VicToria HAP3: Virtual Flight Testing

Abstract

A decisive part of the design and certification process of a transport aircraft is the identification of its flight mechanic stability and control characteristics. This task is typically complied with a time and cost consuming flight test campaign with carefully selected control surface inputs. Given the accuracy of state of the art multidisciplinary analysis methods including aerodynamics, flight dynamics, and structural dynamics, the substitution of the real flight test by numerical simulation is appropriate and promises time and cost savings. In order to obtain highly accurate simulation results only CFD aerodynamic methods solving the URANS equations seem adequate for the calculation of the aerodynamic forces. In this work we present an approach for the high-fidelity multidisciplinary maneuver simulation based on CFD. The overall goal of this effort is to generate virtual flight test data of high accuracy to be used in subsequent system identification processes which estimate – amongst others – the stability and control characteristics of the aircraft [1]. In order to earn trust in such highly sophisticated and complex simulation tools, a careful validation process is necessary. Unfortunately, flight test data of jet transport aircraft are rare, and corresponding simulation models (CAD, FEM) of high quality must be available for the numerical analysis. Within the DLR-project VicToria, a number of flight tests have been conducted with the DLR research aircraft ATRA, an Airbus A320 configuration. The tests comprise steady and unsteady maneuvers at various combinations of speeds, Mach numbers, altitudes and loadings, such as bank-to-bank, 1-3-2-1-1 inputs, doublets, and maneuvers with high normal acceleration (up to 2g). Selected maneuvers of this unique and valuable set of experimental flight test data are used for the validation of the multidisciplinary process chain. In the full paper, the approaches, the simulation models, as well as the results of two longitudinal and two lateral maneuvers are presented and discussed