Numerical Investigation on the Aerodynamic Effect of Mini-TEDs on the AWIATOR Aircraft at Cruise Conditions

Abstract

Within the EU technology platform AWIATOR a numerical investigation on the aerodynamic effect of mini-TEDs on an Airbus A340-300 was conducted at wind-tunnel and free-flight conditions for cruise-flight Mach number and lift coefficients. An aircraft in cruise configuration with and without mini-TEDs applied to the wing trailing-edge was simulated with the DLR-TAU code. The mini-TEDs were realized by the use of split-flaps. The numerical results show that lift is increased when using mini-TEDs and the wing-load distribution is changed with a re-distribution of lift towards the wing root as expected. The results achieve a good agreement with wind-tunnel experiments in terms of lift and drag as well as wing-surface pressure-distributions. At free-flight conditions the mini-TED influence increases compared to wind-tunnel conditions. The lift-enhancing effect of mini-TEDs increases but the drag differences are affected unfavourably for the given aircraft configuration. The minimum lift coefficient of profitable mini-TED use is shifted to higher lift and the remaining drag reductions at high lift coefficients diminish. Additional comparisons of numerical and flight-test pressure distributions for the baseline configuration show a good overall agreement.