Date of Award

11-2013

Degree Name

MS in Aerospace Engineering

Department/Program

Aerospace Engineering

Advisor

David Marshall

Abstract

In the past, 2D CFD analysis of Circulation Control technology have shown poor comparison with experimental results. In Circulation Control experiments, typical results show a relationship between lift coefficient, CL, vs blowing momentum coefficient, Cμ. CFD analysis tend to over-predict values of CL due to gridding issues and/or turbulence model selection. This thesis attempted to address both issues by performing Richardson’s Extrpolation method to determine an acceptable mesh size and by using FLUENT’s 2-equation turbulence models. The experimental results and CAD geometry were obtained from Georgia Tech Research Institute for comparison with the CFD analysis.

The study showed that 3D CFD analysis of circulation control showed similar results of over-predicting CL, which can also be attributed to gridding issues and turbulence model selection. When compared to the experimental results, the k − ω turbulence model produced the lowest errors in CL of approximately 15-17%. The other turbulence models produced errors within 5% of k − ω. A fully unstructured volume mesh with prismatic cells on the surfaces was used as the grid. The CCW con- figuration was analyzed with and without wind tunnel walls present, which produced errors of 20% and 15% in CL, respectively, when compared to experimental results. Despite the large errors in CL, CFD was able to capture the trend of increasing CL as Cμ was increased. Results reported in this thesis can be further calibrated to allow the CFD model to be used as a predictive tool for other CCW applications.

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