Drucella Andersen

Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

July 9, 1992
(Phone: 202/453-8613)

Peter Waller
Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.
(Phone: 415/604-3938)

RELEASE: 92-105

NASA SCIENTISTS "FLY" COMPUTERIZED FIGHTER AIRCRAFT IN 3-D

NASA researchers have "flown" a complete three-dimensional,

high-performance aircraft in a supercomputer for the first
time.

Dr. Yehia Rizk, a scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center,

Mountain View, Calif., reproduced the complete flow of air
around an F/A-18 jet fighter. The air flow field, which
duplicates high angle-of-attack (nose-high) flight, lets
researchers analyze the unsteady air flow that causes sporadic
buffeting of tail surfaces and lets scientists study improved
control systems for the plane's forward fuselage.

"This achievement is a milestone for the aerospace

industry," said Dr. Paul Kutler, Chief of the Fluid Dynamics
Division at Ames. "It will be a long time -- if ever -- before
supercomputers replace wind tunnels. But supercomputers are
ever more important. For wind tunnel tests, an expensive
fixed-design model must be built. In a supercomputer, aircraft
shapes can be altered frequently and radically, potentially a
far cheaper research process."

Aerodynamic studies of fighters such as the F/A-18 are very

useful because these planes make extreme maneuvers, and
findings can be applied to all other classes of aircraft.

Kutler said the new supercomputer techniques also appear to

have promise in other areas where fluid flow is modeled, such
as weather prediction, spacecraft entry, artificial heart
design, ship and automobile concepts, jet and rocket engine
design and studies of galaxies and interstellar gas.

- more -
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The research is part of an effort to reduce wind tunnel

tests of new aircraft designs. Supercomputer design has the
potential to be less costly and gives data not available from
wind tunnels, such as greater detail on flight conditions.

Developing the full F/A-18 flow took 2 years. It now takes

about 50 hours to enter the program and data into the computer,
Rizk said, but he hopes to reduce program entry time to several
hours within the next year or two and by the year 2000, to a
few minutes.

For complete flow-field simulations, data to recreate a

particular aircraft shape in 3-D is entered in the computer.
Researchers can view the design from any angle on the
computer's color display screen. Then, a three-dimensional
grid is created around the vehicle.

The grid for the F/A-18 has more than a million points at
which the basic air flow equations are recalculated many
thousands of times to reproduce the "real" flow around the
vehicle. From the computer display, researchers get
information such as colored lines showing paths of individual
air particles moving through vortices (whirlpools of air) and
turbulence around the craft.

Aircraft like the F/A-18 -- with twin tails, two jet engines
and forward controls -- present interrelated problems. Both
the plane's complex shape and the physics of the resulting
intricate air flow must be dealt with. The wing leading edge
creates a vortex, adding lift. The vortex then intercepts the
canted tail, providing better control. But at the high nose-up
flight position needed for tight turns, the vortex bursts,
producing unstable flow.

Rizk wrote new software to handle the complex geometry. He

then put together 10 different types of three-dimensional grids
around the entire craft. To make sure all the grids "talk" to
each other, he uses a special Ames grid-integrating computer
code.

The multiple-grid approach allows different grid densities,

equations and turbulence models as required. Once the grids
are in place, algorithms (computer arithmetic) are written to
solve the flow equations at millions of points.

Other Ames researchers have created the complete flow field

around an F-16 fighter in level flight at 700 mph. They now
are seeking to control laminar (smooth) air flow around an F-16
fitted with a delta-wing at speeds up to Mach 2 (1,400 mph).
-end-

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EDITORS NOTE: A 6-minute, 3/4-inch video clip is available to

media by calling 202/453-8594. The video will be played on
NASA Select television at 1 p.m. EDT on July 9. Photographs
also are available to illustrate this release by calling
202/453-8375.
Color: 92-HC-402 through -407
B&W: 92-H-452 through -457