Comparison of CFD and Experimental Results of the LEAPTech Distributed Electric Propulsion Blown Wing

The Leading Edge Asynchronous Propeller Technology (LEAPTech) demonstrator is a wing design for a four-place general aviation aircraft with high wing loading to reduce cruise drag and improve ride quality. Takeo and landing performance is maintained by distributing 18 small propellers across the leading edge of the wing that blow the wing and increase the dynamic pressure during takeo and landing. This conguration presented a complicated aerodynamic design problem because the relationship of design variables such as propeller tip speed and diameter to the realized blown wing performance (most importantly, lift) is dicult to accurately predict using low-order models such as momentum theory. Therefore, the design process involved the use of various higher-order aerodynamic simulation tools, particularly the STAR-CCM+ and FUN3D RANS codes and the VSPAERO vortex lattice code. The propellers are modeled with actuator disks, although the details of these actuator disk models dier. Experimental results were then obtained by constructing the wing at full scale, mounting it above a truck on a vibration-damping frame, and driving it along a runway at the design stall speed. A comparison of these experimental test results with computational results from these analysis tools is presented.