Aerodynamics of a Cessna 182

The following tutorial is a step-by-step guide on how to analyze a Cessna 182 using Stallion 3D.  The procedure can be applied to any light aircraft design.  The analysis starts with a CAD model that is imported into the software.  Stallion 3D is unique because the grid generation step is automatic.  The software then solves the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations to generate the lift, drag and moment coefficients.  The procedure can be used to generate a Cl vs. Angle of Attack, Cl vs Cd and power vs. speed charts for your aircraft.

Stallion 3D analyzes the aircraft at any angle of attack and computes lift, pressure drag, friction drag and moments (pitch, roll and yaw about a datum point).

To read the tutorial, please visit: http://www.hanleyinnovations.com/cessna182/index.html

Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

About Patrick Hanley, Ph.D.
Dr. Patrick Hanley is the owner of Hanley Innovations. He received his Ph.D. degree in fluid dynamics for Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Course XVI). Dr. Hanley is the author of Stallion 3D, MultiSurface Aerodynamics, MultiElement Airfoils, VisualFoil and the booklet Aerodynamics in Plain English.

Happy 2017

Happy New Year, 2017

I wish you a happy new year and continued success in 2017.

The picture above was created from a CAD file on Thingiverse.com (the 2017 model).  The wings and engine were added using NASA OpenVSP.

The simulation was performed using Stallion 3D version 4.0.  The speed is 600 m/s and the angle of attack is 3 degrees.  900,000+ cells were used in the simulation.  The Stallion 3D simulation took about 7 hours on a 2 GHz laptop computer running under Windows 10.

More information about Stallion 3D can be found at: http://www.hanleyinnovations.com/stallion3d.html

Do not hesitate to email us at sale@hanleyinnovations.com or call (352) 261-3376 if you have any questions.

Thanks for reading - Patrick Hanley, Ph.D.
http://www.hanleyinnovations.com

Faster Sailboats

What's the key to building really fast sailboats?

 The quick answers is to increase the drive force while reducing the resistance.  As with every quick answer, the details are problematic.   Fortunately, I developed a very simple computer program that equips marine engineers and designers with accurate information to incorporate into the velocity prediction data.

 A rapid and proven method to derive the drive force of a sail is to use a vortex lattice method.  The analysis requires just seconds on a PC or laptop computer and produces very accurate results.  My software, 3DFoil, employs the most accurate implementation of the vortex lattice method and enables designers to model and analyze sails of all shapes and sizes within the program.

What about resistance?  The program computes resistance on sails and appendages based on size, layout and airfoil shapes.  It computes viscous forces due to skin friction and pressure drag. Importantly, it also computes the induced (vortex) drag on sail and appendages during upwind sailing against an apparent wind.

3DFoil is used by world famous marine engineers  and designers to compute the drive force, drag resistance, the center of lateral resistance, the center of effort and other parameters that constitute a winning sailboat.  It is also excellent for hydrofoil design and analysis.

When designing complex products (such as sailboats) we need a quick method to accurately figure out what each of the components are doing.  Of course we realize that the components will behave somewhat differently in the aggregate.  However, one thing holds true and that is if the component is bad then it will impair the entire design.

The lesson that we learn from developing 3DFoil and working with clients is that it does not take long to design & size efficient airfoils, sail, keels, rudders and hydrofoils.   It is interactive, fast and filled with shapes that we can print and use in the designs.

More information can be found at:
http://www.hanleyinnovations.com/3dfoil.html

Do not hesitate to contact me at (352) 261-3376 if you have any questions.

Thanks for reading and best wishes. - Patrick

Integrated Conceptual Design and Analysis

Stallion 3D Version 4.0 (New!) represents a leap forward in the area of the conceptual design and the subsequent aerodynamics analysis of wings and other streamlined components.  In addition to the capability to analyze the actual geometry of the full sized air frame,  the software is equipped with an integrated geometry tool for designing and editing multi-element wings, keels, rudders, struts and other components.  Once these components are designed within Stallion 3D, it is a very simple matter to perform a 3D Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes solution on the part such as the rear wing spoiler show in the following picture.

Rear wing Spoiler Design (the colors represent pressure).

The aerodynamics components are interactively constructed by entering the span, taper (left and right chord lengths), sweep (forward or backwards) and dihedral angles.  In addition, airfoils are assignable to the lift and right chords (linear aerodynamic twist). 

Once the components are designed, the software can then compute the lift, drag, moments and related aerodynamic coefficients.  The user enters the airspeed, angle of attack, side slip angle and fluid type (air or water).  The setup of the CFD solution takes only a few seconds because Stallion 3D utilizes automatic grid generation as part of the solution process.

The following video demonstrates how to use Stallion 3D to design and analyze a rear wing spoiler for a sports car.

As the video demonstrates, post processing of the aerodynamics data is also included within the Stallion 3D user interface.  Stallion 3D will export all components in the STL format.

More information can be found at the following url: http://www.hanleyinnovations.com

Stallion 3D v. 4 is available as a 3 months or yearly subscription.  Please visit http://www.hanleyinnovations.com/stallion3d.html for more information and to subscribe to Stallion 3D v.4.

Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Thanks for reading this article.

Airplane Analysis using CFD

The following tutorial gives a step by step account on how to analyze a Cessna 182 using Stallion 3D.  The procedure can be applied to any light aircraft design.  The analysis starts with a CAD model that is imported into the software.  Stallion 3D is unique because the grid generation step is automatic.  The software then solves the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations to generate the lift, drag and moment coefficients.  The procedure can be used to generate a Cl vs. Angle of Attack, Cl vs Cd and power vs. speed charts for your aircraft.

To read the tutorial, please visit: http://www.hanleyinnovations.com/cessna182/index.html

More information about Stallion 3D can be found at: http://www.hanleyinnovations.com/stallion3d.html

Thanks for reading.  Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. 

How to compute the forces on a sail

The following video shows how Stallion 3D computes the forces on a sail.  The forces are computed from an .stl file of the flying sail shape and the deck of the sailboat.  Grid generation is automatic and Stallion 3D solves the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) to accurately compute the forces and moments acting on the geometry.

More information can be obtained from http:/www.hanleyinnovations.com

Thanks for reading.

Passenger Car Aerodynamics

When we think of computing the external aerodynamics on a passenger car, we often assume a super-computer and months of grid generation are necessary for the task. However, Stallion 3D with HIST (Hanley Innovations Surface Treatment) can accomplish the task on your ordinary Windows Laptop or PC running 7, 8 or 10.

DrivAer model solution using Stallion 3D - RANS solver.

No Simplifications

Stallion 3D makes no simplification in the physics of the problem. Instead, it utilizes the computation power that is hidden in your personal computer (64 bit & multi-cores technologies). The software simultaneously solves seven unsteady nonlinear partial differential equations on your PC. Five of these equations (the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes, RANS) ensure conservation of mass, momentum and energy for a compressible fluid. Two additional equations captures the dynamics of a turbulent flow field.

Actual Geometry Analysis

Stallion 3D does not require a grid from the user because grid generation is automatic. Also, it is not necessary to defeature the geometry. This saves weeks or even months in the solution of automobile aerodynamics problems.  The unique CFD technique employed by Stallion 3D gives users a tremendous advantage over other methods because they can analyze more cases in a shorter period of time.

The Results

The following video shows how Stallion 3D solves a difficult problem. In the problem, the software accurately computes the drag on a passenger car. Accurate computations of drag is necessary for sizing engines, fuel systems and designing fuel efficient vehicles.

More information can be found at http://www.hanleyinnovations.com or telephone us at (352) 261-3376.

Thanks for reading.