Search results

1 – 10 of over 2000
Article
Publication date: 3 July 2017

L. Ebrahimnejad, K.D. Janoyan, D.T. Valentine and P. Marzocca

The application of reduced order models (ROMs) in the aerodynamic/aeroelastic analysis of long-span bridges, unlike the aeronautical structures, has not been extensively studied…

Abstract

Purpose

The application of reduced order models (ROMs) in the aerodynamic/aeroelastic analysis of long-span bridges, unlike the aeronautical structures, has not been extensively studied. ROMs are computationally efficient techniques, which have been widely used for predicting unsteady aerodynamic response of airfoils and wings. This paper aims to discuss the application of a reduced order computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model based on the eigensystem realization algorithm (ERA) in the aeroelastic analysis of the Great Belt Bridge (GBB).

Design/methodology/approach

The aerodynamic impulse response of the GBB section is used to construct the aerodynamic ROM, and then the aerodynamic ROM is coupled with the reduced DOF model of the system to construct the aeroelastic ROM. Aerodynamic coefficients and flutter derivatives are evaluated and compared to those of the advanced discrete vortex method-based CFD code.

Findings

Results demonstrate reasonable prediction power and high computational efficiency of the technique that can serve for preliminary aeroelastic analysis and design of long-span bridges, optimization and control purposes.

Originality/value

The application of a system identification tool like ERA into the aeroelastic analysis of long-span bridges is performed for the first time in this work. Authors have developed their earlier work on the aerodynamic analysis of long-span bridges, published in the Journal of Bridge Engineering, by coupling the aerodynamic forces with reduced DOF of structural system. The high computational efficiency of the technique enables bridge designers to perform preliminary aeroelastic analysis of long-span bridges in less than a minute.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 34 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 22 September 2022

Marcin Figat

This paper presents first sight on the longitudinal control strategy for an aircraft in the tandem wing configuration. It is an aerodynamic strongly coupled configuration that…

1513

Abstract

Purpose

This paper presents first sight on the longitudinal control strategy for an aircraft in the tandem wing configuration. It is an aerodynamic strongly coupled configuration that needs a lot of detailed aerodynamic analysis which describes the mutual impact of the main parts of the aircraft. The purpose of this paper is to build the numerical model that allows to make an analysis of necessary flaps (front and rear) deflection and prepare the control strategy for this kind of aircraft.

Design/methodology/approach

Aircrafts’ aerodynamic characteristics were obtained using the MGAERO software which is a commercial computing fluid dynamics tool created by Analytical Methods, Inc. This software uses the Euler flow model. Results from this software were used in the static stability evaluation and trim condition analysis. The trim conditions are the outcome of the optimisation process whose goal was to find the best front and rear flap deflection to achieve the best lift to drag (L/D) ratio.

Findings

The main outcome of this investigation is the proposal of strategy for the front and rear flap deflection which ensured the maximum L/D ratio and satisfied the trim condition. Moreover, the analysis of the mutual impact of the front and rear wings and the analysis of the control surface impact on the aerodynamic characteristic of the aircraft are presented.

Research limitations/implications

In terms of aerodynamic computation, MGAERO software uses an inviscid flow model. However, this research is for the conceptual stage of the design and the MGAERO software grantee satisfied accurate respect to relatively low time of computations.

Practical implications

The ultimate goal is to build an aircraft in a tandem wing configuration and to conduct flying tests or wind tunnel tests. The presented result is one of the milestones to achieve this goal.

Originality/value

The aircraft in the tandem wing configuration is an aerodynamic-coupled configuration that needs detailed analysis to find the mutual interaction between the front and rear wings. Moreover, the mutual impact of the front and rear flaps is necessary too. Obtaining these results allowed this study to build the numerical model of the aircraft in the tandem wing configuration. It allows to find the best strategy of flap deflection, which allows to obtain the maximum L/D ratio and satisfy the trim condition.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 95 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 August 2022

Ivan Kostić, Dragoljub Tanović, Olivera Kostić, Ahmed Ali Irhayim Abubaker and Aleksandar Simonović

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with remote and/or automated flight and mission controls have replaced airplanes with pilots in many important roles. This study aims to deal with…

Abstract

Purpose

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with remote and/or automated flight and mission controls have replaced airplanes with pilots in many important roles. This study aims to deal with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and development of the aerodynamic configuration of a multi-purpose UAV for low and medium altitudes. The main aerodynamic requirement was the application of the tandem wing (TW) concept, where both wings generate a positive lift and act as primary lifting devices.

Design/methodology/approach

Initial design analyses of the UAV’s aerodynamic configuration were performed using ANSYS Fluent. In previous work in Fluent, the authors established a calculation model that has been verified by experiments and, with minor adjustments, could be applied for subsonic, transonic and supersonic flow analyses.

Findings

The design evolved through eight development configurations, where the latest V8 satisfied all the posted longitudinal aerodynamic requirements. Both wings generate a substantial amount of positive lift, whereas the initial stall occurs first on the front wing, generating a natural nose-down stall recovery tendency. In the cruising flight regime, this configuration has the desired range of longitudinal static stability and its centre of pressure is in close proximity to the centre of gravity.

Practical implications

The intermediate development version V8 with proper longitudinal aerodynamic characteristics presents a good starting point for future development steps that will involve the optimization of lateral-directional aerodynamics.

Originality/value

Using contemporary CFD tools, a novel and original TW aerodynamic configuration have evolved within eight development stages, not being based on or derived from any existing designs.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 95 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 8 May 2018

Aidan Jungo, Mengmeng Zhang, Jan B. Vos and Arthur Rizzi

The purpose of this paper is to present the status of the on-going development of the new computerized environment for aircraft synthesis and integrated optimization methods…

2196

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the status of the on-going development of the new computerized environment for aircraft synthesis and integrated optimization methods (CEASIOM) and to compare results of different aerodynamic tools. The concurrent design of aircraft is an extremely interdisciplinary activity incorporating simultaneous consideration of complex, tightly coupled systems, functions and requirements. The design task is to achieve an optimal integration of all components into an efficient, robust and reliable aircraft with high performance that can be manufactured with low technical and financial risks, and has an affordable life-cycle cost.

Design/methodology/approach

CEASIOM (www.ceasiom.com) is a framework that integrates discipline-specific tools like computer-aided design, mesh generation, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), stability and control analysis and structural analysis, all for the purpose of aircraft conceptual design.

Findings

A new CEASIOM version is under development within EU Project AGILE (www.agile-project.eu), by adopting the CPACS XML data-format for representation of all design data pertaining to the aircraft under development.

Research limitations/implications

Results obtained from different methods have been compared and analyzed. Some differences have been observed; however, they are mainly due to the different physical modelizations that are used by each of these methods.

Originality/value

This paper summarizes the current status of the development of the new CEASIOM software, in particular for the following modules: CPACS file visualizer and editor CPACSupdater (Matlab) Automatic unstructured (Euler) & hybrid (RANS) mesh generation by sumo Multi-fidelity CFD solvers: Digital Datcom (Empirical), Tornado (VLM), Edge-Euler & SU2-Euler, Edge-RANS & SU2-RANS Data fusion tool: aerodynamic coefficients fusion from variable fidelity CFD tools above to compile complete aero-table for flight analysis and simulation.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 90 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 June 2022

Ying-Jie Guan, Yong-Ping Li and Peng Zeng

To solve the problems of short battery life and low transportation safety of logistics drones, this paper aims to propose a design of logistics unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) wing…

Abstract

Purpose

To solve the problems of short battery life and low transportation safety of logistics drones, this paper aims to propose a design of logistics unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) wing with a composite ducted rotor, which combines fixed wing and rotary-wing.

Design/methodology/approach

This UAV adopts tiltable ducted rotor combined with fixed wing, which has the characteristics of fast flight speed, large carrying capacity and long endurance. At the same time, it has the hovering and vertical take-off and landing capabilities of the rotary-wing UAV. In addition, aerodynamic simulation analysis of the composite model with a fixed wing and a ducted rotor was carried out, and the aerodynamic influence of the composite model on the UAV was analyzed under different speeds, fixed wing angles of attack and ducted rotor speeds.

Findings

The results were as follows: when the speed of the ducted rotor is 2,500 rpm, CL and K both reach maximum values. But when the speed exceeds 3,000 rpm, the lift will decrease; when the angle of attack of the fixed wing is 10° and the rotational speed of the ducted rotor is about 3,000 rpm, the aerodynamic characteristics of the wing are better.

Originality/value

The novelty of this work comes from a composite wing design of a fixed wing combined with a tiltable ducted rotor applied to the logistics UAVs, and the aerodynamic characteristics of the design wing are analyzed.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 95 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 October 2018

Ewa Marcinkiewicz, Zdobyslaw Jan Goraj and Marcin Figat

The purpose of this paper is to describe an integrated approach to spin analysis based on 6-DOF (degrees of freedom) fully nonlinear equations of motion and a three-dimensional…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe an integrated approach to spin analysis based on 6-DOF (degrees of freedom) fully nonlinear equations of motion and a three-dimensional multigrid Euler method used to specify a flow model. Another purpose of this study is to investigate military trainer performance during a developed phase of a deliberately executed spin, and to predict an aircraft tendency while entering a spin and its response to control surface deflections needed for recovery.

Design/methodology/approach

To assess spin properties, the calculations of aerodynamic characteristics were performed through an angle-of-attack range of −30 degrees to +50 degrees and a sideslip-angle range of −30 degrees to +30 degrees. Then, dynamic equations of motion of a rigid aircraft together with aerodynamic loads being premised on stability derivatives concept were numerically integrated. Finally, the examination of light turboprop dynamic behaviour in post-stalling conditions was carried out.

Findings

The computational method used to evaluate spin was positively verified by comparing it with the experimental outcome. Moreover, the Euler code-based approach to lay down aerodynamics could be considered as reliable to provide high angles-of-attack characteristics. Conclusions incorporate the results of a comparative analysis focusing especially on comprehensive assessment of output data quality in relation to flight tests.

Originality/value

The conducted calculations take into account aerodynamic and flight dynamic interaction of an aerobatic-category turboprop in spin conditions. A number of manoeuvres considering different aircraft configurations were simulated. The computational outcomes were subsequently compared to the results of in-flight tests and the collected data were thoroughly analysed to draw final conclusions.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 91 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 May 2023

Xu Zhang, Hao Jing, Qing Zhang, Ruijun Zhang and Lixin Liu

This paper aims to guide the implementation of noise reduction measures in hoistway and reduce the aerodynamic noise generated by elevator operation, this paper aims to propose an…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to guide the implementation of noise reduction measures in hoistway and reduce the aerodynamic noise generated by elevator operation, this paper aims to propose an aerodynamic noise analysis method that can solve the flow field in hoistway.

Design/methodology/approach

A turbulence-acoustic model solving the flow field in a hoistway and a numerical wind hoistway model of the ultra-high-speed elevator were established by using large eddy simulation (LES) and Curle acoustic theory.

Findings

The characteristics of pulsating flow field and aerodynamic noise around ultra-high-speed elevator are analyzed. The asymmetric characteristics of the flow field could be observed using the turbulent kinetic energy and the instantaneous vortexes in the wind hoistway model. Vortex shedding, air flow separation and recombination around the car were the key factors for aerodynamic noise generation. The sound pressure level was approximately linear to the logarithm of car speed. The increase of car deflection angle in a certain range would reduce the peak frequency of wake noise and increase the sound pressure level (SPL) value.

Originality/value

This paper provides important guidance for researches studying the aerodynamic noise in the hoistway and the technical personnel that look for the reduction measures, which greatly improves the shortcomings in the numerical simulation of the aerodynamic noise of the hoistway.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 40 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1993

MICHAEL J. NUSCA

An aerothermodynamic design code for axisymmetric projectiles has been developed using a viscous‐inviscid interaction scheme. Separate solution procedures for the inviscid and the…

Abstract

An aerothermodynamic design code for axisymmetric projectiles has been developed using a viscous‐inviscid interaction scheme. Separate solution procedures for the inviscid and the viscous (boundary layer) fluid dynamic equations are coupled by an iterative solution procedure. Non‐equilibrium, equilibrium and perfect gas boundary layer equations are included. The non‐equilibrium gas boundary layer equations assume a binary mixture (two species; atoms and molecules) of chemically reacting perfect gases. Conservation equations for each species include finite reaction rates applicable to high temperature air. The equilibrium gas boundary layer equations assume infinite rate reactions, while the perfect gas equations assume no chemical reactions. Projectile near‐wall and surface flow profiles (velocity, pressure, density, temperature and heat transfer) representing converged solutions to both the inviscid and viscous equations can be obtained in less than two minutes on minicomputers. A technique for computing local reverse flow regions is included. Computations for yawed projectiles are accomplished using a coordinate system transformation technique that is valid for small angle‐of‐attack. Computed surface pressure, heat transfer rates and aerodynamic forces and moments for 1.25 &le Mach No. &le 10.5 are compared to wind tunnel and free flight measurements on flat plate, blunt‐cone, and projectile geometries such as a cone‐cylinder‐flare.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 10 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 December 2023

Ying-Jie Guan and Yong-Ping Li

To solve the shortcomings of existed search and rescue drones, search and rescue the trapped people trapped in earthquake ruins, underwater and avalanches quickly and accurately…

Abstract

Purpose

To solve the shortcomings of existed search and rescue drones, search and rescue the trapped people trapped in earthquake ruins, underwater and avalanches quickly and accurately, this paper aims to propose a four-axis eight-rotor rescue unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which can carry a radar life detector. As the design of propeller is the key to the design of UAV, this paper mainly designs the propeller of the UAV at the present stage.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the actual working conditions of UAVs, this paper preliminarily estimated the load of UAVs and the diameters of propellers and designed the main parameters of propellers according to the leaf element theory and momentum theory. Based on the low Reynolds number airfoil, this paper selected the airfoil with high lift drag ratio from the commonly used low Reynolds number airfoils. The chord length and twist angle of propeller blades were calculated according to the Wilson method and the maximum wind energy utilization coefficient and were optimized by the Asymptotic exponential function. The aerodynamic characteristics of the designed single propeller and coaxial propeller under different installation pitch angles and different installation distances were analyzed.

Findings

The results showed that the design of coaxial twin propellers can increase the load capacity by about 1.5 times without increasing the propeller diameter. When the installation distance between the two propellers was 8 cm and the tilt angle was 15° counterclockwise, the aerodynamic characteristics of the coaxial propeller were optimal.

Originality/value

The novelty of this work came from the conceptual design of the new rescue UAV and its numerical optimization using the Wilson method combined with the maximum wind energy utilization factor and the exponential function. The aerodynamic characteristics of the common shaft propeller were analyzed under different mounting angles and different mounting distances.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 96 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 September 2023

Huang Taiming, JingMao Ma, Li Zhang, Pan Hao, MingChen Feng, Wei Zeng and Changjie Ou

The purpose of this study is investigate the transient aerodynamic characteristics of high-speed vehicle with body roll motion under crosswind condition to improve aerodynamic

101

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is investigate the transient aerodynamic characteristics of high-speed vehicle with body roll motion under crosswind condition to improve aerodynamic stability.

Design/methodology/approach

An overset mesh was used to simulate the rolling motion of the vehicle body. A wind tunnel experiment was conducted to validate the numerical method.

Findings

The results revealed that the vehicle’s aerodynamic characteristics changed periodically with the body’s periodic motion. In the absence of crosswind, the pressure distribution on the left and right sides of the vehicle body was symmetrical, and the speed streamline flowed to the rear of the vehicle in an orderly manner. The maximum aerodynamic lift observed in the transient simulation was −0.089, which is approximately 0.70 times that of the quasi-static simulation experiment. In addition, the maximum aerodynamic side force observed in the transient simulation was 0.654, which is approximately 1.25 times that of the quasi-static simulation experiment.

Originality/value

The aerodynamic load varies periodically with the vehicle body’s cyclic motion. However, the extreme values of the aerodynamic load do not occur when the vehicle body is at its highest or lowest position. This phenomenon is primarily attributed to the mutual interference of airflow viscosity and the hysteresis effect in the flow field, leading to the formation of a substantial vortex near the wheel. Consequently, the aerodynamic coefficient at each horizontal position becomes inconsistent during the periodic rolling of the vehicle body.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 33 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 2000