Rapid Aerodynamic Database Generation for the X-57 Maxwell Electrified Aircraft

Speakers: Jared Duensing & Gaetan Kenway, NASA Ames Research Center
October 13, 2020

Presentation

Abstract

Aerodynamic database generation using CFD has been a critical step in the development of the X-57 Maxwell, NASA's electrified aircraft concept. As part of the milestone in NASA’s Transformational Tools and Technologies (T^3) project, the Launch Ascent and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) structured curvilinear solver has been refactored and has greatly reduced the computational cost required for X-57 CFD simulation, with about an order of magnitude reduction in computer resources. Using the curvilinear solver within the LAVA framework, aerodynamic databases have been developed through steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) computations, quantifying performance for conditions spanning the flight envelope. Additionally, unsteady RANS simulations were performed to quantify dynamic stability derivatives, results of which are used in the flight simulator by the test pilots. This talk will outline the X-57 database generation process, including initial mesh generation, validation and verification procedures, and final results, as well as summarize efficiency improvements resulting from the LAVA solver refactorization.

Biography

Jared Duensing received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in aerospace engineering with a focus on aeronautics from Arizona State University (2014 and 2015 respectively). Since then, he has been employed as a research aerospace engineer with the Computational Aerosciences Branch at NASA Ames Research Center. His work focuses mainly on applied computational fluid dynamics. He has been involved with work on NASA’s X-59 Low Boom Flight Demonstrator (LBFD), the Space Launch System (SLS), the Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW), and the X-57 Maxwell distributed electric propulsion aircraft concepts.

Gaetan Kenway received a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Toronto focusing on Multidisciplinary Design Optimization. He joined the Computational Aerosciences Branch at NASA Ames Research Center in 2017. Since joining his work has been partly focused on optimizing the curvilinear portion of the LAVA solver framework for very high performance on current high-performance computing (HPC) hardware. He has also worked on several projects including Boundary-Layer Ingestion (BLI) studies as well as the X57 Maxwell aircraft concept.

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