VKI Lecture Series
CFD-BASED AIRCRAFT DRAG PREDICTION AND REDUCTION
3 - 7 February 2003, von Karman Institute, Belgium

Ever since the very beginning of aerodynamic flight, the accurate prediction of aerodynamic drag has been a major challenge in the aircraft design process. During the past 20 years, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has come to play an increasingly important role in this respect, but significant advances in CFD modelling capabilities are still needed. Future improvements in performance of transport aircraft (notably fuel efficiency and hence direct operating costs), will largely depend on reducing aerodynamic drag. This will be achieved by design optimization and technologies such as laminar flow control, areas in which CFD will play a vital role.

The objective of this Lecture Series is therefore to present the state-of-the-art and current research directions in CFD-based drag prediction. The course is aimed at applied aerodynamicists and CFD researchers as well as aircraft designers.

An introductory lecture will discuss the importance of drag prediction for aircraft design and give an overview of the major factors involved in CFD-based drag prediction, which will be covered in detail in subsequent lectures. Novel methods for drag evaluation and decomposition from CFD solutions will be presented, as well as the latest advances of the wake integration method for drag prediction from wind tunnel tests.

The state-of-the-art of drag prediction capabilities of flow solvers using both multi-block structured grid and unstructured grid technology will be discussed. The important problem of turbulence modelling will be reviewed, including recent developments of non-linear eddy viscosity models. The related subject of transition modelling will be covered also. Finally the development of adjoint based design optimization methods will be discussed.

Applications will focus mainly on the subsonic and transonic flight regimes of transport aircraft, including particular topics such as the design of high lift systems and engine/airframe integration.

The directors of this course are Prof. H. Deconinck and Ir. K. Sermeus of the von Karman Institute, and Prof. C. van Dam of UC Davis, California, USA.

TIMETABLE

Monday 3 February 2003

08.45 Registration
09.00 Welcome, introductory remarks
       Prof. M. Carbonaro, VKI Director
09.15 Aircraft design and the importance of drag prediction
       Prof. C.P. Van Dam, UC Davis, California, USA
11.15 Turbulence modelling for aeronautical flows
       Prof. M.A. Leschziner, Imperial College, UK
14.00 Turbulence modelling for aeronautical flows (continued)
       Prof. M.A. Leschziner
15.45 Critical factors in CFD based drag prediction
       Prof. C.P. Van Dam
17.00 Welcome drink

Tuesday 4 February 2003

09.00 Methods for drag decomposition
       Prof. R. Tognaccini, U. of Naples Federico II, Italy
11.00 Far field / near field drag balance
       Mr. D. Destarac, ONERA, France
14.00 Thrust-drag bookkeeping from CFD calculations
       Prof. R. Tognaccini
15.45 Applications of drag extraction from CFD
       Mr. D. Destarac

Wednesday 5 February 2003

09.00 Boundary layer transition prediction
       Prof. C. P. van Dam
11.00 Wake integration method for experimental drag prediction, and extrapolation to flight
       Dr. K. Kusunose, Boeing, USA
14.00 Application of CFD for drag analysis, and validation with windtunnel data. Influence of engine-airframe integration
       Dr. M. Laban, NLR, The Netherlands
15.45 Wake integration method for experimental drag prediction, and extrapolation to flight (continued)
       Dr. K. Kusunose

Thursday 6 February 2003

09.00 Drag analysis using unstructured mesh solvers (Part 1)
       Dr. D. Mavriplis, ICASE, USA
11.00 Aerodynamic optimization using the adjoint method
       Prof. A. Jameson, Stanford U., USA
14.00 Aerodynamic optimization using the adjoint method (continued)
       Prof. A. Jameson
15.45 Drag prediction validation of a multi-dimensional upwind solver
       Ir. K. Sermeus, von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, Belgium

Friday 7 February 2003

09.00 Designing high-lift systems for low drag
       Dr. U. Herrmann and Dr. J. Wild, DLR Braunschweig, Germany
11.00 Drag analysis using unstructured mesh solvers (Part 2)
       Dr. D. Mavriplis
13.30 Bus leaves VKI

REGISTRATION FEE
The course fee of 850 EURO includes administrative and transport costs, printed notes, lunches and coffee.

REDUCED FEES
Reduced rates are available for university assistants (425 EURO) and undergraduate students (210 EURO) of universities of all NATO countries*. These reduced fees are also available for NATO citizens* working at a university in another country. A request to be considered for an award and a recommendation letter from a professor must accompany the application.
*except Canada, Denmark, Greece, The Netherlands and U.K.

FOR PRACTICAL DETAILS AND REGISTRATION SEE
http://www.vki.ac.be/educat/lect-ser/2003/cfdbased2003.html