Parsing the Results of the Second Drag Prediction Workshop

Drag data from the second AIAA drag prediction workshop (DPW2) are examined from the primary viewpoint of mesh resolution. The single point DPW2 cases for a wing/body and a wing/body/nacelle/pylon were computed by the workshop participants on meshes of three different sizes. Applying Richardson extrapolation to the drag values on these three meshes reveals useful information about the rate of error reduction as well as providing extrapolated drag values. This approach offers one yardstick by which the comparative accuracy of the DPW2 results can be assessed.