Description

A numerical lifting-line method (implemented in an open-source software package) is presented which can accurately estimate the aerodynamics of wings with arbitrary sweep, dihedral, and twist. Previous numerical lifting-line methods have suffered from grid convergence challenges and limitations in accurately modeling the effects of sweep, or have relied on empirical relations for swept-wing parameters and have been limited in their application to typical wing geometries. This work presents novel improvements in accuracy, flexibility, and speed for complex geometries over previous methods. In the current work, thin-airfoil theory is used to correct section lift coefficients for sweep, providing a more general closure to the lifting-line problem. A linearized solution is presented, which can be used as a rapid approximation for the full solution, or as an initial guess for the nonlinear system of equations to speed convergence. Sensitivities to model parameters are investigated, and appropriate recommendations for these parameters are given. Agreement with Prandtl’s classical lifting-line method is excellent in the case of straight wings. Comparison with experimental data shows this method can reasonably predict lift, drag, and lift distribution for a range of wing configurations. The speed and accuracy of this method make it well-suited for preliminary design and optimization.

Author ORCID Identifier

Cory Goates https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7568-1280

Document Type

Dataset

DCMI Type

Dataset

File Format

.csv, .pdf

Publication Date

10-20-2022

Funder

Office of Naval Research

Publisher

Utah State University

Award Number

Office of Naval Research N00014-18-1- 2502

Methodology

Data was generated using MachUpX (github.com/usuaero/MachUpX)

Referenced by

Goates, C D, Hunsaker, D F, "Modern Implementation and Evaluation of Lifting-Line Theory for Complex Geometries," AIAA Journal of Aircraft.

Language

eng

Code Lists

See README.

Disciplines

Aerospace Engineering | Mechanical Engineering

License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.26078/x0wk-6846

Checksum

57a53ea13eea6a0d6801465537e33c87

Additional Files

README.txt (3 kB)
MD5: b9397541356aa51a24da3d56243e4907

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