Assessment of an Unstructured-Grid Method for Predicting Aerodynamic Performance of Jet Flaps

The application of a Computational Fluid Dynamics tool to a jet flap control effector on an elliptical airfoil-section wing was investigated. The study utilized the Tetrahedral Unstructured Software System developed at NASA Langley Research Center. The Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes flow solver code used was USM3D. The CFD-based jet flap simulations were compared to experimental results from a wind tunnel test conducted at the NASA Langley Transonic Dynamics Tunnel. The wind tunnel model consisted of a six percent thick elliptical airfoil with a modified trailing edge. The jet flap was located at 95% chord and exited at 90 degrees to the lower surface. The experimental model was designed to promote two-dimensional flow across the wing. It was found that the CFD simulation had to model the three-dimensional geometry of the experiment in order to obtain good agreement. Tests were performed at two Mach numbers at several different jet momentum coefficients. In order to be consistent with the experimental method, the CFD lift and pitching moment values were determined by integrating the pressures over the wing.