A STATIC STABILITY COMPARISON OF WIND TUNNEL AND COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS METHODS

L. K. Fitzgerald, A. J. Niven, P. C. Griffin

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

The design of the modern aircraft has greatly evolved over the past century. Aircraft are now more manoeuvrable, controllable, and capable of flight in extreme flight envelopes than ever before. With these advances in aircraft design, there have come concurrent advances in aircraft stability determination. This research explores these advances in the form of the applicability of determining static stability derivatives using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methodologies. The focus of this work lies in the evaluation of the static pitch stability derivative (C) and the weathercock directional stability derivative (C). A wind tunnel assessment of the Standard Dynamics Model was carried out at a Reynolds number of 94000, and this data was used as benchmark data for the CFD simulation. On examination, the agreement between CFD and wind tunnel obtained loads and derivatives was encouraging. It was observed that both the heading and pitch stability derivatives varied considerably over the angle of attack regime. In the low angle of attack envelope, the aircraft is directionally stable up until 25° degrees where its stability fluctuates further throughout the angle of attack range. In pitch, the SDM only satisfies the static stability criterion over select angle of attack envelopes and is in fact unstable in the linear range. After an angle of attack of 50°, it maintains stability throughout the remainder of the high angle of attack range.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication33rd Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, ICAS 2022
PublisherInternational Council of the Aeronautical Sciences
Pages2180-2202
Number of pages23
ISBN (Electronic)9781713871163
Publication statusPublished - 2022
Event33rd Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, ICAS 2022 - Stockholm, Sweden
Duration: 4 Sep 20229 Sep 2022

Publication series

Name33rd Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, ICAS 2022
Volume3

Conference

Conference33rd Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, ICAS 2022
Country/TerritorySweden
CityStockholm
Period4/09/229/09/22

Keywords

  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Standard Dynamics Model
  • Static Stability Derivatives
  • Wind Tunnel Testing

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