Date of Award
Spring 5-19-2017
Degree Name
Master of Engineering (ME)
Degree Type
Thesis
Abstract
The goal of this research is to perform 3D turbulence flow simulations to predict the drag of Wing-body-tail (WBT) and Wing-body-nacelle-Pylon (WBNP) aircraft configurations from NASA Common Research Models. These configurations are also part of the 4th and 6th AIAA Drag Prediction Workshops in which CFD modelers have participated worldwide. The computations are performed using CFD solver ANSYS FLUENT. The compressible Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are solved using two turbulence models – the Spalart-Allmaras (SA) and SST k-ω. Drag polar and drag rise curves are obtained by performing computations at different angles of attack at a constant Mach number. Pressure distributions and flow separation analysis are presented at different angles of attack. Comparison of computational results for WBT and WBNP models is made with the experimental data using the two turbulence models; good agreements is obtained. For WBNP, an aero-elastically deformed model of the wing is also considered at an angle of attack of 2.75°; the computations again are in reasonable agreement with the experiment. The computed WBNP results are compared with WB results for the drag increment study.
Language
English (en)
Chair
Ramesh Agarwal
Committee Members
Ramesh Agarwal, Chair David Peters Swami Karunamoorthy
Comments
Permanent URL: https://doi.org/10.7936/K7SF2VKK