The MEGAFLOW Project — Numerical Flow Simulation for Aircraft

Some years ago the national CFD project MEGAFLOW was initiated in Germany, which combined many of the CFD development activities from DLR, universities and aircraft industry. Its goal was the development and validation of a dependable and efficient numerical tool for the aerodynamic simulation of complete aircraft which met the requirements of industrial implementations. The MEGAFLOW software system includes the block-structured Navier-Stokes code FLOWer and the unstructured Navier-Stokes code TAU. Both codes have reached a high level of maturity and they are intensively used by DLR and the German aerospace industry in the design process of new aircraft. Recently, the follow-on project MEGADESIGN was set up which focuses on the development and enhancement of efficient numerical methods for shape design and optimization. This paper highlights recent improvements and enhancements of the software. Its capability to predict viscous flows around complex industrial applications for transport aircraft design is demonstrated. First results concerning shape optimization are presented.