Foreseeing the next generation of Aircraft: hybrid approach using Lattice-boltzmann, experiments and modelling to optimize fluid/struCture interactiONs

Project Information

FALCON

Grant agreement ID: 101138305

DOI

10.3030/101138305

EC signature date 22 November 2023

Start date 1 January 2024

End date 31 December 2027

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

€ 4 923 470,50

EU contribution

€ 4 878 345,25

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITE D'AIX MARSEILLE
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FALCON (Foreseeing the next generation of Aircraft: hybrid approach using Lattice-boltzmann, experiments and modelling to optimize fluid/struCture interactiONs)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Direct aviation emissions accounted for 3.8% of total CO2 emissions and 13.9% of the emissions from transport in the EU in 2017, making it the second biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions after road transport (source: European Commission). In addition, although the noise emissions of each aircraft have decreased approximately by 75 % over the last 30 years, the growing amount of air traffic means that many EU citizens are still exposed to high noise levels. At 98 major European airports during 2019, 1.3 million people were exposed to more than 50 daily aircraft noise events above 70 dB. This is 71% more than in 2005. Intensified research and innovation activities are therefore needed to reduce all aviation impacts and emissions (CO2 and non-CO2, noise, manufacturing) for the EU to reach its policy goals towards a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
One of the main levers to decrease CO2 emissions is to reduce the airframe structural weight. This implies to provide even more flexible wings with large aspect ratio, slender fuselage and more flexible junctions between the main aircraft parts with higher relative displacements between them for which current prediction methods are insufficient.
As an answer, FALCON’s ambition is to enhance the design capabilities of the European industrial aircraft sector, focusing on fluid-structure interaction (FSI) phenomena to improve the aeroelastic performances of aircraft (unsteady loads), thus decreasing CO2 emissions. The enhanced FSI design capabilities will also benefit to specific noise emissions generated by flexible and mobile airframe structures when exposed to both low and high-speed fluid flows.
The website of the FALCON project can be seen at https://falconproject.eu/

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project is day-to-day managed in agreement with the EC rules. A project manager has been hired for the duration of the project. The coordinator ensures scientific and administrative coordination. d Several consortium meetings are organized, both online and in person. A Data Management Plan and a Quality and Risk Management Plan have been elaborated.
As several partners develop together the methods and setup of structure solvers, a coupling has been developed between MSC Nastran and ProLB (LaBS) and between ESPRESO and OpenLB. Specific methods and structure solvers are also being developed to tackle the complex conditions involving flexible structure in turbulence and compressible flows and high frequency vibrations. A monolithic approach for FSI has started based on full LBM approach for both fluid and structure and it is going well.
The flap-cove seal experiment has been designed and is ready to perform at DLR. Methodology, numerical simulations using LBM and a lot of different scenarios have been used to plan the best possible experiment.
A hybrid database is ready to be populated by numerical and experimental data. Sensitivity solvers for high-fidelity models have just started to be developed using automatic differenciation. The development of surrogate models are emergent and very encouraging to be used for FSI.
HPC platforms are now secured for each partner in the project. KAROLINA is one example. Work has been done on algorithm design, code porting and optimization in order to optimize the performance of the codes. Visualization of CFD results has been started and the first tests are very encouraging for the future of FALCON.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

As the work done so far is promising, FALCON expects to contribute to several outcomes. Some outcomes could be technological, such as reducing the tonal noise related to fluid/structure interactions to a maximum emergence of 3dB above the broadband noise, or providing the aircraft industry with a global numerical environment, validated on state-of-the-art FSI configurations involving vibrating and deforming structures, which will enrich the available toolset of scientific community in FSI modelling.
As a potential scientific impact, FALCON will produce a reference FSI benchmark database, open to the scientific community and covering the whole range of typical fluid/structure interaction phenomena in aeronautics. The project will also develop cost-efficient two-way fluid-structure interaction computations including acoustics and structural dynamics, expected to generate only a limited percentage of overhead compared to fixed geometry calculations, which will be highly beneficial for the aeronautics industry.
From an environmental point of view, the project will improve the durability of airframe structures (seals and flexible wings) and lead to an increase of the replacement cycle of seals by 20%. This will constitute valuable outcomes for industrials towards an industrialization by 2040-2050.

On a long-term perspective, FALCON will contribute to several Key Strategic Orientation (KSO) set by Horizon Europe. It will contribute to a more sustainable air transport by targeting a reduction of aircraft structural weight (greener transport), a reduction of the aerodynamical noise (quieter transport) and the replacement cycle of airframe structures experiencing vibrations and deformations (more sustainable transport). Additionally, the project will provide an efficient and state-of-the-art digital technology to reinforce the leadership of European aircraft industry.

Logo FALCON