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Virginia Tech

Design and Aerodynamic Analysis of Continuous Mold-line link flap

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Flaps used in modern aircraft are known to produce high-intensity noise. Their blunt side edges of the wing's flap produce vorticial wakes which are the main contributors to the noise generated. A concept called continuous mold-line (CML) link flap has been studied rigorously for its impact on the acoustic behavior of the wing. These studies found that eliminating the blunt side tips with a continuous mold-line reduces the noise generated by the wing, drastically. However, very few studies have discussed the effects of mold-line shape on its aerodynamic characteristics. Therefore, the objective of this research is to investigate the effect of shape and geometry on the aerodynamics of CML wings. First, the shape of the continuous mold-line is parametrized using a hyperbolic tangent curve. Then, using ANSYS FLUENT a computational model is developed to calculate the lift and drag generated by different CML configurations. Both, inviscid and viscous studies are performed using FLUENT's pressure-based solver. The effect of span and slope at the mid-point of the transition zone are discussed. The study found that the slope at the mid-point of the transition zone does not affect the overall lift generated by the wing. Also, increasing the span of the transition zone initially increases the drag and begins to decrease at higher span lengths. Overall, it was found that the aerodynamic characteristics (such as lift, drag, and efficiency) of the CML wing are better than the conventional blunt tip hinged flap.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Aerospace Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Aerospace and Ocean Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2021

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Narkhede, Aditya Avinash
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Philen, Michael Keith
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Devenport, William J.
  • Patil, Mayuresh J.

Subjects

dc:subject × 7

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:32145
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/113643

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Narkhede, Aditya Avinash. Design and Aerodynamic Analysis of Continuous Mold-line link flap. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/113643