Computational Outcome Validation & Evaluation of a Transport Aircraft Analysis

Abstract

The results of a computational study that was carried out to examine Euler flow over a traditional transport aircraft are covered in this paper. At Mach 0.15, the analysis has been carried out for a range of angles of attack and sideslip combinations. CFD ACE+ Navier Stokes solver is used for analysis and simulation. The angle of attack has been changed in 6-degree increments from 0 to 18 degrees for sideslip values of 0, 6, and 12. The computations are performed using the Origin 3000, an SGI server. A recent study on grid independence demonstrated that a mesh size of 2,079,082 cells was optimal for achieving accurate  computational results in fluid dynamics simulations. This determination was based on a systematic refinement approach, where various mesh configurations were evaluated for their impact on solution convergence and accuracy. The analysis revealed that this specific cell count effectively balanced computational efficiency with numerical precision, as further refinement yielded diminishing returns with respect to error reduction. Additionally, the use of this ideal mesh size minimized resource consumption while ensuring that key flow characteristics were captured without significant artifacts or discrepancies often associated with coarser grids. Ultimately, the findings underscore the importance of meticulous grid selection in simulation practices to enhance robustness and reliability in predictive modeling across engineering applications.