F-16XL geometry and computational grids used in Cranked-Arrow Wing Aerodynamics Project International

The objective of the Cranked-Arrow Wing Aerodynamics Project International was to allow a comprehensive validation of computational fluid dynamics methods against the Cranked-Arrow Wing Aerodynamics Project flight database. A major part of this work involved the generation of high-quality computational grids. Before the grid generation, an airtight geometry of the F-16XL aircraft was generated by a cooperation of the Cranked-Arrow Wing Aerodynamics Project International partners. Based on this geometry description, both structured and unstructured grids have been generated. The baseline structured (multiblock) grid (and a family of derived grids) has been generated by the National Aerospace Laboratory. Although the algorithms used by the National Aerospace Laboratory had become available just before the Cranked-Arrow Wing Aerodynamics Project International and thus only a limited experience with their application to such a complex configuration had been gained, a grid of good quality was generated well within four weeks. This time compared favorably with that required to produce the unstructured grids in the Cranked-Arrow Wing Aerodynamics Project International. The baseline all-tetrahedral and hybrid unstructured grids have been generated at NASA Langley Research Center and the U.S. Air Force Academy, respectively. To provide more geometrical resolution, trimmed unstructured grids have been generated at the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company's Military Air Systems, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga SimCenter, Boeing Phantom Works, Royal Institute of Technology, and the Swedish Defence Research Agency. All grids generated within the framework of the Cranked-Arrow Wing Aerodynamics Project International will be discussed in the paper. Both results obtained on the structured grids and the unstructured grids showed a significant improvement in agreement with flight-test data in comparison with those obtained on the structured multiblock grid used during the Cranked-Arrow Wing Aerodynamics Project.