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High-fidelity aerodynamic modeling of an aircraft using OpenFoam – application on the CRJ700

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2021

M. Segui ,
F.R. Abel ,
R.M. Botez Open the ORCID record for R.M. Botez [Opens in a new window]  and
A. Ceruti
M. Segui
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Applied Research in Active Controls, Avionics and AeroServoElasticity LARCASE, École de Technologie Supérieure, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
F.R. Abel
Affiliation:
School of Engineering and Architecture, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
R.M. Botez*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Applied Research in Active Controls, Avionics and AeroServoElasticity LARCASE, École de Technologie Supérieure, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
A. Ceruti
Affiliation:
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This study is focused on the development of longitudinal aerodynamic models for steady flight conditions. While several commercial solvers are available for this type of work, we seek to evaluate the accuracy of an open source software. This study aims to verify and demonstrate the accuracy of the OpenFoam solver when it is used on basic computers (32–64GB of RAM and eight cores). A new methodology was developed to show how an aerodynamic model of an aircraft could be designed using OpenFoam software. The mesh and the simulations were designed only using OpenFoam utilities, such as blockMesh, snappyHexMesh, simpleFoam and rhoSimpleFoam. For the methodology illustration, the process was applied to the Bombardier CRJ700 aircraft and simulations were performed for its flight envelope, up to M0.79. Forces and moments obtained with the OpenFoam model were compared with an accurate flight data source (level D flight simulator). Excellent results in data agreement were obtained with a maximum absolute error of 0.0026 for the drag coefficient, thus validating a high-fidelity aerodynamic model for the Bombardier CRJ-700 aircraft.

Keywords

AerodynamicsOpenFoam softwareCRJ-700 aircraftCompressible flowIncompressible flow
Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 126 , Issue 1298 , April 2022 , pp. 585 - 606
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal Aeronautical Society

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