Method and system for a quick calculation of aerodynamic forces on an aircraft

• US 7,987,081 B2
• Filed: 02/19/2008
• Issued: 07/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Airbus Operations SL (Airbus SE), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
• Original Assignee: Airbus Espana SL (Airbus SE), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
• Inventors: Lorente Manzanares, Luis Santiago, Velázquez López, Angel Gerardo, Vega De Prada, José Manuel, Alonso Fernández, Diego
• Primary Examiner(s): Thangavelu; Kandasamy
• Application Number:
  US12/070,544
• Publication Number:
  US 20090157364A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,253 Days
• Field of Search: 703/10, 703/9, 701/220, 701/14, 244/208, 244/87, 244/199, 244/12.6, 244/56, 244/76.R, 165/276, 315/111.61, 731/47, 416/228
• US Class Current: 703/9
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 9/08 Aerodynamic models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2111/10 Numerical modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/15 Vehicle, aircraft or watercraft design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/00 Enabling technologies or technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation

Abstract

A computer-aided method suitable for assisting in the design of an aircraft by providing the dimensioning aerodynamic forces and other relevant values comprising the following steps: a) Selecting a set of parameters of the aircraft, being said aerodynamic forces and other relevant values dependant of said parameters; b) Performing flow field CFD RANS computations for a number N1 of different combination of values of said parameters; c) Obtaining said aerodynamic forces and other relevant values for whatever combination of values of said parameters through a reduced-order model, generated by computing the POD modes of the flow variables, expanding the flow variables using said POD modes and obtaining the POD coefficients of said expanded flow variables using a genetic algorithm that minimizes the error associated to the expansion of the Navier-Stokes equations. The invention also refers to a system for carrying out said method.

Claims

1. A computer-aided method for assisting in a design of an aircraft by providing aerodynamic forces, skin values or values distribution around a complete aircraft or an aircraft component, comprising:

a) selecting a set of parameters of said complete aircraft or said aircraft component, for computing said aerodynamic forces, skin values or values distribution dependant of said parameters;

b) performing flow field Computational Fluid Dynamic Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (CFD RANS) computations and calculating and storing said aerodynamic forces, skin values or values distribution for different combinations of values of a limited set of parameters;

c) computing Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) modes of flow variables;

d) expanding the flow variables using said POD modes;

e) obtaining POD coefficients of said expanded flow variables using a genetic algorithm that minimizes an error associated with expansion of Navier-Stokes equations;

f) generating a reduced-order model using the POD modes and the POD coefficients; and

g) obtaining said aerodynamic forces, skin values or values distribution for different combinations of values of the selected set of parameters through reduced-order model.

2. The computer-aided method according to claim 1, wherein said limited set of parameters includes at least an angle of attack.

3. The computer-aided method according to claim 2, wherein said limited set of parameters includes at least a Mach number.

4. The computer-aided method according to claim 3, further comprising:

obtaining said POD modes of flow variables using a Higher Order Single Value Decomposition (HOSVD) technique;

reproducing shock waves present in the flow field using the POD modes;

modifying the POD modes to provide a correction for existence of shock waves in the flow field.

5. The computer-aided method according to claim 2, further comprising:

obtaining said POD modes of flow variables using a Higher Order Single Value Decomposition (HOSVD) technique;

reproducing shock waves present in the flow field using the POD modes;

modifying the POD modes to provide a correction for existence of shock waves in the flow field.

6. The computer-aided method according to claim 1, wherein said limited set of parameters includes at least a Mach number.

7. The computer-aided method according to claim 6, further comprising:

obtaining said POD modes of flow variables using a Higher Order Single Value Decomposition (HOSVD) technique;

reproducing shock waves present in the flow field using the POD modes;

modifying the POD modes to provide a correction for existence of shock waves in the flow field.

8. The computer-aided method according to claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining said POD modes of flow variables using a Higher Order Single Value Decomposition (HOSVD) technique;

reproducing shock waves present in the flow field using the POD modes;

modifying the POD modes to provide a correction for existence of shock waves in the flow field.

9. The computer-aided method according to claim 1, wherein the selected set of parameters comprise one or more of angle of attack, sideslip angle, Mach number, wing aileron deflection angle, spoilers deflection, high lift devices deflection, canard deflection, landing gear deflected status, landing gear doors angle, vertical tailplane rudder deflection angle, horizontal tailplane elevator deflection angle and horizontal tailplane setting angle.

10. The computer-aided method according to claim 1, wherein the aerodynamic forces comprise one or more of lift force, drag force, lateral force, pitching moment, rolling moment and yawing moment of the aircraft or aircraft component being designed.

11. The computer-aided method according to claim 1, wherein the skin values at surface include one or more of static pressure, skin friction and skin temperature.

12. The computer-aided method according to claim 1, wherein the values distribution include one or more of total force per section, heat transfer, total friction and integrals of the skin values.

13. The computer-aided method according to claim 1, wherein the flow variables include one or more of velocity in x direction, velocity in z direction, static air temperature, and air density.

14. A computing system for assisting in a design of an aircraft by providing aerodynamic forces, skin values or values distribution around a complete aircraft or an aircraft component, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory storing a computer-implemented discrete model of said complete aircraft or said aircraft component and the surrounding fluid flow field;

the memory further comprising instructions for;

a) selecting a set of parameters of said complete aircraft or said aircraft component, for computing said aerodynamic forces, skin values or values distribution dependant of said parameters;

b) performing flow field Computational Fluid Dynamic Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (CFD RANS) computations and calculating and storing said aerodynamic forces, skin values or values distribution for a limited set of different combinations of values of said parameters;

c) computing Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) modes of flow variables;

d) expanding the flow variables using said POD modes;

e) obtaining POD coefficients of said expanded flow variables using a genetic algorithm that minimizes an error associated with expansion of Navier-Stokes equations;

f) generating a reduced-order model using the POD modes and the POD coefficients; and

g) obtaining said aerodynamic forces, skin values or values distribution for different combinations of values of the selected set of parameters through reduced-order model;

wherein computing Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) modes of flow variables further comprises;

obtaining said POD modes of flow variables using a Higher Order Single Value Decomposition (HOSVD) technique;

reproducing shock waves present in the flow field using the POD modes;

modifying the POD modes to provide a correction for existence of shock waves in the flow field.

15. The computing system according to claim 14, wherein the selected set of parameters comprise one or more of angle of attack, sideslip angle, Mach number, wing aileron deflection angle, spoilers deflection, high lift devices deflection, canard deflection, landing gear deflected status, landing gear doors angle, vertical tailplane rudder deflection angle, horizontal tailplane elevator deflection angle and horizontal tailplane setting angle.

16. The computing system according to claim 14, wherein the aerodynamic forces comprise one or more of lift force, drag force, lateral force, pitching moment, rolling moment and yawing moment of the aircraft or aircraft component being designed.

17. The computing system according to claim 14, wherein the skin values at surface include one or more of static pressure, skin friction and skin temperature.

18. The computing system according to claim 14, wherein the values distribution include one or more of total force per section, heat transfer, total friction and integrals of the skin values.

19. The computing system according to claim 14, wherein the flow variables include one or more of velocity in x direction, velocity in z direction, static air temperature, and air density.