Applied Computational Fluid Dynamics in Support of Aircraft/Store Compatibility and Weapons Integration

The Air Force SEEK EAGLE Office (AFSEO), Eglin Air Force Base (AFB), FL, is the United States Air Force (USAF) authority for weapons certification efforts. AFSEO performs test and evaluation for aircraft/store compatibility certification. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is employed to support this process. Determining the flow about an aircraft/store combination may be extremely difficult. Complicated geometry features such as pylons, launchers, grid fins, and internal weapons bays create severe aerothermodynamic and acoustic environments which are challenging to simulate numerically. Rapidly and accurately modeling the trajectory of store separation in a high-volume simulation environment presents an additional challenge. The USAF requirement for numerous, simultaneous and quick-reaction solutions for a wide variety of stores and aircraft can only be accomplished through application of parallel high-performance computing resources that meet the significant computational and memory demands associated with the certification computational environment. Before operational use, all aircraft/store configurations must be certified for safe loading, carriage, and jettison/release. AFSEO provides flight certification recommendations which are based on combinations of engineering analysis, ground, and flight testing. Engineering analyses is provided by disciplines in carriage loads, store separations, flutter, ballistics, stability and control, and electromagnetic compatibility and interference. The AFSEO Computational Aeromechanics Team (CAT) provides time-critical CFD support for engineering analyses to optimize ground and flight testing. This contribution takes the form of carriage aerodynamic loads, store separation predictions, and visualized flow field physics. The knowledge created reduces risk, lowers cost, and speeds the fielding of new weapons. This paper discusses four of the applied AFSEO CFD tasks related to specific aircraft/store investigations and certifica- tions