A computational method for predicting the aerodynamic performance of an airplane equipped with an active flow control system on the vertical tail has been developed and thoroughly validated. The objective of this application was to enhance airplane directional control and potentially lead to reduced fuel burn, lower emissions, and improved airplane performance. The flow control system incorporated a large array of fluidic oscillators. A systematic approach was used to assess the accuracy of the computational tool for progressively complex configurations using measured data. First, the characterization of the flow of a single actuator was established. This was followed by simulations of vertical tail models with dozens of actuators in subscale and full-scale wind-tunnel environments. Computational simulations were subsequently used to guide the implementation into a full airplane under realistic flight conditions. The simulation results were validated with the measured data obtained during a flight test of the Boeing 757 ecoDemonstrator airplane that was used to demonstrate the active flow control technology. The computational tool has also been used to assess scaling of flow control effectiveness between the wind-tunnel test and flight.
Active Flow Control Computations: From a Single Actuator to a Complete Airplane
AIAA Journal ; 56 , 12 ; 4730-4740
2018-10-31
11 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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