Understanding Aerodynamic Principles toward Efficient Air Vehicle Design and Analysis

The design and development of high-performance, efficient, and sustainable aircraft for a wide range of applications require a fundamental understanding of the underlying aerodynamic principles. For instance, the aerodynamic phenomena that govern micro air vehicle (MAV) flight are drastically different from that of fixed wing aircraft flying at transonic speeds. While high-fidelity CFD and experimental methods can help unravel the physics, for design purposes, robust and efficient tools are required. The seminar will focus on the foundational studies we conducted to understand the aerodynamic principles related to two applications operating in different flight regimes and how the knowledge gained is integrated into aircraft design:

I. Unsteady aerodynamics for AAM applications: Advanced air mobility (AAM) encompasses diverse air vehicles operating at relatively low Reynolds numbers due to their low flight speeds and relatively small sizes in urban and rural settings, such as urban air mobility (UAM) and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The key research questions being addressed include: What are the aerodynamic tools for wing design at these Reynolds numbers? Can the classical unsteady theory (mainly Kussner-based) capture the wing aerodynamic response during large transverse gust encounters? How can wing-gust interaction be modeled efficiently?

II. Laminar Flow Control (LFC) for energy-efficient aviation: Future energy-efficient aircraft require a drastic reduction in drag. The flow on a state-of-the-art commercial airplane wing is turbulent. The laminar flow control (LFC) technique offers a large potential for drag reduction. Our current research focuses on optimizing a wing for LFC application and investigating how to integrate the LFC technology into the overall aircraft design.