Abstract:
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is used to evaluate the benefits of divergent trailing edge (DTE) modification in the wing design of a wide-body airliner. A power function is proposed to describe the disturbance for DTE, and effects of the power number and the trailing-edge thickness on the aerodynamic performance of a supercritical airfoil are studied, with comparison of the difference in the lift force and momentum between two Reynolds numbers, i.e.
Re = 4×10
6 and 2×10
7. It shows that the trailing-edge thickness is a key parameter of the DTE airfoil. For the same trailing-edge thickness, the drag reduction at
Re = 2×10
7 is less than that at
Re = 4×10
6. By taking into account the transonic drag reduction, subsonic drag and nose-down pitching moment increment at
Re = 2×10
7, it is more reasonable to take the trailing-edge thickness around 3‰
c. Two applications of the DTE design have been explored, i.e. exchanging for airfoil thickness increment, and adjusting the wing load distribution. With the DTE modification of a supercritical airfoil, a 2‰
c increment of the trailing-edge thickness leads to the maximum relative thickness of the airfoil increased from 10.2% to 11.5%, while the lift-drag performance is still kept at the same level of the original one. When a trailing-edge thickness increment of 1‰
c at inboard and 2‰
c at outboard is applied to the wing of a wide-body airliner, a drag reduction of more than 2 counts (1 count = drag coefficient 0.0001) can be achieved in the wing-fuselage-nacelle-pylon configuration, without any penalty of wing thickness and drag divergence performance loss.