PROJECT TITLE: Next Generation Preliminary Design Technology
TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Designing 21st century civil and military aircraft for minimum development and life cycle costs, and maximum performance requires aerodynamic models for a new generation of preliminary design tools. These models will enable efficient multi-point optimization early in the design cycle - including the incorporation of high risk/high payoff technologies into new vehicles - while complementing the capabilities of current high end CFD methods. These new capabilities can be realized by incorporating a novel zonal approach to airframe flow modeling tailored for use in design optimization software. This approach builds on the coupling of two innovations in aerodynamic modeling: an efficient potential flow solver built on fast panel methods for unstructured surface meshes; and a novel method for modeling of transonic flow over 3D wing/bodies, using simplified analytical and numerical far field descriptions to achieve dramatic reductions in mesh generation and convergence time, and providing fast generation of sensitivity derivatives for design optimization. Integration of this zonal airframe flow solver within a state of the art optimization system will lead to a major reduction in design evaluation times while providing analysts with an expanded-envelope modeling tool to enhance the physical fidelity available in the preliminary design process for future aircraft configurations.
POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The design tools proposed here have direct application to commercial aircraft design, which would experience an equal or greater benefit from the application of this technology. Collaboration with industry designers and third party software suppliers will ensure rapid transition to civil jet and turboprop transport design applications.
NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
William J. Usab
Continuum Dynamics, Inc.
P.O. Box 3073
Princeton , NJ 08543-3073
NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR
Continuum Dynamics, Inc.
P.O. Box 3073
Princeton , NJ 08543-3073