Unsteady transonic flow simulation on a full-span-wing-body configuration

The presence of a body influences both the aerodynamic and aeroelastic performance of wings. Such effects are more pronounced in the transonic regime. To accurately account for the effect of the body, particularly when the wings are experiencing asymmetric modal motions, it is necessary to model the full configuration in the nonlinear transonic regime. In this study, full-span-wing-body configurations are simulated for the first time by a theoretical method that uses the unsteady potential equations based on the small-disturbance theory. The body geometry is modeled exactly as the physical shape, instead of as a rectangular box, which has been done in the past. Steady pressure computations for wing-body configurations compare well with the available experimental data. Unsteady pressure computations when the wings are oscillating in asymmetric modes show significant influence of the body.