Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2022-2023)

The Canadian air transport industry is facing two important challenges, one addressing reduced footprint, the other intense commercial competition. Aircraft design process thrives to encompass all requirements (technical, environmental and costs, i.e. multidisciplinary) during the design workflow from conceptual to preliminary and detailed (i.e. multi-fidelity) design phases prior to certification and delivery to customers.
To that end, the program aims at developing knowledge in the area of multi-fidelity multidisciplinary aircraft aerodynamics towards digital aircraft models. Multidisciplinary here is purposely aerodynamic-centered, where aerodynamic models are coupled to i) thermodynamic, ii) n-Degree of Freedom and iii) elastic models to allow respectively icing, limit cycle/divergence characterization and flutter analysis that are important drivers in novel aircraft designs. Multi-fidelity is approached with Unsteady/Steady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes coupled to turbulence models (high) and Non-Linear Vortex Lattice methods (low) coupled with RANS database (medium), including advancements in geometry representations.
The research methodology combines numerical and experimental developments to ensure appropriate validation of the numerical algorithms and models. The program relies on collaboration: first, collaborators are experts in one discipline, ensuring state-of-the-art approaches; second, the budget is wisely leveraged with outstanding onerous national facilities at minimal costs for the experimental and supercomputing environments. The applicant concentrates on the development of novel numerical coupling algorithms for the multi-disciplinary aerodynamic analyses necessary for the design of more efficient aircraft where unsteady phenomena are observed in subsonic and transonic flow regimes containing icing, dynamic and elastic phenomena. Emphasis is on segregated approaches to use the most appropriate tool for the single-disciplinary tasks while ensuring downstream industrial compatibility. Numerical algorithms are developed within the applicant laboratory 2D URANS and 3D UVLM solvers, as well as within the 3D European URANS solver NSMB. Collaborators complement the applicant’s aircraft aerodynamic expertise in the fields of vibration, level-set and plant reconfiguration. Practical targeted novel applications are in the area of flow control, such as multi-modal Non-Linear Energy Sinks for wing-aileron systems or reconfiguration, as well as aircraft icing certification procedures.
International internships and dual-degree diplomas will augment training of graduate students in numerical and experimental approaches. It is expected that the research program lead to industrial Collaborative Research Development grants for development at higher Technology Readiness Levels both in Canada and abroad.