Instability analysis and drag coefficient prediction on a swept RAE2822 wing with constant lift coefficient

Swept wing is widely used in civil aircraft,whose airfoil is chosen,designed and optimized to increase the cruise speed and decrease the drag coefficient.The parameters of swept wing,such as sweep angle and angle of attack,are determined according to the cruise lift coefficient requirement,and the drag coefficient is expected to be predicted accurately,which involves the instability characteristics and transition position of the flow.The pressure coefficient of the RAE2822 wing with given constant lift coefficient is obtained by solving the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equation numerically,and then the mean flow is calculated by solving the boundary layer(BL) equation with spectral method.The cross-flow instability characteristic of boundary layer of swept wing in the windward and leeward is analyzed by linear stability theory(LST),and the transition position is predicted by eNmethod.The drag coefficient is numerically predicted by introducing a laminar/turbulent indicator.A simple approach to calculate the lift coefficient of swept wing is proposed.It is found that there is a quantitative relationship between the angle of attack and sweep angle when the lift coefficient keeps constant;when the angle of attack is small,the flow on the leeward of the wing is stable.when the angle of attack is larger than 3°,the flow becomes unstable quickly;with the increase of sweep angle or angle of attack the disturbance on the windward becomes more unstable,leading to the moving forward of the transition position to the leading edge of the wing;the drag coefficient has two significant jumping growth due to the successive occurrence of transition in the windward and the leeward;the optimal range of sweep angle for civil aircraft is suggested.     

Simulation on effect of throat contraction ratio and strake stagger angle on flow field and aerodynamic performance of scrampressor

The design methods of typical supersonic aircraft intakes and shock wave compression technology have been applied to ram-rotor, an attractive compression system. A ram-rotor is of a typical structure including the compression ramp, the throat and the subsonic diffuser; a scrampressor is similar to ram-rotor, the only difference is that scrampressor has no subsonic diffuser. The work was the continuation of the preparatory work. In order to further study the effect of throat contraction ratio and strake stagger angle on the flow field and performance of a scrampressor, the flow field of a scrampressor with a three-dimensional flow path was numerically simulated with different throat contraction ratios and strake stagger angles. Simulated results indicated that the optional aerodynamic performance of a scrampressor could be achieved with an adiabatic efficiency of 0.8413 a total pressure recovery coefficient of 0.8446, a total pressure ratio of 7.14 and a static pressure ratio of 5.17 for a throat contraction ratio of 0.6 and a strake stagger angle of 12°. It was therefore concluded that an appropriate decrease in throat contraction ratio and an increase in strake stagger angle could help the comprehensive improvement of a scrampressor in performance.      

Numerical study of aerodynamic characteristics of FSW aircraft with different wing positions under supersonic condition

This paper investigates the influence of forward-swept wing(FSW) positions on the aerodynamic characteristics of aircraft under supersonic condition(Ma = 1.5). The numerical method based on Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes(RANS) equations, Spalart–Allmaras(S–A) turbulence model and implicit algorithm is utilized to simulate the flow field of the aircraft. The aerodynamic parameters and flow field structures of the horizontal tail and the whole aircraft are presented. The results demonstrate that the spanwise flow of FSW flows from the wingtip to the wing root, generating an upper wing surface vortex and a trailing edge vortex nearby the wing root.The vortexes generated by FSW have a strong downwash effect on the tail. The lower the vertical position of FSW, the stronger the downwash effect on tail. Therefore, the effective angle of attack of tail becomes smaller. In addition, the lift coefficient, drag coefficient and lift–drag ratio of tail decrease, and the center of pressure of tail moves backward gradually. For the whole aircraft,the lower the vertical position of FSW, the smaller lift, drag and center of pressure coefficients of aircraft. The closer the FSW moves towards tail, the bigger pitching moment and center of pressure coefficients of the whole aircraft, but the lift and drag characteristics of the horizontal tail and the whole aircraft are basically unchanged. The results have potential application for the design of new concept aircraft.     

An innovative study on low surface energy micronano coatings with multilevel structures for laminar flow design

Laminar flow design is one of the most effective ways to reduce the drag of a commercial aircraft by expanding the laminar flow region on the surface of the aircraft. As material science develops, the emergence of new materials such as low surface energy materials has offered new choices for laminar flow design of commercial aircraft. Different types of low surface energy micro-nano coatings are prepared to verify the effects on the boundary layer transition position and the drag of the airfoil through wind tunnel tests. The infrared thermal imaging technology is adopted for measuring the boundary layer transition, while the momentum integral approach is employed to measure the drag coefficient through a wake rake. Infrared thermal imaging results indicate that the coatings are capable of moving backward the boundary layer transition position at both a low velocity of Mach number 0.15 and a high velocity of Mach number 0.785. Results of the momentum integral approach demonstrate that the drag coefficients are reduced obviously within the cruising angle of attack range from 1° and 5° by introducing the low surface energy micro-nano coating technology.     

Numerical investigation of the interaction between upstream cavity purge flow and main flow in low aspect ratio turbine cascade

In modern gas turbines, rim seal located between the stator-disc and rotor-disc is used to prevent hot-gas ingestion into the inner stage-gap of high pressure turbine. However, the purge flow supplied to the cavity through the rim seal interacts with the main flow, producing additional aerodynamic loss due to the mixing process which plays a significant role in the formation, development and evolution of downstream secondary flow. In this paper, a set of cascade representative of low aspect ratio turbine is selected to numerically investigate the influence of upstream cavity purge flow on the hub secondary flow structure and aerodynamic loss. Cascade with/without upstream cavity and four different purge mass flow rates are all taken into account in this simulation. Then, a deep insight into the loss mechanism of interaction between purge flow and main flow is gained. The results show that the presence of cavity and purge flow has a significant impact on the main flow which not only changes the vortex structure in both the passage and upstream cavity, but also alters the cascade exit flow angle distribution along the spanwise. Moreover, aerodynamic loss in the cascade rises with the increase of purge flow rate while the sealing effect is also enhanced. Therefore, the effect of upstream cavity purge flow must be considered in the process of turbine aerodynamic design. What is more, it is necessary to minimize the purge flow rate in order to reduce aerodynamic loss on the premise of satisfying cooling requirements.     

Numerical investigation of flow separation behavior in an over-expanded annular conical aerospike nozzle

A three-part numerical investigation has been conducted in order to identify the flow separation behavior––the progression of the shock structure, the flow separation pattern with an increase in the nozzle pressure ratio(NPR), the prediction of the separation data on the nozzle wall,and the influence of the gas density effect on the flow separation behavior are included.The computational results reveal that the annular conical aerospike nozzle is dominated by shock/shock and shock/boundary layer interactions at all calculated NPRs, and the shock physics and associated flow separation behavior are quite complex.An abnormal flow separation behavior as well as a transition process from no flow separation at highly over-expanded conditions to a restricted shock separation and finally to a free shock separation even at the deign condition can be observed.The complex shock physics has further influence on the separation data on both the spike and cowl walls, and separation criteria suggested by literatures developed from separation data in conical or bell-type rocket nozzles fail at the prediction of flow separation behavior in the present asymmetric supersonic nozzle.Correlation of flow separation with the gas density is distinct for highly overexpanded conditions.Decreasing the gas density or reducing mass flow results in a smaller adverse pressure gradient across the separation shock or a weaker shock system, and this is strongly coupled with the flow separation behavior.The computational results agree well with the experimental data in both shock physics and static wall pressure distribution at the specific NPRs, indicating that the computational methodology here is advisable to accurately predict the flow physics.     

Modeling of finite-size droplets and particles in multiphase flows

The conventional point-particle approach for treating the dispersed phase in a continuous flowfield is extended by taking into account the effect of finite particle size, using a Gaussian interpolation from Lagrangian points to the Eulerian field.The inter-phase exchange terms in the conservation equations are distributed over the volume encompassing the particle size, as opposed to the Dirac delta function generally used in the point-particle approach.The proposed approach is benchmarked against three different flow configurations in a numerical framework based on large eddy simulation(LES) turbulence closure.First, the flow over a circular cylinder is simulated for a Reynolds number of 3900 at 1 atm pressure.Results show good agreement with experimental data for the mean streamwise velocity and the vortex shedding frequency in the wake region.The calculated flowfield exhibits correct physics, which the conventional point-particle approach fails to capture.The second case deals with diesel jet injection in quiescent environment over a pressure range of 1.1–5.0 MPa.The calculated jet penetration depth closely matches measurements.It decreases with increasing chamber pressure, due to enhanced drag force in a denser fluid environment.Finally, water and acetone jet injection normal to air crossflow is studied at1 atm.The calculated jet penetration and Sauter mean diameter of liquid droplets compare very well with measurements.     

Experimental Investigation of the Effects of Various Plasma Actuator Configurations on Lift and Drag Coefficients of a Circular Cylinder Including the Effects of Electrodes

In this paper, the effects of the existence of plasma actuator electrodes and also various configurations of the actuator for controlling the flow field around a circular cylinder are experimentally investigated. The cylinder is made of PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) and considered as a dielectric barrier. Two electrodes are flush-mounted on the surface of the cylinder and are connected to a DC high voltage power supply for generation of electrical discharge. Pressure distribution results show that the existence of the electrodes and also the plasma are able to change the pressure distribution around the cylinder and consequently the lift and drag coefficients. It is found that the effect of the existence of the electrodes is comparable with the effect of plasma actuator in controlling the flow field around the cylinder and this effect is not reported by other researchers. Eventually it is concluded that the existence of the electrodes or any extra objects on the cylinder and also the existence of the plasma are capable of changing the flow field structure around the cylinder so that the behavior of the lift and drag coefficients of the cylinder will be changed significantly.     

Adjoint-based robust optimization design of laminar flow wing under flight condition uncertainties

It is an inherent uncertainty problem that the application of laminar flow technology to the wing of large passenger aircraft is affected by flight conditions. In order to seek a more robust natural laminar flow control effect, it is necessary to develop an effective optimization design method. Meanwhile, attention must be given to the impact of crossflow(CF) instability brought on by the sweep angle. This paper constructs a robust optimization design framework based on discrete adjoint methods ...     

Flow field design and process stability in electrochemical machining of diamond holes

The metal grille, commonly composed of an amount of diamond holes, has been grow-ingly used as a key structure on stealth aircraft. Electrochemical machining (ECM) promises to be increasingly applied in aircraft manufacturing on the condition that process stability is guaranteed. In this work, a flow field model was designed to improve the process stability. This model is endowed with a variety of flow channel features, together with vibrating feeding modes. The flow field distribution on the bottom surface of the diamond hole was discussed and evaluated as well. The numerical results show that a short arc flow channel could significantly enhance the uniformity of electrolyte velocity distribution and a vibrating feeding of the cathode enables to reduce both fluctuations of the electrolyte velocity and pressure on the bottom surface of the diamond hole. Consequently, the flow field mutations were eliminated. It is verified from the experimental results that a short arc flow channel, when combined with vibrating feeding, is capable of improving machining localization and process stability markedly. What is more, the side gap on the bottom surface of the diamond hole could also be reduced by the abovementioned approach.