Using Ansys Simulation for Hypersonic Cruiser Concept

Task Description

In one of its research projects, the National Institute for Aerospace Research “Elie Carafoli” (INCAS) set out to evaluate experimentally the aerodynamic performance of new concept aircrafts for supersonic civil transportation. The objective was to validate the existing aerodatabase. To accomplish this, INCAS utilized Ansys simulation tools to generate the design suitable for manufacturing the models and to test them in the wind tunnel.

Pic. 1 First model- pressure distribution comparison between the models with support (upper half) and without the support (lower half)

Solution

ANSYS Fluent: Provided advanced aerodynamic simulation capabilities, allowing INCAS to model complex flow phenomena around supersonic/hypersonic concept aircrafts and investigate the scale effects on the wind tunnel models with high-fidelity. By visualizing the distribution of lift, drag and pressure under various flight conditions, the team could quickly identify and address quality issues well before manufacturing.

Pic. 2 First model installed in the test section of the Supersonic Wind Tunnel

Benefits

• A 30% reduction in overall development time, achieved by minimizing repeated physical tests through early-stage virtual simulations.

• Approximately 20% savings in prototyping costs, resulting from the ability to detect design flaws before moving to expensive build-and-test cycles.

• Improved data accuracy, facilitating faster validation of design assumptions and more effective wind tunnel model architecture selection.