Navier–Stokes solvers in European aircraft design

The paper gives a broad perspective of the progress made during the last 10 years in solving the Navier-Stokes equations and traces how this simulation technique went from being a specialized research topic to a practical engineering tool that design engineers use on a routine basis. The scope is limited to Navier-Stokes solvers applied to industrial design of airframes with attention focused particularly on developments in Europe. An overview of the different Navier-Stokes codes used in Europe is given, and on-going developments are outlined. The current state of progress is illustrated by computed steady and unsteady solutions to industrial problems, ranging from airfoil characteristics, flow around an isolated wing, to full aircraft configurations. A discussion on the future industrial design environment is given, and developments in Europe towards a more integrated design approach with underlying concepts like 'concurrent engineering (CE)' and the 'virtual product (VP)' are summarized. The paper concludes with a discussion on future challenging applications.

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