An interpolation tool for aircraft surface pressure data

Abstract

Airbus UK are concerned with designing efficient wings for aircraft. In the design process, the aerodynamic load on the wing is calculated for various configurations including different Mach numbers and angles of attack. The aerodynamic load is calculated from the pressure profile around the wing. Airbus use a number of different methods to calculate the pressure, primarily CFD calculations and wind tunnel experiments. However, experiments and calculations cannot be performed for all configurations.

Airbus asked the Study Group to investigate interpolation methods which incorporate wind tunnel and CFD data to calculate the aerodynamic load for many different configurations.