Research Students

Honours students

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Title: Integration Improvement of a Pod on a Jet Aircraft

The CSIR has done an accurate computational fluid dynamic (CFD) flow field analysis at Mach 0.75 on the current design and has found that the pod produces excessive aerodynamic drag and moments on the store’s pylon. This excessive drag and moments reduce the aircraft’s flight envelope by a substantial amount to a point where the aircraft cannot perform its mission. In the CFD analysis, the cause for the excessive drag is found to be generated by the pressure difference between the blunt fore body and the blunt after body. The airflow completely separates off the trailing shoulder generating low-pressure regions behind the pod. The objective of the study is to reduce the aerodynamic drag and moment within a set range of loads determined by stores that are already flight cleared on the aircraft.

Supervisor: Dr B Huyssen

Co-Supervisor: Mr. Kevin Jamison