Aerodynamic investigations on a generic fan-in-wing configuration

The present investigation focuses on the comparison of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) results with experimental data for a generic fan-in-wing configuration. The objective is to reproduce a Short-Take-Off and Landing (STOL) or a transition-flight situation without ground effect. A rotating fan is placed in the wing plane, inside of the wing rear part close to the root section. The obtained experimental data include Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), force measurements, surface pressure measurements and wool-tufts visualization. A structured mesh of the entire configuration with minimum geometrical simplifications is used to perform Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (URANS) computations. The area surrounding the rotor blades is set up as sliding mesh to simulate the rotation using the ANSYS CFX commercial software. The fan-in-wing configuration features a complex flow field. The generated cross-flow notably affects the fan efficiency. The interaction of the incoming flow with the transverse jet influ nces considerably the wing performance. Time-averaged URANS results over one fan revolution show a good agreement with the experimental data. A profile imperfection of the wind tunnel model affects lightly the wing behavior at high angle of attack. The major turbulence phenomena are well predicted by the simulation.