Adeel Khalid

SoTL Mini Grant Southern Polytechnic State University

Teaching Aircraft Design Course Using Real and Virtual Wind Tunnel Adeel Khalid

Abstract As part of the aircraft design and performance class, students perform sizing calculations from the conceptual sketches, select airfoil and geometry, calculate thrust to weight ratio and wing loading, and then perform configuration layout before doing disciplinary analyses e.g. propulsion, aerodynamics, structures, weights, stability and control, economic analysis, trade studies etc. In this work, students are encouraged to design their aircraft using Computer Aided Design (CAD), use that model to create a prototype, perform (a) wind tunnel analysis and (b) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis and compare the results of two analyses. This hands-on approach forces students to perform design iterations because of fabrication, test or other limitations, which they do not anticipate otherwise, and in turn helps them understand the and internalize the aircraft design process. In this paper, the design process is described and several examples of student designs are demonstrated. Key Words: Aircraft Design, Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Introduction Historically, aircraft have been designed by varying key parameters and analyzing its effect on the overall vehicle performance. Wright brothers used a wind tunnel and studied the performance of several types of airfoils. More advanced wind tunnels were later used to determine the flight characteristics of full scale aircraft. However, the use of wind tunnel to determine the flight characteristics and performance of an aircraft is an expensive and time consuming proposition. In todays age of high speed computing it is possible to determine the flight performance of aircraft designs using virtual wind tunnels. A computer generated model is plugged into a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program to determine the flow characteristics. The results obtained are comparable to those obtained from real wind tunnel tests and the actual aircraft performance in flight. Several studies have been conducted to demonstrate the validity and efficacy of the use of virtual wind tunnel1. In this study, the process of using the real and virtual wind tunnel is introduced in the undergraduate Aircraft Design class. Students build scale models of different types of aircraft including trainer, transport, fighter, and UAV. These scaled aircraft models are installed in a low speed 1ft x 1ft cross section wind tunnel to determine the lift and drag coefficients and pressure

Adeel Khalid

SoTL Mini Grant Southern Polytechnic State University

profiles. Students also design virtual models of the corresponding aircraft using SolidWorks. These virtual models are imported to the SolidWorks Flow Simulation software. The low speed virtual wind tunnel is simulated in Flow Simulation. Lift and drag coefficients, and pressure profiles are determined for different aircraft at different angles of pitch, yaw, and roll. These results are then compared with the results obtained from the real wind tunnel tests. This experimental exercise helps students appreciate the value of the use of virtual testing. It helps to reinforce the importance of the time and cost savings. It helps them understand the reason for the closure of the large wind tunnels across the U.S.2 It also helps students understand the reasons for discrepancies between the two methods of designing aircraft. These include the effect of the differences in surface roughness, wing tip vortices, viscosity etc. As part of this exercise, the first generation of aircraft design students generated a laboratory report to be used in the Aerodynamics laboratory by future students.

Design Methodology Aircraft design is an iterative process. Students are taught the iterative process that includes prototyping and CFD analysis. During the early development of aircraft, conceptual and preliminary design iterations are expensive and time consuming. The design methodology described in Figure 1 makes the design process rapid and reduces the cost. Students can tweak the design; perform the sizing and performance analysis, redraw the sketches, update the CAD drawings and perform CFD analysis to check for improvements. Once the students have gone through the first iteration, the design process becomes easier and faster with every subsequent iteration. At the same time students can prototype and/or 3-D print their scale models for wind tunnel analysis. Students learn the work needed to prepare the models for both wind tunnel and CFD analyses. The evaluation of how CFD may be incorporated into a conceptual design method is performed by McCormick3. CFD has also been demonstrated as an effective design tool in evaluating aerodynamic performance for a NASA Research Announcement (NRA) project4. By going through the iterative design process, students appreciate the importance of a good starting point. During the traditional aircraft design course, students are encouraged to design several aircraft that fit their mission profiles. They draw the aircraft sketches by hand using quick back of the envelop approach. After much contemplation, calculations, tradeoffs, and discussions, they proceed to design the aircraft using CAD. During the CAD process, they realize the limitations and constraints that they do not realize while doing the hand calculations and analyses. They also realize additional features that their aircraft could have. An example of the design process is shown to students as a case study. Several designs of the airfoils are shown in Figure 2. Students study the airfoil characteristics and choose the one that best matches their mission requirements. Detailed airfoil characteristics as shown in Figure 3 are then drawn using the CAD software.

Adeel Khalid

SoTL Mini Grant Southern Polytechnic State University

Design Aircraft / Update previous iteration

Styling / Graphical Analysis (hand sketches)

Sizing / Performance Calculations

Computer Aided Design (CAD)

Wind Tunnel Test

Compare Results

Fly the aircraft using Flight Simulator

Scale Model Prototyping

3-D Printing

Solid Prototyping

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Adeel Khalid

SoTL Mini Grant Southern Polytechnic State University

Figure 1: Rapid Aircraft Design and Prototyping Iteration Process

Figure 2: Several Airfoil Sections drawn for prototyping

Figure 3: Rhode St. Genese 34 Airfoil Coordinates

Once the CAD design is complete, students can either prototype the airfoil using inexpensive materials or 3-D print a model. Airfoil prototyping examples are shown in Figure 4. The physical prototypes are made from plywoord, styrofoam, balsa wood, and are covered with monocote film for smooth surface finish. An example of 3-D printed airfoil is shown in Figure 5.

Adeel Khalid

SoTL Mini Grant Southern Polytechnic State University

Figure 4: Prototyping of Airfoils

Figure 5: 3-D Printed Airfoil

The 3D-printed models and handmade prototypes are then prepared for wind tunnel testing. Wind tunnel testing is done to measure drag and lift coefficients. Students learn the limitations of wind tunnel tests. This helps internalize the concepts of boundary layer, Reynolds number, scaling, tip vortices, free stream velocity, steady and unsteady air, speed limitations, surface finish, equipment errors etc.

Figure 6: Wind Tunnel and Smoke System Setup

Adeel Khalid

SoTL Mini Grant Southern Polytechnic State University

Figure 7: Lift and Drag Calculations using the Wind Tunnel

Figure 8: Boundary Layer Separation Demonstration in Wind Tunnel

Figure 9: Airfoil at High Angle of Attack with Strings Attached for Reverse Flow Demonstration

In conjunction with the wind tunnel analysis, students also perform the CFD analysis of the airfoils designed using CAD. The CFD analysis gives them the flow visualization in a virtual environment. They also calculate lift and drag of the airfoils at different angles of pitch, roll and yaw. It gives them a chance to play with other parameters e.g. viscosity and density of the fluid.

Adeel Khalid

SoTL Mini Grant Southern Polytechnic State University

They can also change the surface finish of the airfoils to determine its effect on lift and drag. CFD flow visualization is shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10: CFD Analysis on different Airfoils Sections at different Angles of Attack The case study of the airfoil design, fabrication, and wind tunnel analysis gives students an idea of what is expected from them for the semester long project in the aircraft design class. In the rest of the paper, several student design projects are described. Students go through the design iterations shown in Figure 1 to perform aircraft sizing and performance calculations, design their aircraft based on the mission profile, create CAD models, fabricate physical scaled models to perform wind tunnel testing and at the same time perform CFD analyses. Results of the wind tunnel tests and the CFD analyses do not always match. Errors occur due to the inaccuracies in the physical models, differences in surface finish, wind tunnel installation and measurement errors etc. Students are asked to critically analyze and describe the reasons for discrepancies. This exercise helps them understand the challenges involved in not only the virtual prototyping but also the physical prototyping, fabrication and wind tunnel analysis.

Aircraft Designs Examples Several examples of aircraft designed by students are described in this section. Student designs vary from modifications of existing aircraft to new designs in the form of large transport aircraft, seaplanes, UAVs etc. A light sport aircraft design is shown in Figure 11. An attack aircraft and a modification of an existing attack aircraft is shown in Figures 12 and 14 respectively. Sample sizing calculations are shown in Figure 13.

Adeel Khalid

SoTL Mini Grant Southern Polytechnic State University

Figure 11: Design of Light Sports Aircraft

Figure 12: Design Improvement of an Existing Attack Aircraft

Adeel Khalid

SoTL Mini Grant Southern Polytechnic State University

Figure 13: Sample Sizing Calculations for Attack Aircraft

Adeel Khalid

SoTL Mini Grant Southern Polytechnic State University

Figure 14: CAD Design of the Design Improvement of an existing Attack Aircraft An all composite stealth fighter aircraft designed for a range of 2,000 nmi, and the maximum speed of Mach 2.2 is shown in Figure 15. The student realized after building the model that supersonic testing required a supersonic wind tunnel, which was not available on the campus.

Figure 15: Redesign of an existing Supersonic Fighter Aircraft

Adeel Khalid

SoTL Mini Grant Southern Polytechnic State University

Figure 16: Design of a Light Sport Seaplane A seaplane inspired by several existing aircraft is designed as per Red Bull regulations5. Although CAD drawings and CFD analysis was not performed for the seaplane, a scale model was created for wind tunnel testing. Orthographic views of the seaplane are shown in Figure 16. A concept high altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is shown in Figure 17.

Figure 17: High Altitude UAV Design

Adeel Khalid

SoTL Mini Grant Southern Polytechnic State University

Figure 18: Supersonic Transcontinental UAV

Figure 19: CFD Analysis of Supersonic UAV

An experimental surveillance supersonic UAV as shown in Figure 18 is designed for high altitude stealth operations. Students performed CFD analysis at different flight speeds. Streamlines at a high speed are shown in Figure 19. After a few iterations, a prototype was also developed for low speed wind tunnel testing. This hands-on design process excites students and gets them motivated to actively participate in the course projects.

Future Direction Efforts are under way to establish an Aerospace Engineering program at Southern Polytechnic State University. Currently a minor is offered in AE for all other engineering majors6. The university recently acquired a motion based flight simulator that uses X-Plane as shown in Figure 20. X-Plane allows users to load their own aircraft designs and test fly them. For accurate flight simulations, stability derivatives need to be entered in the software. These derivatives can be calculated using wind tunnel tests of scale models. As the next step in the design process, students will sketch the aircraft based on the mission requirements, perform the sizing calculations, create a CAD model, prototype it, perform wind tunnel and CFD analyses, upload

Adeel Khalid

SoTL Mini Grant Southern Polytechnic State University

and then fly their aircraft using a realistic flight simulator. This process will give students a sense and an appreciation of the complexity of the overall design cycle. Compared to the old, expensive, time consuming and often dangerous trial and error approach to aircraft design, this process will be much safer, quicker and less expensive. Using this approach, students will be able to go through the entire aircraft design cycle within the span of one semester.

Figure 20: X-Plane Motion Flight Simulator

Conclusions In this paper, an effort has been made to suggest a replacement to the traditional design process used in most aerospace engineering aircraft design classes. Traditionally, students design aircraft and perform the calculations without ever creating a prototype or conducting a physical experiment. A methodology is proposed in this paper in which student perform the traditional aircraft design, sizing and disciplinary calculations but additionally, also prototype the aircraft models. The physical models are created using a 3-D printer or other manufacturing techniques. Wind tunnel aerodynamic analysis is performed. Similarly; CFD analysis is performed and the results are compared with the wind tunnel tests. The next step to complete the design cycle is to calculate stability derivatives and fly the CAD model in a motion flight simulator to understand the handling qualities of the aircraft. It is expected that this hands-on design methodology will help students learn the material better and leave a lasting impression.

Adeel Khalid

SoTL Mini Grant Southern Polytechnic State University

References

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Michael S. Selig, Bryan D. McGranahan, Wind Tunnel Aerodynamic Tests of Six Airfoils for Use of Small Wind Turbines, NREL/SR-500-34515, 2004 Dennis O. Madl, Terrence A. Trepal, Alexander F. Money, James G. Mitchell, Effect of the Proposed Closure of NASAs Subsonic Wind Tunnels: As Assessment of Alternatives, Institute for Defense Analysis, IDA Paper P-3858, 2004 Daniel J. McCormick, An Analysis of Using CFD in Conceptual Aircraft Design, Masters Thesis in Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2002 Bryan H. Blessing, John Pham, David D. Marshall, Using CFD as a Design Tool on New Innovative Airliner Configuration, 47th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting Including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition, 2009, Orlando, FL. AIAA 2009-45 Red Bull Air Races [www.redbullairrace.com/] Aerospace Engineering at Southern Polytechnic State University [http://www.spsu.edu/ae/]