Advancements In The Design Methodology For Multi Element High Lift Systems On Subsonic Civil Transport Aircraft

The choice of a high-lift system is crucial in the preliminary design process of a subsonic civil transport aircraft. Its purpose is to increase the allowable aircraft weight or decrease the aircraft's wing area for a given takeoff and landing performance. However, the implementation of a high-lift system into a design must be done carefully, for it can improve the aerodynamic performance of an aircraft but may also drastically increase the aircraft empty weight. If designed properly, a high-lift system can improve the cost effectiveness of an aircraft by increasing the payload weight for a given takeoff and landing performance. This is why the design methodology for a high-lift system should incorporate aerodynamic performance, weight, and cost. The airframe industry has experienced rapid technological growth in recent years which has led to significant advances in high-lift systems. For this reason many existing design methodologies have become obsolete since they are based on outdated low Reynolds number wind-tunnel data and can no longer accurately predict the aerodynamic characteristics or weight of current multi-element wings. Therefore, a new design methodology has been created that reflects current aerodynamic, weight, and cost data and provides enough flexibility to allow incorporation of new data when it becomes available. Pepper, R. S. and vanDam, C. P. Ames Research Center STRUCTURAL WEIGHT; TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT; AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE; WING PROFILES; LIFT; COST EFFECTIVENESS; COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN; AIRFRAMES; AIRCRAFT DESIGN; WIND TUNNEL TESTS...

In today's highly competitive and economically driven commercial aviation market, the trend is to make aircraft systems simpler and to shorten their design cycle which reduces recurring, non-recurring and operating costs. One such system is the high-lift system. A methodology has been developed which merges aerodynamic data with kinematic analysis of the trailing-edge flap mechanism with minimum mechanism definition required. This methodology provides quick and accurate aerodynamic performance prediction for a given flap deployment mechanism early on in the high-lift system preliminary design stage. Sample analysis results for four different deployment mechanisms are presented as well as descriptions of the aerodynamic and mechanism data required for evaluation. Extensions to interactive design capabilities are also discussed.

This book reports on the latest numerical and experimental findings in the field of high-lift technologies. It covers interdisciplinary research subjects relating to scientific computing, aerodynamics, aeroacoustics, material sciences, aircraft structures, and flight mechanics. The respective chapters are based on papers presented at the Final Symposium of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 880, which was held on December 17-18, 2019 in Braunschweig, Germany. The conference and the research presented here were partly supported by the CRC 880 on “Fundamentals of High Lift for Future Civil Aircraft,” funded by the DFG (German Research Foundation). The papers offer timely insights into high-lift technologies for short take-off and landing aircraft, with a special focus on aeroacoustics, efficient high-lift, flight dynamics, and aircraft design.