Response surface optimization of serpentine air inlet ducts in modern fighters

Date

2023-9-7

Author

Yahşi, Ömer Faruk

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Modern fighter aircraft design necessitates improved stealth characteristics in terms of radar observability. Integration of a lengthy, convoluted air intake duct to aircraft, which plays a crucial role in attenuating incoming radar signals, poses significant aerodynamic challenges. The development of high-performance air intake and air duct systems is becoming more difficult due to the requirements for complex geometrical features in the designs and the need to achieve efficient operational capability across large flight and maneuvering envelopes for fighter aircraft. This thesis presents a response surface design optimization study based on the solution of Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations with ANSYS Fluent flow solver in order to identify critical design parameters for efficient stealth and aerodynamic characteristics. To achieve this, the numerical methodology is first validated against the canonical RAE M2129 [1] test case. Subsequently, a design of experiment study is conducted to quantify the significance of related geometric parameters on the total pressure recovery and duct loss coefficient. Finally, two optimized geometries with distinct total lengths from the model are generated. Both geometries show significant improvements in terms of total pressure recovery and duct pressure loss coefficient at various mass flow conditions. These results demonstrate the efficacy of the implemented design optimization methodology in enhancing the aerodynamic performance of serpentine duct designs.

Subject Keywords

Serpentine Type Air Intake Duct, Stealth Aircrafts, Aerodynamic Performance Optimization, Design of Experiment with Response Surface Approach, Computational Fluid Dynamics

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/105359

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis