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Aerodynamic loads estimation at extremes of the flight envelope

Fact Sheet

Result in Brief

Reporting

Results

Objective

ALEF's objective is to enable the European aeronautical industry to create complete aerodynamic models of their aircraft based on numerical simulation approaches within the respective development processes. I.e. ALEF will kick-off a paradigm shift from greater confidence in experimentally measured loads data to greater confidence in computational results. Beyond the scope of ALEF this paradigm shift will essentially influence the overall aerodynamic development process. The objective has three aspects: 1. Comprehensiveness refers to the ability to predict aerodynamic forces, moments and their derivatives in time for any point of the flight regime. It is addressed by two complementary approaches: A high fidelity CFD based approach serves short-term impact. Long-term improvements are delivered by incorporation of simulation tools of different fidelity. 2. Quality refers to the accuracy and physical correctness of each flow simulation result used for aero data prediction as well as to a high coherence of aero data integrated over the complete flight envelope from tools of varying fidelity. It is improved by considering the impact of physical modelling as well as novel quality control means to achieve a highly coherent data space representation. 3. Efficiency refers to the necessity to compute the entire aero data space within time frames dictated by industrial design processes at given costs. It is tackled by means of surrogate models for both steady and unsteady flows. Also planning techniques for efficient simulation campaigns are addressed. The ultimate scope of using simulation tools in aero data generation is to cover all flight conditions and configurations by means of a numerical toolbox. This would ensure an up-to-date and fast estimation of most recent statuses of aircraft with every data consistent. ALEF will essentially contribute to a 70% wind tunnel testing cost reduction by 2020, which will cut the aerodynamic development effort by about 40%.

Programme(s)

FP7-TRANSPORT - Specific Programme "Cooperation": Transport (including Aeronautics)

Topic(s)

AAT-2007-4.2-01 - Flight Physics

AAT-2007-4.1-01 - Design Systems and Tools

Call for proposal

FP7-AAT-2007-RTD-1

See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

CP-FP - Small or medium-scale focused research project

Leaflet | Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, Credit: EC-GISCO, © EuroGeographics for the administrative boundaries

Coordinator

AIRBUS OPERATIONS SAS

Address

Route De Bayonne 316
31060 Toulouse

France

Activity type

Other

EU Contribution

€ 195 095,50

Contact the organisation

Administrative Contact

Thierry Picot (Mr.)

Participants (19)

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AIRBUS OPERATIONS SL

Spain

EU Contribution

€ 48 548

AIRBUS OPERATIONS GMBH

Germany

EU Contribution

€ 247 448,50

ALENIA AERMACCHI SPA

Italy

EU Contribution

€ 127 625

AIRBUS DEFENCE AND SPACE SA

Spain

EU Contribution

€ 150 300

CENTRE EUROPEEN DE RECHERCHE ET DE FORMATION AVANCEE EN CALCUL SCIENTIFIQUE

France

EU Contribution

€ 105 008

CENTRE INTERNACIONAL DE METODES NUMERICS EN ENGINYERIA

Spain

EU Contribution

€ 159 126

CENTRO ITALIANO RICERCHE AEROSPAZIALI SCPA

Italy

EU Contribution

€ 192 309

DASSAULT AVIATION

France

EU Contribution

€ 127 739

DEUTSCHES ZENTRUM FUER LUFT - UND RAUMFAHRT EV

Germany

EU Contribution

€ 327 926

AIRBUS DEFENCE AND SPACE GMBH

Germany

EU Contribution

€ 217 001

AIRBUS HELICOPTERS DEUTSCHLAND GMBH

Germany

EU Contribution

€ 96 856

TOTALFORSVARETS FORSKNINGSINSTITUT

Sweden

EU Contribution

€ 236 250

KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA HOEGSKOLAN

Sweden

EU Contribution

€ 185 600

STICHTING NATIONAAL LUCHT- EN RUIMTEVAARTLABORATORIUM

Netherlands

EU Contribution

€ 226 125

OFFICE NATIONAL D'ETUDES ET DE RECHERCHES AEROSPATIALES

France

EU Contribution

€ 251 295

Optimad engineering s.r.l.

Italy

EU Contribution

€ 110 100

PIAGGIO AERO INDUSTRIES SPA

Italy

EU Contribution

€ 128 000

RUAG Schweiz AG

Switzerland

EU Contribution

€ 128 650

SAAB AKTIEBOLAG

Sweden

EU Contribution

€ 128 998

Project information

ALEF

Grant agreement ID: 211785

Status

Closed project

Start date

1 May 2009
End date

30 April 2012

Funded under:

FP7-TRANSPORT

Overall budget:

€ 5 523 439,20
EU contribution

€ 3 390 000

Coordinated by:

AIRBUS OPERATIONS SAS

France

DE EN ES FR IT PL

Modelling plane stability in extreme flight conditions

Scientists advanced the state of aircraft modelling under extreme conditions. Coupling flow and structural models while enhancing two existing techniques enabled capturing effects that lead to unstable behaviour.

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGIES

Aircraft design relies heavily on mathematical modelling and simulation. These in turn rely on accurate system definition. The flight envelope consists of the range of combinations of flight parameters such as speed, altitude and angle of attack in which the aircraft remains aerodynamically stable. The EU-funded 'Aerodynamic loads estimation at extremes of the flight envelope' (ALEF) project extended current models to accurately describe behaviour at the boundaries of the flight envelope. The Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations of fluid-flow motion are important to the modelling of air flow. Using complex computational fluid dynamics (CFD)/RANS methods, ALEF partners were able to successfully simulate steady and unsteady conditions and aircraft behaviour under extreme conditions such as transonic speed, dive speed and high load scenarios requiring deployment of control surfaces. The latter control altitude, speed and angle when moved. In addition, by coupling advanced fluid flow models with structural models, the team made it possible to include static and aeroelastic effects. ALEF demonstrated the ability of unsteady CFD models to shift from linear to high-fidelity methods for enhanced accuracy in prediction of aeroelastic effects. A major contribution was made regarding surrogate models, also called response surface models. Scientists extended the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) technique to account for deployment of control surfaces and structural deformation. The resulting models were demonstrated to be a fast alternative to CFD. Researchers also highlighted the potential of another unsteady surrogate modelling tool, linear frequency domain solvers, to capture a dangerous flutter phenomenon sometimes seen with increasing air flow. Application to industrial test cases demonstrated the superiority of ALEF CFD and surrogate modelling methods compared to the current state of the art. Thus, ALEF made a significant contribution to aerodynamic modelling for aircraft design in the extreme conditions of the flight envelope. Better risk analysis and safer planes will be the likely outcomes together with an enhanced competitive edge for the European aerospace industry.

Project information

ALEF

Grant agreement ID: 211785

Status

Closed project

Start date

1 May 2009
End date

30 April 2012

Funded under:

FP7-TRANSPORT

Overall budget:

€ 5 523 439,20
EU contribution

€ 3 390 000

Coordinated by:

AIRBUS OPERATIONS SAS

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Periodic Report Summary - ALEF (Aerodynamic loads estimation at extremes of the flight envelope)

ALEF's goal to cover the extremes of the flight envelope has been genuinely addressed through the application of high-fidelity CFD/RANS methods to low-speed high-lift configurations, to high transonic speed and dive speed conditions, to configurations typical for high loads scenarios (i.e. necessitating control surface deployment), to conditions involving well established buffeting, to flows dominated by unsteady aerodynamics and for static and dynamic aeroelastic effects.

ALEF allowed extending the application range of high-fidelity RANS methods to the borders of the flight envelope including the deployment of control surfaces. The work performed provided a better picture of the capabilities and the limitations of RANS. Furthermore, thanks to the development of advanced fluid / structure coupled simulation procedures we no longer have to neglect static or aeroelastic effects. A wide range of high-fidelity simulation aspects have been addressed i.e. advanced meshing approaches (mesh deformation, Chimera meshing, ...) turbulence modelling, transition prediction methods.

In particular for unsteady aerodynamic loads, ALEF work has demonstrated the ability of unsteady CFD to shift from linear methods towards high-fidelity methods and to improve the prediction quality in aeroelastic analyses. Efforts were focused one tackling challenges for improving accuracy versus the standard practice. The research carried allowed to increase the overall confidence of methods by verification and validation thanks to test cases covering the flight envelope (including parts of the borders). Furthermore, several gust methods have been applied to complex aircraft configurations.

Further ALEF research focussed on the evaluation, enhancement and application guidelines of surrogate modelling (both for steady & unsteady purposes). In a first step, it resulted in the classification of present surrogate models and identification of potential fields of application for aero data production purposes. The Proper Orthogonal Decomposition technique was of particular interest and has been successfully applied in several fields by several partners. Research activities were carried out to enhance the technique in order to be able to account for deployed control surfaces or structural deformations. POD surrogate models proved to be a viable and fast alternative to CFD. Specific application guidelines and recommendations for further enhancement of POD techniques have been defined.

With regard to unsteady surrogate modelling a major technical achievement was the illustration of the potential of Linear Frequency Domain solvers to conduct fast flutter analysis thanks to significant time reduction versus unsteady time accurate simulations.

At the very end of the project, significant efforts were made to demonstrate the most promising steady, unsteady CFD developments and work on surrogate modelling through applications on industrially relevant and complex test cases. The methods and processes investigated in the ALEF project proved to be better than those available at the start of the project. The ability to use them in an industrial context was shown, which contributes to an improvement of the current state-of-the-art industrial aerodynamic data process. Last but not least the research conducted in ALEF clearly allowed a transfer of knowledge and methodologies from the project into industrial application.

Project information

ALEF

Grant agreement ID: 211785

Status

Closed project

Start date

1 May 2009
End date

30 April 2012

Funded under:

FP7-TRANSPORT

Overall budget:

€ 5 523 439,20
EU contribution

€ 3 390 000

Coordinated by:

AIRBUS OPERATIONS SAS

Project information

ALEF

Grant agreement ID: 211785

Status

Closed project

Start date

1 May 2009
End date

30 April 2012

Funded under:

FP7-TRANSPORT

Overall budget:

€ 5 523 439,20
EU contribution

€ 3 390 000

Coordinated by:

AIRBUS OPERATIONS SAS

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Last update: 25 May 2017

Record number: 90620

CORDIS

Objective

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Participants (19)

Project information

Modelling plane stability in extreme flight conditions

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Periodic Report Summary - ALEF (Aerodynamic loads estimation at extremes of the flight envelope)

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CORDIS

Objective

Coordinator

Participants (19)

Project information

Modelling plane stability in extreme flight conditions

Project information

Discover other articles in the same domain of application

Periodic Report Summary - ALEF (Aerodynamic loads estimation at extremes of the flight envelope)

Project information

Deliverables

Publications

Project information

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