Search

In this work, high-order computations of the flowfield around a 1303 unmanned combat air vehicle configuration are performed and compared with recently collected experimental data obtained at Lehigh University. The computational approach used a high-order overset-grid flow solver developed in the Air Vehicles Directorate of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory that employs up-to-sixth-order compact finite differences and high-order, low-pass numerical filters to accurately resolve detailed flow features in a robust manner. The experimental data was collected via a particle image velocimetry technique in a free-surface water channel. Both quantitative and qualitative comparisons between computational and experimental results are done at a plane located at eight-tenths of the half-span for various Reynolds numbers and angles of attack, with the results comparing quite favorably for most flow conditions. Computational images of the flowfield are used to elucidate angle of attack and Reynolds number effects on this configuration, as well as to investigate the formation and evolution of the leading-edge and centerbody vortical structures and the impact that angle of attack has on their formation mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]