Computation of Inviscid Flow Past SARAS Aircraft with Sideslip Using A Multi-block Grid

Abstract

The computation of the flow past an aircraft configuration is a fairly difficult task due to the complexity of the geometry. A powerful multi-block grid generation tool and a robust, well-validated flow solver code are required to compute such a complex flow. A large number of blocks are needed to discretize the flow field and hence considerable time and effort is required to generate a suitable computational grid. If the flow is symmetric, without any sideslip, it is only necessary to solve the flow past half of the aircraft, but for flow with side slip it becomes essential to solve the flow past the complete aircraft, which introduces additional difficulties. This paper describes the computation of inviscid flow past the SARAS aircraft, with sideslip, using a multi-block grid containing sixty-six blocks. An improved blocking strategy is used to keep the number of blocks to a minimum. A detailed analysis of the computed flows, along with a comparison of the aerodynamic coefficients with available experimental results, is presented here. The code has been validated by showing that a symmetric solution is obtained for a symmetric flow condition and the correct anti-symmetry is achieved for flows with opposite sideslip. The computed results show a good agreement with the experimental data.