Early and continuous coordination between NASA research centers, other Federal agencies, academia and industry is crucial to the success of this endeavor. Scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center have developed computer simulations of air flow past a delta wing at takeoff and landing that will help design more efficient and cost-effective aircraft. By porting a single discipline computational fluid dynamics code to a number of scalable parallel computers, the scientists simulated applications involving moderately complex geometries. For example, a simple powered lift vehicle that includes a wing and two lifting jetson is shown on the previous page. These preliminary simulations will provide insight into the computational interaction of thrust elements, and upwash and reingestion of hot air and gases, leading to significant improvements in aerodynamic performance.
Blue areas represent slower moving air, yellow and red the fastest moving air.
Flow calculations for this complex geometry were based on the unstructured mesh shown in the upper figure. Improved design processes for advanced aircraft and spacecraft through the use of advanced computational fluid dynamics and structural analyses is also the subject of research by scientists at Langley Research Center. One of the greatest challenges in modeling the fluid dynamics of these vehicles is developing mathematical equations that accurately simulate turbulent airflow. Turbulent flow simulations currently used lose accuracy at high speeds. Development of an optimal airframe design for a HSCT involves thousands of design iterations, each requiring a large amount of computing time to recalculate how changes in one part of the design affect the rest of the structure.