An investigation of a tactical cargo aircraft aft body drag reduction based on CFD analysis and wind tunnel tests

Aft body shape of an aft ramp door cargo aircraft normally has potential for increasing drag due to air flow separation and wake generation in comparison to aft body of passenger aircrafts. In this paper, the air flow pattern around the aft body and drag reduction mechanisms have been investigated for a designing the aft body configuration for a cargo aircraft based on existing passenger aircraft aft body. In the current work we intend to maximize drag reduction with aft body refinement, using CFD and wind tunnel tests. In fact, the cross section contour of the body around the ramp door area and the upsweep angle of the aft body were refined in order to reduce the drag coefficient using wind tunnel tests and CFD modeling. The results showed that CFD could be considered as a reliable tool in drag calculations and designing aircraft configurations. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.