Towards the simulation of unsteady manoeuvre dominated by vortical flow

Abstract

The paper addresses the applicability of unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes CFD methods for the simulation of transonic vortical ow around delta wings. Three transonic flow cases are considered: a static delta wing, a delta wing rolling with a constant rate around the body axis, and a delta wing rolling with a constant rotational rate around the wind axis. Comparison of the computational results with experimental data, and comparison of results obtained using different CFD codes, are presented in terms of the flow quantities such as pressure coeffcient, skin-friction, total pressure loss and turbulence intensities, and in terms of the flow phenomena such as vortex breakdown and primary and secondary leading edge vortices. The differences in the ow solutions are discussed in relation with the discretisation schemes and the turbulence models used in the dierent codes. The results presented are an outcome of the research conducted by Alenia (Italy), EADS (Germany), NLR (The Netherlands), University of Glasgow and QinetiQ (United Kingdom) for the numerical work, and DLR (Germany) for the experimental work, which has been performed within Common Exercise I under the framework of European programme WEAG Thales JP12.15.