Chapter 14
Prospects and Challenges
for Aerodynamics
14.1 Role of the Wind Tunnel in Design and Optimisation
The wind tunnel is a major constituent of a specialised infrastructure for research in
aeronautics and aerospace. Its contribution and importance over-match the experimental facilities required in many other sectors for research and development. In the
absence of a complete tool set to design next generation vehicles, the design cycle
can only be matured through joint CFD simulation and wind tunnel testing, where the
latter is able to represent most of the physical phenomena that could be encountered
during operation. This is a major source of disparity between CFD and wind tunnel
results as CFD is still unable to reproduce or model the exact physics usually due
to limitations in the choice of boundary conditions and realistic computational time
and cost.
Aerial vehicles: The design process of modern aircraft is evolving with a closer
integration of CFD simulation and wind tunnel testing through a more structured
approach. The future design processes will focus on a more integrated aerodynamics and structure or aeroelasticity analysis with the objective of designing a lighter
structure without compromising the safety. This tendency increases the need for
perennial and adapted test facilities, measurement techniques of high quality for the
development of highly accurate and robust simulation tools.
Therefore the main challenges in the aerospace sector, where experimentation and
wind tunnels will play a crucial role, are:
– aeroacoustic measurements at high and low speeds in large wind tunnels in order to
assess noise reduction techniques and ensure that the vehicle can pass certification
procedures,
– integration of the engines in the wing and the fuselage to reduce drag,
– validation of the feasibility of the techniques for natural or hybrid laminar flow
control in order to reduce the drag on wings while testing at the flight Reynolds
number,
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
B. Chanetz et al., Experimental Aerodynamics,
Springer Tracts in Mechanical Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35562-3_14
285
Prospects and Challenges
for Aerodynamics
14.1 Role of the Wind Tunnel in Design and Optimisation
The wind tunnel is a major constituent of a specialised infrastructure for research in
aeronautics and aerospace. Its contribution and importance over-match the experimental facilities required in many other sectors for research and development. In the
absence of a complete tool set to design next generation vehicles, the design cycle
can only be matured through joint CFD simulation and wind tunnel testing, where the
latter is able to represent most of the physical phenomena that could be encountered
during operation. This is a major source of disparity between CFD and wind tunnel
results as CFD is still unable to reproduce or model the exact physics usually due
to limitations in the choice of boundary conditions and realistic computational time
and cost.
Aerial vehicles: The design process of modern aircraft is evolving with a closer
integration of CFD simulation and wind tunnel testing through a more structured
approach. The future design processes will focus on a more integrated aerodynamics and structure or aeroelasticity analysis with the objective of designing a lighter
structure without compromising the safety. This tendency increases the need for
perennial and adapted test facilities, measurement techniques of high quality for the
development of highly accurate and robust simulation tools.
Therefore the main challenges in the aerospace sector, where experimentation and
wind tunnels will play a crucial role, are:
– aeroacoustic measurements at high and low speeds in large wind tunnels in order to
assess noise reduction techniques and ensure that the vehicle can pass certification
procedures,
– integration of the engines in the wing and the fuselage to reduce drag,
– validation of the feasibility of the techniques for natural or hybrid laminar flow
control in order to reduce the drag on wings while testing at the flight Reynolds
number,
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
B. Chanetz et al., Experimental Aerodynamics,
Springer Tracts in Mechanical Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35562-3_14
285