Conceptual Aircraft Design

23Computational Fluid Dynamics

23.1 Overview

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a numerical tool for solving fluid mechanics equations. CFD is a relatively recent development that has grown powerful enough to become an indispensable tool over the last two decades. Originally, it was developed for aeronautical usages, but now pervades all disciplines involving flow phenomena; for example, medical, natural sciences, engineering applications and so on. The built‐in codes of the CFD software are algorithms of numerical solutions to fluid mechanics equations. Flow fields that were previously difficult to solve by analytical means, and in some situations impossible, are now accessible by means of CFD.

Today, the aircraft industry uses CFD during the conceptual study phase and continues with detailed analyses in the next stages after the ‘go‐ahead’ is obtained. There are limitations in getting accurate results, but research continues in academic and industrial circles to improve prediction. This chapter aims to make the newly initiated readers aware of the scope of CFD in configuring aircraft geometry. Those who are already exposed to the subject may skip the chapter. This is not a book on CFD, so this chapter does not present a rigorous mathematical approach but an overview.

CFD is a subject on its own requiring considerable knowledge on fluid mechanics, mathematics and computer science. CFD is introduced late in undergraduate studies in the final years when students have covered ...