• Version
• 224 Downloads
• 29.96 MB File Size
• 1 File Count
• April 25, 2016 Create Date
• April 25, 2016 Last Updated

Aerodynamics of 3D Aircraft Afterbodies

This report presents the findings of a study performed by AGARD Working Group 17 into the current understanding of the
aerodynamics of complex 3-D aircraft afterbodies and the status of the methods now available to aid in their design
optimisation. Assembled by a group of computational, experimental and application specialists selected from industry,
government agencies and universities and bringing together material gathered over the two years between the autumns of
1992 and 1994, the work fulfils one of the main recommendations of the preceding working Group, WGO8 (1986), namely —
to provide an update on the state-of—the—art with particular consideration of the progress made on the computational
simulation of three-dimensional viscous flow.
The major part of the report is given over to the results obtained and lessons learned from the application of current CFD
procedures to a selection of test cases ranging in complexity from a simple axisymmetric body with jet to a twin-jet body
complete with wings and empennage. Comprehensive descriptions of the selected test cases with their experimental data
bases are appended to the report in the hope that these will continue to serve other researchers in the field. Other sections of
the report review the developments made in empirical/semi-empirical procedures and in the experimental techniques
applicable to support both future computational developments and aid directly in the task of aircraft design optimisation.
Comparing the current scene with that in 1986 the group found:
Major advances have been made in the capabilities of CFD which, provided great care is taken, can now be usefully
applied to some of the most highly complex geometries and flow situations with growing confidence in the quality of
the prediction of the general flowfield and incremental performance trends. Reliable prediction of absolute
performance remains elusive, however. Ease, consistency and quality of mesh generation, accurate representation of
geometric detail and turbulence modelling rank high amongst the issues seen as setting the pace of further
improvements.