Two promising technologies increasing aerodynamic efficiency are variable camber (VC) and hybrid laminar flow control (HLFC). While in the past, the main priority was on revealing potential of new innovative technologies, the next reasonable step is to combine promising ideas. Especially in times of COVID-19, increasing aircraft efficiency is a key element to overcome the associated crisis in the aviation industry . This is mainly attributed to the limited extend of laminar flow, thus indicating the necessity for optimization in wing geometry and operating parameters, to achieve extensive areas of laminar flow and to promote the aspired synergy effects.įor conventional passenger aircraft design, a major focus is on fuel efficiency and the associated reduction of emissions. While the combined application shows no mutual inhibition, major reciprocal effects are not directly observable when applying the combination as a retrofit to the reference configuration CATeW-01. When being coupled with ADHF deflections, again the variable camber technology leads to a reduction of the wing’s pressure drag component with the simultaneous application of boundary layer suction further promoting drag reduction with increasing suction rate. Considering the coupled application, four different constant suction mass flow rates are examined, where the maximum mass flow causes laminar flow extending over the entire suction panel, thus moving the transition location from the wing’s leading edge to the end of the suction panel. Comparative studies of the turbulent flow field around the wing show good agreement of predicted load distributions in both numerical frameworks, studies based upon the HiFi approach attest the potential for efficiency increase due to the variable camber technology, incorporated by means of Adaptive Dropped Hinge Flap (ADHF) deflections. A short presentation of the LowFi-toolchain is given, along with the modeling approach in the HiFi framework using mesh deformations and a mass flux boundary condition. The LowFi toolchain already incorporates several modules for the proposed technology combination. Furthermore, this work encompasses adaptations and implementations performed within both the LowFi and HiFi toolchains. The paper at hand presents results of aerodynamic analyses on both fidelity levels for the wing of the turbulent reference configuration CATeW-01, featuring the technology combination as a retrofit.

To derive conclusions on system level, low-fidelity (LowFi) overall aircraft design methodologies will be applied for the analysis of a medium haul reference aircraft in the course of the project, while complex aerodynamic phenomena are modelled with high-fidelity (HiFi) computational fluid dynamics methods. An evaluation of the coupled technologies is, therefore, expected to show an even higher potential due to synergy effects. Individually, both technologies have proven to lead to major aerodynamic drag reductions. The objective of the LuFo VI-1 project CATeW (Coupled Aerodynamic Technologies for Aircraft Wings) consists in multifidelity analyses to assess the potential for aerodynamic efficiency increase by combined application of hybrid laminar flow control and variable camber technologies to the wing of a transonic transport aircraft.

Wing and airfolil geometry x 21