Study on Aerodynamic Interference of Tanker Aircraft on Receiver Aircraft based on N-S Equations

Abstract

The wake flow field of tanker aircraft can produce the complex flow interference on receiver aircraft during aerial refueling.The computational fluid dynamics(CFD)method based on Navier-Stokes(N-S)equations is used to analyze the wake flow field of the tanker,and simulate the aerodynamic interference between tanker aircraft and receiver aircraft.The longitudinal and lateral-direct aerodynamic characteristics of the receiver aircraft are systematically analyzed under certain conditions,such as different tanker′s angles of attack,different height differences between two aircrafts,different lateral distances and different front and rear positions.The results show that,under typical conditions,the aerodynamic interference to the receiver is increased with the increase of the tanker′s angle of attack.The higher of the height difference between the receiver and the tanker is,the smaller of the aerodynamic interference to the receiver is.With the increase of the lateral distance,the aerodynamic interference to the receiver is increased firstly,and then decreased.The influence of fore-and-aft distance on the receiver is small.

Keywords

• aerial refueling and receiving
• n-s equations
• aerodynamic interference
• height difference
• lateral distance
• fore-and-aft distance