Computational tools for supporting the testing of civil aircraft configurations in wind tunnels

Following a review of well-known CFD packages, this paper presents the mathematical and methodical ideas, which became the basis of the numerical method for a solution of the Reynolds (time)-averaged Navier–Stokes equations (RANS), relevant to supporting testing an aircraft configuration in wind tunnels (WTs). The estimation of finite speed of information propagation due to diffusion is given. Explicit and implicit methods for numerical solution of gasdynamic equations are compared. Stability conditions, taking into account both interaction of convection with diffusion and presence of exponentially varying modes of solution, are considered. Three methods of time stepping organization are described—global, local and fractional time stepping. Numerical boundary conditions for simulation of flow in the WT are proposed. Examples of method implementation for the European Transonic Windtunnel (ETW) case are presented.