Copyright © 2009 Boeing. All rights reserved. The Impact of High Performance Computing and Computational Fluid Dynamics on Aircraft Development Edward N. Tinoco Technical Fellow Enabling Technology & Research Airplane Configuration, Integration & Performance Boeing Commercial Airplanes Copyright © 2009 Boeing. All rights reserved.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Tools for Aerodynamic Development of Aircraft Configurations Flight Test Wind Tunnel

Copyright © 2009 Boeing. All rights reserved. Direct Numerical Simulation Large Eddy Simulation Detached Eddy Simulation w/RANS Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes Aerodynamic flows are characterized as compressible, viscous (high Reynolds number turbulent) flows. Computational Fluid Dynamics Practical Limit for Complete Airplane Applications Increasing Computational Complexity, Decreasing Empiricism Euler Full Potential With Coupled Boundary Layer Linear Potential (Panel Methods) 1960’s ’s 1980’s 1990’s 2000’s

Copyright © 2009 Boeing. All rights reserved. Timeline of the Use of Computational Fluid Dynamics in Aircraft Development Copyright © 2009 Boeing. All rights reserved.

What is the Measure of Value in Computational Fluid Dynamics? The value of reduced wind tunnel testing due to the use of CFD  In the past 20 years the use of CFD has provided significant cost savings Wind Tunnel Hours

Copyright © 2009 Boeing. All rights reserved. The Challenge One complete airplane development requires about 50,000 to 100,000 aerodynamic simulations. Flight test is used to validate and certify that the aircraft is safe over the entire range flight conditions mandated by law. The challenge is to further push the use of CFD into the edges of the flight envelope. Velocity - V EAS The Flight Envelope  Higher quality data earlier in the design phase for Multidisciplinary Design Optimization – big driver on reducing cost  “Good enough” aerodynamic data base to reduce number of design cycles  Higher quality full scale flight simulation – avoid costly surprises in flight test

Copyright © 2009 Boeing. All rights reserved. What is the Measure of Value in Computational Fluid Dynamics? The value of reduced wind tunnel testing due to the use of CFD  In the past 20 years the use of CFD has provided significant cost savings. This is a small fraction of the value CFD delivered. A much greater value of CFD in the Commercial arena is……….. The added value of the product due to the use of CFD  Achieving design solutions that are otherwise unreachable.  Shortening the design development process.  Getting it right the first time.  NOT getting it right the first time results in:  Very lengthy and costly development to fix it  Possible cancelation/termination of the program  Putting the Company at risk

Copyright © 2009 Boeing. All rights reserved.

Extra Material

Copyright © 2009 Boeing. All rights reserved. Boeing Puget Sound HPC Environment 2001 Cray T916 SGI Origin ~0.100 Tflops Full Potential + BL –e.g. Tranair 2009 Cray X1 PC clusters ~50 Tflops Navier-Stokes –e.g. CFD++, CFL3D, OVERFLOW

Copyright © 2009 Boeing. All rights reserved. CFD Contributions to 787 High-Speed Wing Design Cab Design Engine/Airframe Integration Inlet Design Inlet Certification Exhaust- System Design Cabin Noise Wing-Body Fairing Design Vertical Tail and Aft Body Design Design For Stability & Control High-Lift Wing Design APU Inlet And Ducting ECS Inlet Design APU and Propulsion Fire Suppression Nacelle Design Thrust-Reverser DesignThrust-Reverser Design Community NoiseCommunity Noise Design for FOD Prevention Aeroelastics Icing Air-Data System Location Vortex Generators Planform Design Buffet Boundary Reynolds-Number Corrections Flutter Control-Surface Failure Analysis Wind-Tunnel Design Validation Wing-Tip Design Wing Controls Avionics Cooling Interior Air Quality Engine-Bay Thermal Analysis

Copyright © 2009 Boeing. All rights reserved. Cost and Flowtime Characteristics of Wind Tunnels and CFD One complete airplane development requires about 50,000 to 100,000 aerodynamic simulations TodayDesired Future State ,000 10, ,000 Cost, Flowtime Number of Simulations ,000 10, ,000 Number of Simulations CFD – Design, Most Data Base Building Wind Tunnel – Validation Special Conditions CFD Wind Tunnel Data Base Building The use of new CFD is driven by desperation. Desperation to remain competitive!

Copyright © 2009 Boeing. All rights reserved. Closing Thoughts CFD exists to enable new solutions to problems, reduce airplane development cost, and reduce time to market CFD can allow you to safely explore areas of the flight regime without putting a pilot at risk CFD can allow you to analyze conditions for which physical simulation is either very expensive or not possible, such as hypersonic propulsion systems and full flight Reynolds number testing Accuracy, robustness and timeliness are the keys to acceptance and use in an industrial environment Impediments: applications that do not scale well (to 1000’s of processors with sufficient memory) – this is science; resources to run 1000s of flight conditions on 100’s of processors – this is the business of engineering