Comparative Study on the Prediction of Aerodynamic Characteristics of Aircraft with Turbulence Models

The RANS equations are widely used to analyze complex flows over aircraft. The equations require a turbulence model for turbulent flow analyses. Asuitable turbulence must be selected for accurate predictions of aircraft aerodynamic characteristics. In this study, numerical analyses of three-dimensional aircraft are performed to compare the results of various turbulence models for the prediction of aircraft aerodynamic characteristics. A 3-D RANS solver, MSAPv, is used for the aerodynamic analysis. The four turbulence models compared are the Sparlart-Allmaras (SA) model, Coakley's q - omega model, Huang and Coakley's k - epsilon model, and Menter's k - omega SST model. Four aircrafts are considered: an ARA-M100, DLR-F6 wing-body, DLR-F6 wing-body-nacelle-pylon from the second drag prediction workshop, and a high wing aircraft with nacelles. The CFD results are compared with experimental data and other published computational results. The details of separation patterns, shock positions, and C-p distributions are discussed to find the characteristics of the turbulence models.