Study to built up numerical wake flow analysis methodology using CFD and PIV measurement for utilizing airplane wake phenomena

The project proposed effective utilization of wakes behind airplanes or automobiles and then developed several computational tools, aiming to let the importance of wake physics widely recognized. First, a numerical method was established to estimate pressure values using the PIV measurement velocity data on wake planes. This was one of the noninvasive measurement tools for pressure. Secondly, the guidelines to generate grid distribution downstream from the trailing edge of a body for high-resolutional simulation of wake phenomena. Thirdly, a wake integration computer code for accurate and robust drag prediction was developed. During the development we validated based physical theories, mathematical equations and their assumptions as well as approximation theories. After those studies, the developed code has been further improved to obtain more reliability. As the by-product, it was found that which fluid properties closely connected with the causes of drag.

本研究のユニークな点は，移動物体の後流や下流の物理現象に注目したことである．航空機の後引き渦や空港での離発着時管制や高速道路を走行時の自動車安全確保の観点からは，高速で移動する物体の後方では複雑な現象が広範囲にわたって起きていることが認識されていた．しかし，空力解析や設計の面では，物体近傍の現象解析が議論されており，後流の重要性に対する認識は低いと思われる．今後，自動運転や空の都市交通の整備においては，後流や下流の高精度現象解析や後流の物理現象に関する情報の活用が課題となることは必須であり，本研究がその課題解決に貢献できる可能性がある．