About the project

Main activities of the project

The project UHURA investigates the unsteady flow behavior around aircraft-wing high-lift systems with the aim of delivering, for the first time, advanced understanding of critical aerodynamic features during flight (deployment and retraction). This will be accompanied by validated numerical simulations to be used for accelerating the of aircraft.

UHURA will perform accurate experimental measurements in wind tunnels to obtain a unique data set for validation of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, including detailed flow measurements by Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and other optical measurement technologies. This database will then be used to validate advanced CFD methods that will allow efficient and reliable prediction methods for design.

UHURA builds on the EU-funded project DeSiReH where the suitability of the leading edge device to enable laminar flow wing technology was investigated for the steady flow during full deflection. The unsteady flow behavior, bearing significant risks, will be investigated in UHURA.

KTH's contributions to the project

In the UHURA project KTH will contribute by analysing the turbulent strongly unsteady flow field related to the deployment of the Krueger flap by the use of unsteady RANS as well as hybrid RANS-LES methods including FSI. Local mesh deformation and remeshing will be employed and novel pseudo-transient methods for capturing the slow-scale unsteadines will be developed for relaxing the huge range of time scales for hybrid RANS-LES approaches.