Industrial Computational Analysis of Aerodynamic Characteristics of Delta-Shaped Aircraft

Supersonic fighter aircrafts are designed for high speed, good maneuverability, and high-altitude operations. These characteristics depend upon shape and design of aircraft wings which determine lift force and drag force generated. The current research investigates aerodynamic features of delta-shaped aircraft using computational fluid dynamics. The CAD prototypical of two different designs of aircraft (low taper ratio of 0.125 and high taper ratio of 0.4) is developed in Creo 2.0 software and CFD investigation is directed using ANSYS CFX software platform. The inlet velocity is kept constant for both designs and angle of attack is varied, i.e., 5°, 10°, 15°, 18°, and 20°. Lift coefficient and drag coefficient for each angle of attack are determined for both designs. The results have shown that taper ratio has significant effect on both the aerodynamic characteristics of an aircraft. The study of vortex produced also provide important information on flaws of delta-shaped aircraft design.