Two Aerodynamic Mid-Fidelity Approaches on a Distributed Propulsion Wing

A comparison of two potential-theory based mid-fidelity approaches on the aerodynamics of a distributed propeller–wing tractor configuration is presented. The design space for aircraft configurations is enlarged by using distributed electric propulsion so a demand for investigating different variants, especially regarding the number of propellers, is present. While many lower fidelity tools are available in the literature, they are often only documented with integral results. This paper presents two different, independently implemented numerical approaches and provides a comparison of spanwise load distributions on a distributed propeller configuration under cruise conditions with existing Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) results. The isolated propeller and wing calculations using both methods are verified a priori with respect to their agreement. In addition, a discretization study of both methods is presented. The detailed results of the spanwise lift and drag distributions are compared between the two methods. Two different angles of attack and two different propeller pitch settings are calculated, and the differences in the spanwise distributions and the governing integral results between both methods and the RANS results are highlighted. Finally, a comparison of the individually required computational effort is presented.