Numerical Simulation of the Aerodynamic Influence of Aircrafts During Aerial Refueling with Engine Jet

Abstract

Aerial refueling technology has been widely applied in various fields and it is one of the hotspots but difficulties for the aeronautical technologies. DLR-F6 WBNP model is used as a tanker and a fighter model is used as a receiver. The flow field of Probe-Drogue refueling and Flying Boom refueling is numerically simulated using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, and the effects of the jet flow and the aerodynamic characteristics of the receiver are taken into consideration. The results indicate that the effect of downwash of the tanker reduces the lift coefficient and decreases the pitching moment coefficient of the receiver. The jet flow of tanker increases the dynamic pressure while decreases the local angle of attack, which increases the pressure difference between the upper and lower surfaces of receiver. Compared with the results without jet, the jet flow can increase the lift and the drag of the receiver and reduces the pitching moment, and even cause the change of rolling moment direction. Therefore, engine jet is an important factor when simulating aerial refueling.

Management and intelligent control of in‐flight fuel distribution in a commercial aircraft

“…Fuel management is an important issue in aviation for safety and efficiency reasons. It comprises initial on‐ground refuelling (Plaza & Santos, 2020), aerial refuelling (mainly in the air force), (Lee et al, 2020; Li et al, 2020; Wu et al, 2020), and the flow of combustible amongst aircraft fuel tanks during the flight.…”

Knowledge based approach to ground refuelling optimization of commercial airplanes

“…The initial refuelling of an airplane is an operation that necessarily takes place on‐ground. In addition, in military aviation, there may also be aerial refuelling systems (Li, Zhang, & Bai, 2020). Another related problem to be considered is the fuel distribution in‐flight, that is, the flow of combustible between aircraft fuel tanks during the flight.…”