US 9,317,633 B2Granted

Simulation method for determining aerodynamic coefficients of an aircraft

AssigneeAirbus Operations GmbH

InventorBenoit Calmels

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Abstract

A computer method of simulating a fluid flow in an aircraft environment to determine at least one aerodynamic coefficient, comprising obtaining a first series of values of the aerodynamic coefficient. The method also includes defining a criterion for convergence of said aerodynamic coefficient, selecting a determined set of terms belonging to said first series, defining a monotonic function configured to make a relatively expanding transformation in said determined set relative to the complement of said set, applying said monotonic function on said first series to form a second series of values of the aerodynamic coefficient, determining said aerodynamic coefficient by plotting a variation curve representative of said second series of values of the aerodynamic coefficient, and displaying said variation curve including an intrinsic zoom of the convergence zone of said aerodynamic coefficient.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method, using a computer processor, comprising:

simulating a fluid flow in an aircraft environment to determine at least one aerodynamic coefficient characterizing an aerodynamic behavior of at least one element of the aircraft;
providing a digital solution of equations modelling the fluid flow in said aircraft environment, according to a model configured using physical parameters of the fluid flow, said digital solution being made iteratively to obtain a first series of values of the aerodynamic coefficient indexed by a number of iterations;
defining a criterion for convergence of said aerodynamic coefficient using processing means;
selecting a determined set of terms belonging to said first series of values of the aerodynamic coefficient, as a function of said convergence criterion, using the processing means;
defining a monotonic function configured to make a relatively expanding transformation in said determined set relative to a complement of said set, using the processing means, the transformation being contracting outside said set;
applying said monotonic function on said first series to transform into a second series of values of the aerodynamic coefficient, said second series defining a global change to said aerodynamic coefficient with a local expansion in a convergence zone corresponding to said determined set, using the processing means;
determining said aerodynamic coefficient by plotting a variation curve representative of said second series of values of the aerodynamic coefficient as a function of the number of iterations, using the processing means;
and
displaying said variation curve including an intrinsic zoom of said convergence zone giving details of the convergence of said aerodynamic coefficient, on output means,
wherein a plot of said variation curve includes variations indexed by the number of iterations.

7 more elements

A computer product comprising computer-executable instructions stored in non-transient memory which, when executed, instructs a computer to perform the computer-executable instructions using a computer processor, comprising the instructions to:

simulate a fluid flow in an aircraft environment to determine at least one aerodynamic coefficient characterizing an aerodynamic behavior of at least one element of the aircraft;
provide a digital solution of equations modelling the fluid flow in said aircraft environment, according to a model configured using physical parameters of the fluid flow, said digital solution being made iteratively to obtain a first series of values of the aerodynamic coefficient indexed by a number of iterations;
define a criterion for convergence of said aerodynamic coefficient using processing means;
select a determined set of terms belonging to said first series of values of the aerodynamic coefficient, as a function of said convergence criterion, using the processing means;
define a monotonic function configured to make a relatively expanding transformation in said determined set relative to a complement of said set, using the processing means, the transformation being contracting outside said set;
apply said monotonic function on said first series to transform into a second series of values of the aerodynamic coefficient, said second series defining a global change to said aerodynamic coefficient with a local expansion in a convergence zone corresponding to said determined set, using the processing means;
determine said aerodynamic coefficient by plotting a variation curve representative of said second series of values of the aerodynamic coefficient as a function of the number of iterations, using the processing means;
and
display said variation curve including an intrinsic zoom of said convergence zone giving details of the convergence of said aerodynamic coefficient, on output means,
wherein a plot of said variation curve includes variations indexed by the number of iterations.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/882,446Filed 2 Nov 2011
Priority: FR 10 590473 Nov 2010
Published: US 2014/0195210 A110 Jul 2014
Granted: 19 Apr 2016
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

G06F 30/28
Design optimisation, verification or simulation: using fluid dynamics, e.g. using Navier-Stokes equations or computational fluid dynamics [CFD]
G01M 9/08
Aerodynamic testing; Arrangements in or on wind tunnels: aerodynamic models
G06F 30/20
Computer-aided design [CAD]: design optimisation, verification or simulation
G05D 1/0808
Control of attitude, i.e. control of roll, pitch, or yaw: specially adapted for aircraft