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Numerical investigation of high-speed flying wing based on co-flow jet

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Abstract

Active flow control is an effective discipline to significantly improve the performance of the flying wing aircraft. The present work aims to investigate the aerodynamics of a high-speed flying wing with the novel co-flow jet (CFJ) technique, where three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations are exploited. Firstly, the aerodynamics of conventional and CFJ flying wings is compared to reveal the CFJ control effects under high-speed conditions. Secondly, the impacts of several pivotal geometrical parameters, namely suction slot location, suction slot angle, and CFJ spanwise location, are further investigated. Results show that applying the CFJ technique could improve the aerodynamic characteristics of the high-speed flying wing. Specifically, the CFJ flying wing could increase the lift by 5.1%, decrease the drag by 15.3%, enhance the corrected aerodynamic efficiency by 5.5%, and augment the corrected productivity efficiency by 10.9% at Cμ = 0.005 and α = 4° compared to the conventional one. The variation in suction slot location scarcely influences the lift generation and the overall aerodynamic performance. Furthermore, the increase in suction slot angle slightly reduces the drag due to the augmented jet reactionary force oriented to the leading-edge. Finally, a larger CFJ spanwise location is more conducive to achieving better aerodynamic performance.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12102431 and 12002340) and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 2020149).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Ruochen Wang, Xiaoping Ma, Guoxin Zhang, Pei Ying & Bo Wang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Ruochen Wang & Xiaoping Ma

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  1. Ruochen Wang
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  2. Xiaoping Ma
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  3. Guoxin Zhang
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  4. Pei Ying
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  5. Bo Wang
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Correspondence to Xiaoping Ma.

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Wang, R., Ma, X., Zhang, G. et al. Numerical investigation of high-speed flying wing based on co-flow jet. Acta Mech 234, 3109–3130 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00707-023-03555-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00707-023-03555-w

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