UCAV model design and static experimental investigations to estimate control device effectiveness and Stability and Control capabilities

The experimental investigations of two generic UCAV configurations with control surfaces are presented. The current paper is covering the design of the model, layout of the control surfaces as well as the static wind tunnel tests. The low speed static wind tunnel tests have been undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of different control surfaces and control surface settings. Finally, the experimental results are used to establish a common CFD test matrix for the NATO STO Task Group AVT-201 for computer code validation and to assess the capability to predict the complex vortical flow and aerodynamic Stability and Control (S&C) characteristics of configurations with highly swept leading edges and vortex dominated flow fiel

Static and dynamic numerical simulations of a generic UCAV configuration with and without control devices

A contribution for the assessment of the static and dynamic aerodynamic behavior of a generic UCAV configuration with control devices using CFD methods is given. For the CFD simulations the unstructured grid based DLR TAU-Code and the structured grid based NLR solver ENSOLV are used. The numerical methods are verified by experimental wind tunnel data. The current investigations should provide a contribution to assess the prediction capability of control device effectiveness using CFD methods. The presented computational results for the assessment will be validated by dedicated experimental data. Furthermore, it should support the understanding of the flow physics around the trailing edge control devices of highly swept configurations with a vortex dominated flow field. Design requirements should be able draw by analyzing the interaction between the vortical flow and the control devices. The present work is part of the NATO STO/AVT Task Group AVT-201 on Stability and Control prediction method