Aero-Elastic Simulation of DLR’s F6 Transport Aircraft Configuration and Comparison to Experimental Data

Abstract

The accuracy of a numerical aero-elastic simulation approach is assessed by comparing results from a fluid-structure-coupled analysis to experimental data. The German Aerospace Research Center’s (DLR) F6 wind tunnel model, a transonic wing-body design with optional flow-through nacelles, was used as a base configuration for this study. Coupled analyses were performed using an in-house simulation procedure built around DLR’s Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes flow solver TAU and the commercial finite-element structural analysis code ANSYS® Mechanical. Experimental data were available from a recent test campaign performed at NASA’s National Transonic Facility (NTF). Numerical predictions are evaluated using both aerodynamic and structural data.