The angle of attack range was 4 deg less than or = alpha less than or = 10 deg with an increment of 1 degree, and the height range was 10 ft less than or = h less than or = 30ft with an increment of 5 feet. This 35 solution database was extended to over 2500 cases using a monotone cubic-spline interpolation procedure. The suck-down effect (reduction of lift near the ground) is highlighted in the figure. The "cushion effect," the conventional reduction of lift as the vehicle moves out of ground effect, is also indicated. All 35 RANS solutions were obtained using 952 Silicon Graphics Origin 2000 and 3000 processors in dedicated mode for one week. Typically, 112 processors were assigned to each case. Some other cases used fewer processors to utilize all available CPUS. The final paper will report on the automation of the solution process, including: grid generation, job monitoring, solution completion criteria, and post processing. Moreover, improvements in parallel efficiency for a dual time-step algorithm for the RANS equations will also be presented. Results will be discussed in detail using unsteady streakline flow visualization to correlate unsteady flow structures with dominant aerodynamic frequencies. The stability derivatives, CL, and CL, will also be presented.

Chaderjian, Neal M.↗

Inviscid Analysis of Extended Formation Flight

Flying airplanes in extended formations, with separation distances of tens of wingspans, significantly improves safety while maintaining most of the fuel savings achieved in close formations. The present study investigates the impact of roll trim and compressibility at fixed lift coefficient on the benefits of extended formation flight. An Euler solver with adjoint-based mesh refinement combined with a wake propagation model is used to analyze a two-body echelon formation at a separation distance of 30 spans. Two geometries are examined: a simple wing and a wing-body geometry. Energy savings, quantified by both formation drag fraction and span efficiency factor, are investigated at subsonic and transonic speeds for a matrix of vortex locations. The results show that at fixed lift and trimmed for roll, the optimal location of vortex impingement is about 10% inboard of the trailing airplane s wing-tip. Interestingly, early results show the variation in drag fraction reduction is small in the neighborhood of the optimal position. Over 90% of energy benefits can be obtained with a 5% variation in transverse and 10% variation in crossflow directions. Early results suggest control surface deflections required to achieve trim reduce the benefits of formation flight by 3-5% at subsonic speeds. The final paper will include transonic effects and trim on extended formation flight drag benefits.

Kless, James↗

Subsonic flow investigations on a cranked wing designed for high maneuverability

The characteristic pitching moment nonlinearity of cranked wings limits their usable lift coefficient well below C sub L max. The potential of several aerodynamic devices, viz., fences, pylon vortex generators (PVG), mid-span strakes and cavity flaps, in delaying the pitch up onset on a 70/50 deg cranked wing was explored in low speed tunnel tests. Upper surface pressure measurements and low visualizations were conducted on a semi-span wing model to observe the vortex flow development with increasing angle of attack, and then to assess the effectiveness of the devices in controlling the collapse of vortex lift over the wing panel outboard of the crank. Force tests on a full span wing and body model were also conducted to assess the fence and PVG in improving the usable C sub L.

Rao, D. M.↗

An experimental study of a jet issuing from a lifting wing

An experimental program was conducted to determine the behavior of a round turbulent jet issuing from a lifting two-dimensional wing in crossflow. The jet was located at 65% wing chord on an NACA 0021 airfoil fitted with a 30% chord NACA 4415 flap. The flowfield associated with the jet was surveyed extensively with directional pressure probes to determine local velocity vectors and pressures for three different values of lift coefficient at jet effective velocity ratios (square root of the ratio of the jet dynamic pressure to the freestream dynamic pressure) of 4, 6, and 8. Data describing the jet centerline and the path of the contrarotating vortices accompanying the deflected jet are presented and compared with similar data for a round jet issuing from a large flat plate. The spacing and strength of the vortices are calculated using a simple vortex model previously proposed for the flat plate case. The results show that the penetration of the jet and the vortices increases significantly with increasing lift for the range of test parameters covered in the study. The calculated vortex spacing and strength also show an increase with lift.

Mcmahon, H. M.↗

Updated users' guide for TAWFIVE with multigrid

A program for the Transonic Analysis of a Wing and Fuselage with Interacted Viscous Effects (TAWFIVE) was improved by the incorporation of multigrid and a method to specify lift coefficient rather than angle-of-attack. A finite volume full potential multigrid method is used to model the outer inviscid flow field. First order viscous effects are modeled by a 3-D integral boundary layer method. Both turbulent and laminar boundary layers are treated. Wake thickness effects are modeled using a 2-D strip method. A brief discussion of the engineering aspects of the program is given. The input, output, and use of the program are covered in detail. Sample results are given showing the effects of boundary layer corrections and the capability of the lift specification method.

Melson, N. Duane↗

Transonic Drag Prediction Using an Unstructured Multigrid Solver

This paper summarizes the results obtained with the NSU-3D unstructured multigrid solver for the AIAA Drag Prediction Workshop held in Anaheim, CA, June 2001. The test case for the workshop consists of a wing-body configuration at transonic flow conditions. Flow analyses for a complete test matrix of lift coefficient values and Mach numbers at a constant Reynolds number are performed, thus producing a set of drag polars and drag rise curves which are compared with experimental data. Results were obtained independently by both authors using an identical baseline grid and different refined grids. Most cases were run in parallel on commodity cluster-type machines while the largest cases were run on an SGI Origin machine using 128 processors. The objective of this paper is to study the accuracy of the subject unstructured grid solver for predicting drag in the transonic cruise regime, to assess the efficiency of the method in terms of convergence, cpu time, and memory, and to determine the effects of grid resolution on this predictive ability and its computational efficiency. A good predictive ability is demonstrated over a wide range of conditions, although accuracy was found to degrade for cases at higher Mach numbers and lift values where increasing amounts of flow separation occur. The ability to rapidly compute large numbers of cases at varying flow conditions using an unstructured solver on inexpensive clusters of commodity computers is also demonstrated.

Mavriplis, D. J.↗

Mixed-element USM3D Contributions to the 4th AIAA High-Lift Prediction Workshop

This paper discusses results of the mixed-element USM3D (USM3D-ME) simulations performed for the 4th AIAA High-Lift Prediction Workshop. The workshop was separated into six Technical Focus Groups to investigate the impact of geometry modeling, grid, and computational methods for predicting high lift flows. This work was performed under the Fixed Grid RANS Technical Focus Group. The primary geometry selected for the workshop was the High-Lift Common Research Model. The performed simulations included a flap deflection study and both a grid refinement study and pitch sweep for the nominal flap deflection configuration. The results show that USM3D-ME RANS solutions, generally, tends to underpredict the lift coefficient and to predict a less negative pitching moment relative to the experimental data. The predicted drag coefficient values agree better with experiment for smaller angles of attack but were observed to be larger than experiment for the largest angle of attack simulated. The results of the grid refinement study demonstrated a lack of grid convergence for the provided grid family. The results of the grid refinement study are consistent with the submissions to the Fixed Grid and Mesh Adaptation Technical Focus Groups. Grid convergence for the provided grid family remains elusive for the international community. A 2D Multielement Airfoil configuration was included to enable a turbulence model verification study, which illustrated favorable agreement between USM3D-ME and the solutions provided by other flow solvers.

CFD↗

Mixed-Element USM3D Contributions to the 4th AIAA High-Lift Prediction Workshop

This paper discusses results of the mixed-element USM3D (USM3D-ME) simulations performed for the 4th AIAA High-Lift Prediction Workshop. The workshop was separated into six Technical Focus Groups to investigate the impact of geometry modeling, grid, and computational methods for predicting high lift flows. This work was performed under the Fixed Grid RANS Technical Focus Group. The primary geometry selected for the workshop was the High-Lift Common Research Model. The performed simulations included a flap deflection study and both a grid refinement study and pitch sweep for the nominal flap deflection configuration. The results show that USM3D-ME RANS solutions, generally, tends to underpredict the lift coefficient and to predict a less negative pitching moment relative to the experimental data. The predicted drag coefficient values agree better with experiment for smaller angles of attack but were observed to be larger than experiment for the largest angle of attack simulated. The results of the grid refinement study demonstrated a lack of grid convergence for the provided grid family. The results of the grid refinement study are consistent with the submissions to the Fixed Grid and Mesh Adaptation Technical Focus Groups. Grid convergence for the provided grid family remains elusive for the international community. A 2D Multielement Airfoil configuration was included to enable a turbulence model verification study, which illustrated favorable agreement between USM3D-ME and the solutions provided by other flow solvers.

CFD↗

Fuel cells for single-aisle regional aircraft: System configuration, performance and cost

A hydrogen fuel cell propelled electric aircraft can compete with incumbent turbofan technologies for single-aisle regional aircraft by coupling design of stack, air handling, thermal management, propulsion, and airframe to optimize performance. The stack operates at 95°C to facilitate heat rejection during take-off and below 75°C during cruise to extend lifetime and is oversized to satisfy power requirements at end of life. A multi-stage turbocompressor with a compression ratio >10 is selected to reach high stack power density at 11,300-m cruise altitude. The propulsion system is configured to accommodate air handling within the core duct, an inclined heat exchanger in the outer duct to limit the nacelle size, and variable area nozzles to independently control mass flows through the core and bypass ducts. The airframe is modified for maximum lift coefficient and longer balanced field length for dramatically reduced thrust during take-off, and the fuselage is stretched by 20% to store liquid hydrogen (LH 2 ). Modularization of power systems promotes safety in one engine inoperative scenarios and allows reaching specific power metrics for stack, balance-of-plant and fuel cell system (FCS), necessary for acceptable take-off weight. In conclusion, cost parity requires increase in FCS lifetime, LH 2 cost reduction, and improved FCS specific power.

Catalyst durability↗

Influence of turbulence intensity on vortex pattern for a rigid cylinder with turbulence stimulation in flow induced oscillations

The effect of ambient turbulence intensity on the flow induced oscillations of rigid circular cylinders with symmetric and asymmetric local turbulence stimulation is studied. Cylinders oscillate in one degree of freedom transversely to a steady uniform flow. Two-dimensional unsteady Reynolds-Average Navier-Stokes equations with the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model are used to solve the problem numerically. Three freestream turbulence intensity values (0.2%, 1%, 5%) are used to study the influence of turbulence intensity on vortex pattern. Simulation results are compared with experimental data measured in the Marine Renewable Energy Laboratory of the University of Michigan in the range of 30,000 ≤ Re ≤ 110,000. The amplitude ratio, lift coefficient, vortex modes, and the interactions between vortices and cylinders are observed and discussed. In conclusion, major conclusions are: (a) Vortex patterns strongly depend on the freestream ambient turbulence intensity. (b) Low turbulence intensity can generate multi-vortex patterns at high Re. (c) High turbulence intensity results in fewer separations of a shed vortex into multiple vortices inducing emergence of elongated vortex patterns.

42 ENGINEERING↗

TEAMER: Water Tunnel Data from Testing the Pterofin Skimmer Concept

Pterofin's Skimmer concept relies on a flapping and pitching hydrofoil to extract hydrokinetic energy from water flows. The concept aims to utilize unsteady fluid dynamics phenomena (added mass, shed vorticity, and unsteady boundary layer development) to achieve higher lift coefficients, enabling increased power density of the hydrokinetic device and a fundamental shift in the rpm/torque scaling of the power take off compared with turbines. The Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State, in collaboration with Pterofin, designed and built a proof-of-concept flapping/pitching mechanism which was subsequently tested in ARL's 12-inch water tunnel facility. The mechanical power supplied to or extracted from the mechanism was measured for a range of hydrofoils provided by Pterofin over operating conditions including reduced frequency, Reynolds number, and the ratio between pitching and flapping amplitudes. The power lost to friction in the mechanism was removed from the net power measurement by means of a bare hub tare, with the resultant hydrodynamic power being used to calculate a mechanism-independent and non-dimensional power coefficient. The product of this effort is a dataset describing the power coefficient of a hydrofoil having simultaneous pitching and flapping motions, both of which are approximately sinusoidal. Power coefficients were collected for a range of primary design variables including: - Reduced frequency: 0.01 to 0.95 - Pitching/flapping peak angle ratio: 1.5 to 3.0 - Chord-based Reynolds number: 60,000 to 560,000 Secondary design variables relating to the hydrofoil geometry were explored including: - Aspect ratio - Planform shape - Section thickness distribution - Hydrofoil position relative to the pitching axis - Hydrofoil sweep angle relative to the pitching axis Measured data are provided in mean and time series formats. MATLAB scripts are provided which can be used to generate figures of time-averaged and phase-averaged hydrodynamic power coefficients calculated from the measured data. A complete description of the experiment and data reduction can be found in the Post Access Report for the Pterofin Skimmer test effort which will be available on the TEAMER website. This work was supported by the Pacific Energy Ocean Trust via a TEAMER award.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗

Open-Source Offshore Airfoil Summary (V.1.0)

The Open-Source Offshore (OSO) airfoils have been developed for research purposes for offshore wind turbines, offering a set of airfoils that align with modern turbine design requirements and industry design practices without proprietary constraints on research use. The eventual airfoil family will target the IEA 22 MW reference wind turbine, which was originally developed with the FFA airfoils. The two airfoils summarized in Table 1 (OSO-21-WT1 and OSO-30-WT1) started development as part of a family of airfoils being designed to target the IEA 22 MW wind turbine. The criteria used to design these airfoils are summarized in Table 1, which aim to encapsulate requirements of modern airfoils for offshore wind turbine applications, and were developed with feedback from industry and research experts. The airfoils were designed using XFOIL and candidate airfoils were then analyzed in RFOIL, which is considered more accurate than XFoil for high lift predictions of thicker airfoils. The design process for a preliminary family of airfoils is available, including a more detailed explanation of the design requirements and metrics similar to those used for these airfoils. Most of the design criteria are met for these two airfoils, with two exceptions. For both airfoils, the L/D Roughness Loss metric is exceeded (42% > 40% goal) and the desired lift coefficient margin over the design value (“CL_Margin”) was moderately exceeded (0.43 > 0.3) while smooth-stall characteristics (computed) were achieved. Note that all of the metrics were computed using RFOIL, and like other new airfoils, these will need to be experimentally validated at a range of Reynolds numbers. The airfoil coordinates will be shared publicly on Sadia National Laboratories’ public Github repository:

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Effect of Surface Roughness on Dynamic Stall in Pitching Motion

Dynamic stall plays a critical role in determining the performance and stability of a wide range of fluid-dynamics systems in various engineering applications. This unsteady aerodynamic phenomenon is particularly significant for maneuvering aircraft wings, jet aircraft subjected to gust encounters, helicopter rotor blades, and wind turbine blades [1–3]. The prediction of the dynamic stall vortex (DSV) is challenging due to factors such as unsteady aerodynamics, three-dimensional (3-D) effects, turbulence and flow separation, incoming gust, and surface impact effects [4–6]. Hence, advanced computational techniques and modeling approaches in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) would be required to enhance the accuracy and reliability of DSV predictions in dynamic stall scenarios. In the past, Batther and Lee [7] employed delayed detached eddy simulations (DDES) to understand the flow physics associated with the onset of dynamic stall. Their approach demonstrated that DDES achieves results comparable to those obtained from large-eddy simulations at a reduced computational cost. In another study, Khalifa et al. [8] examined the 3-D aspects of dynamic stall on a NACA 0012 airfoil using DES solvers. In conclusion, the findings underlined the superiority of 3-D simulations over two-dimensional approaches, particularly in predicting the lift coefficient values and capturing dynamic stall stages more precisely.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

High Efficiency 2-Bladed Utility Wind Turbine Enhanced by CoFlow Jet Active Flow Control

The aerodynamic performance and power output of a high efficiency Co-Flow Jet (CFJ) 2-bladed Wind Turbine is studied in this paper. CFJ is a Zero-Net-Mass-Flux (ZNMF) active flow control method that dramatically increases airfoil lift coefficient and suppresses flow separation at a low energy expenditure. The 3D Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with one-equation Spalart-Allmaras (SA) turbulence model are solved to simulate the 3D flows of the wind turbines. The CFJ-Wind Turbine in this paper is modified from the NREL 3-bladed 3.4 MW reference wind turbine with the same RPM, blade length, distribution of chord, twist, and bending. The CFJ 2-bladed wind turbine utilizes the CFJ-NACA 64 series airfoils at most of the blade span from 31.88\% to the tip. The CFJ injection and suction slots are implemented along the full blade span to enhance the effectiveness and power output. The study shows that the 2-bladed CFJ turbine significantly increases power output compared with the 3-bladed baseline turbine at all wind speeds by 15.8\% at the wind speed of 9.8 m/s and by 25.9\% at 4 m/s respectively. The efficiency enhancement is substantially more at the low wind speed than at high wind speed. This would be very beneficial to increase the annual power output or capacity factor as wind turbines work at the speeds lower than the rated speed for most of the time. The results show that the flow field around the blade surface presents a significant enhanced suction peak near the blade leading edge, which results in a very high tangential force and thus increased wind turbine net power coefficient. Consistent with the previous study for the small NREL Phase VI research wind turbine, this paper demonstrates that CFJ 2-bladed wind turbine is an effective technology to extract more power from the wind at all speeds. This study is just an initial effort to demonstrate the advantage of the CFJ blade with no design optimization. It is believed that there is more potential to further enhance the efficiency improvement.

active flow control↗

Linearized Theory of Wind-tunnel Jet-boundary Corrections and Ground Effect for VTOL-STOL Aircraft

A linearized theory is developed to obtain interference factors for wind tunnels and ground effect. The calculated results, presented in tabular form in NASA Technical Notes D-933, D-934, D-935, and D-936, indicate that the degree to which the wake is deflected downward has a primary effect on the magnitude of the interference. When the wake is undeflected the corrections are essentially the same as those of classical theory. When the wake is deflected severely downward, the corrections are primarily determined by the floor of the wind tunnel. Under these conditions, the corrections are, in general, much larger than those given by previously available results. Because of deformations at the lower boundary of the jet, the corrections for an open wind tunnel are uncertain. Testing at low speeds and high lift coefficients in open wind tunnels, therefore, is not recommended. Although the theory is developed expressly for single-element, vanishingly small models, methods, with sample calculations, are given for extending the results to multielement and finite span models. The theory is at least partially verified by available test data; however, complete verification would require a substantially more detailed experimental study.

V/STOL aircraft↗

Investigation of Control Effectiveness and Stability Characteristics of a Model of a Low-Wing Missile with Interdigitated Tail Surfaces at Mach Numbers of 2.29, 2.97, and 3.51

A brief investigation of the longitudinal stability and control effectiveness at supersonic speeds of a model of a low-wing missile with interdigitated tail surfaces was made in the Langley Unitary Plan wind tunnel. The data were obtained at Mach numbers M of 2.29, 2.97, and 3.51 for Reynolds number (based on the mean geometric chord of the wing) of 1.15 x 10(exp 6), 1.14 x 10(exp 6), and 1.11 x 10(exp 6), respectively. Data were obtained for three settings of the longitudinal control surfaces: with deflection of all surfaces, with deflection of the lower surfaces only, and with all surfaces undeflected. Directional stability data were obtained at M=3.51 for angles of attack of approximately 0 deg and 10 deg. These data, with summary data and typical schlieren photographs, are presented with only a brief analysis. The data indicate that the controls are effective throughout the Mach number range and lift-coefficient range (CL = -0.15 to 0.7, approximately) of the tests. There is a severe break in the pitching-moment curve at M=2.29 which might result in a pitch-up condition in flight, and also a large forward movement of the aerodynamic center with increasing Mach number that produces neutral longitudinal stability at M=3.51 for the moment center used in this investigation. The model was directionally unstable at M=3.51; however, the level of directional stability was about the same for 0 deg and 10 deg angles of attack.

STABILITY AND CONTROL↗

Transonic Free-Flight Investigation of the Longitudinal Aerodynamic Characteristics of a 1/10-Scale Steel-Wing Model of the Northrop MX-775A Missile with Leading-Edge Extensions, Inboard Trailing-Edge Flaps, and a Speed Brake on the Vertical Tail

Results are presented of a free-flight investigation between Mach numbers of 0.7 to 1.3 and Reynolds numbers of 3.1 x 10(exp 6) to 7.0 x 10(exp 6) to determine the longitudinal aerodynamic characteristics of the Northrop MX-775A missile. This missile has a weng, body, and vertical tail, but has no horizontal tail. The basic wing plan form has an aspect ratio of 5.5, 45 deg of sweepback of the 0.406 streamwise chord line, and a taper ratio of 0.4. A 1/10-scale steel-wing model of the missile was flown with modifications to the basic wing plan form consisting of leading-edge chord-extensions deflected 7 deg downward together with the forward 15 percent of the wing chord, and inboard trailing-edge flaps deflected 5 deg downward. In addition, the model had a static-pressure tube mounted at the tip of the vertical tail for position-error measurements and had a speed brake also mounted on the vertical tail to trim the model to positive lift coefficients and to permit determination of the trim and drag effectiveness of the brake. The data are uncorrected for the effects of wing elasticity, but experimental wing influence coefficients are presented.

Arbic, R. G.↗

Advanced general aviation propeller study

Methods for predicting the performance, noise, weight, and cost of propellers for advanced general aviation aircraft of the 1980 time period were developed and computerized. This basic program was refined to incorporate a method of including the blade shape parameter, integrated design lift coefficient. This method and a reverse thrust computational procedure were included in the computer program. The weight equation was refined and also incorporated in the computer program. A User's Manual which includes a complete listing of this computer program with detailed instructions on its use has been written.

Worobel, R.↗