Numerical Simulation and Validation of the Aerodynamics of Static and Dynamic Spoilers

Abstract

Spoilers play a vital role in the flight control systems of modern aircraft. Due to their efficiency and fast deflection rates they are widely used to assist in roll control or for gust load alleviation purposes. As deflecting a spoiler always induces flow separation, the numerical simulation of their aerodynamic behavior still is challenging for high-fidelity flow solvers, or even impossible for low-fidelity tools. The work presented in this paper therefore focused on extending the application range of the DLR TAU flow solver by validating it, in a first step, for spoiler applications in the low-speed regime. To achieve that, steady and unsteady simulations were conducted for static and dynamic spoiler deflections. It was shown that the chosen numerical approach is well-suited to predict the surface pressure distribution for static spoiler deflections of up to 50°. In addition the transient aerodynamic response for a variety of deflection rates, deflection angles and angles of attack matched the experimental data very well.