{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/35999"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/35999","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"A Conceptual Design Methodology for Predicting the Aerodynamics of Upper Surface Blowing on Airfoils and Wings","abstract":"One of the most promising powered-lift concepts is Upper Surface Blowing (USB), where the engines are placed above the wing and the engine exhaust jet becomes attached to the upper surface. The jet thrust can then be vectored by use of the trailing edge curvature since the jet flow tends to remain attached by the \"Coanda Effect\". Wind tunnel and flight-testing have shown USB aircraft to be capable of producing maximum lift coefficients near 10. They have the additional benefit of shielding the engine noise above the wing and away from the ground. Given the potential gains from USB aircraft, one would expect that conceptual design methods exist for their development. This is not the case however. While relatively complex solutions are available, there is currently no adequate low-fidelity methodology for the conceptual and preliminary design of USB or USB/distributed propulsion aircraft. The focus of the current work is to provide such a methodology for conceptual design of USB aircraft. Based on limited experimental data, the new methodology is shown to compare well with wind tunnel data. In this thesis we have described the new approach, correlated it with available 2-D data, and presented comparisons of our predictions with published USB data and an existing non-linear vortex lattice method. The current approach has been shown to produce good results over a broad range of propulsion system parameters, wing geometries, and flap deflections. In addition, the semi-analytical nature of the methodology will lend itself well to aircraft design programs/optimizers such as ACSYNT. These factors make the current method a useful tool for the design of USB and USB/distributed propulsion aircraft.","abstract_html":"One of the most promising powered-lift concepts is Upper Surface Blowing (USB), where the engines are placed above the wing and the engine exhaust jet becomes attached to the upper surface. The jet thrust can then be vectored by use of the trailing edge curvature since the jet flow tends to remain attached by the "Coanda Effect". Wind tunnel and flight-testing have shown USB aircraft to be capable of producing maximum lift coefficients near 10. They have the additional benefit of shielding the engine noise above the wing and away from the ground. Given the potential gains from USB aircraft, one would expect that conceptual design methods exist for their development. This is not the case however. While relatively complex solutions are available, there is currently no adequate low-fidelity methodology for the conceptual and preliminary design of USB or USB/distributed propulsion aircraft. The focus of the current work is to provide such a methodology for conceptual design of USB aircraft. Based on limited experimental data, the new methodology is shown to compare well with wind tunnel data. In this thesis we have described the new approach, correlated it with available 2-D data, and presented comparisons of our predictions with published USB data and an existing non-linear vortex lattice method. The current approach has been shown to produce good results over a broad range of propulsion system parameters, wing geometries, and flap deflections. In addition, the semi-analytical nature of the methodology will lend itself well to aircraft design programs/optimizers such as ACSYNT. These factors make the current method a useful tool for the design of USB and USB/distributed propulsion aircraft.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Keen, Ernest Brock"],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Aerospace and Ocean Engineering","degree_department":"Aerospace and Ocean Engineering","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Mason, William H."],"committee_members":["Gelhausen, Paul","Schetz, Joseph A."],"year":2004,"date_issued":"2004-11-29","date_published":"2004-11-29","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:48Z","subjects":["aerodynamics","conceptual design","USB","upper surface blowing"],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-12072004-095231"],"render_values":[{"text":"etd-12072004-095231","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/35999","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Mason, William H."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Gelhausen, Paul","Schetz, Joseph A."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Aerospace and Ocean Engineering"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Keen, Ernest Brock"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-03-14T20:49:05Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-03-14T20:49:05Z","2004-12-15"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2004-11-29"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Aerospace and Ocean Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["aerodynamics","conceptual design","USB","upper surface blowing"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-12072004-095231"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/35999"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["One of the most promising powered-lift concepts is Upper Surface Blowing (USB), where the engines are placed above the wing and the engine exhaust jet becomes attached to the upper surface. The jet thrust can then be vectored by use of the trailing edge curvature since the jet flow tends to remain attached by the \"Coanda Effect\". Wind tunnel and flight-testing have shown USB aircraft to be capable of producing maximum lift coefficients near 10. They have the additional benefit of shielding the engine noise above the wing and away from the ground. Given the potential gains from USB aircraft, one would expect that conceptual design methods exist for their development. This is not the case however. While relatively complex solutions are available, there is currently no adequate low-fidelity methodology for the conceptual and preliminary design of USB or USB/distributed propulsion aircraft. The focus of the current work is to provide such a methodology for conceptual design of USB aircraft. Based on limited experimental data, the new methodology is shown to compare well with wind tunnel data. In this thesis we have described the new approach, correlated it with available 2-D data, and presented comparisons of our predictions with published USB data and an existing non-linear vortex lattice method. The current approach has been shown to produce good results over a broad range of propulsion system parameters, wing geometries, and flap deflections. In addition, the semi-analytical nature of the methodology will lend itself well to aircraft design programs/optimizers such as ACSYNT. These factors make the current method a useful tool for the design of USB and USB/distributed propulsion aircraft."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A Conceptual Design Methodology for Predicting the Aerodynamics of Upper Surface Blowing on Airfoils and Wings"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Mason, William H."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Gelhausen, Paul","Schetz, Joseph A."],"dc:contributor.department":["Aerospace and Ocean Engineering"],"dc:creator":["Keen, Ernest Brock"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-03-14T20:49:05Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-03-14T20:49:05Z","2004-12-15"],"dc:date.issued":["2004-11-29"],"dc:description.abstract":["One of the most promising powered-lift concepts is Upper Surface Blowing (USB), where the engines are placed above the wing and the engine exhaust jet becomes attached to the upper surface. The jet thrust can then be vectored by use of the trailing edge curvature since the jet flow tends to remain attached by the \"Coanda Effect\". Wind tunnel and flight-testing have shown USB aircraft to be capable of producing maximum lift coefficients near 10. They have the additional benefit of shielding the engine noise above the wing and away from the ground. Given the potential gains from USB aircraft, one would expect that conceptual design methods exist for their development. This is not the case however. While relatively complex solutions are available, there is currently no adequate low-fidelity methodology for the conceptual and preliminary design of USB or USB/distributed propulsion aircraft. The focus of the current work is to provide such a methodology for conceptual design of USB aircraft. Based on limited experimental data, the new methodology is shown to compare well with wind tunnel data. In this thesis we have described the new approach, correlated it with available 2-D data, and presented comparisons of our predictions with published USB data and an existing non-linear vortex lattice method. The current approach has been shown to produce good results over a broad range of propulsion system parameters, wing geometries, and flap deflections. In addition, the semi-analytical nature of the methodology will lend itself well to aircraft design programs/optimizers such as ACSYNT. These factors make the current method a useful tool for the design of USB and USB/distributed propulsion aircraft."],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Science"],"dc:identifier.other":["etd-12072004-095231"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/35999"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["aerodynamics","conceptual design","USB","upper surface blowing"],"dc:title":["A Conceptual Design Methodology for Predicting the Aerodynamics of Upper Surface Blowing on Airfoils and Wings"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Aerospace and Ocean Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:48Z"}