Vorticity Confinement and TVD Applied to Wing Tip Vortices for Accurate Drag Prediction

TL;DR

This paper combines vorticity confinement and TVD schemes to accurately simulate wing tip vortices and predict induced drag, analyzing parameter effects, grid convergence, and turbulence modeling.

Contribution

It introduces an integrated approach using VC and TVD with turbulence models for precise vortex and drag prediction, validated against experimental data.

Findings

Optimal VC parameters depend on Mach number and angle of attack.

Grid convergence achieved for 2-D vortices and 3-D induced drag.

VC combined with turbulence models improves vortex evolution accuracy.

Abstract

The vorticity confinement (VC) method was used with total variation diminishing (TVD) schemes to reduce possible over-confinement and applied to tip vortices shed by edges of wings in order to predict induced drag using far-field integration. The optimal VC parameter was determined first by application to 2-D vortices and then to tip vortices shed by a 3-D wing. The 3-D inviscid simulations were post-processed using the wake-integral technique to determine lift-induced drag force. Dependence of the VC parameter on the flight Mach number and the angle of attack was evaluated. Grid convergence studies were conducted for 2-D vortices and for induced drag generated by 3-D wing. VC was used with TVD minmod and differentiable flux limiters to evaluate their effect on the VC method. Finally, the VC approach was combined with the Reynolds stress equation turbulence model, and the results were compared to experimental data of tip vortex evolution.