The development of commodity flight simulation, in the form of PC game technology, continues to advance at a rapid pace. Indeed, the software industry is now being driven primarily by the requirements of gaming, digital media, and other entertainment applications. This has largely been due to the commoditisation of computer hardware, which is apparent when considering recent trends in central processing unit and graphics processor development.

The flight simulation industry has benefited from this trend of hardware commoditisation, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. It is, however, yet to fully realise the potential for leveraging commodity-off-the-shelf (COTS) software. In this paper the opportunities presenting themselves for the next 25 years of flight simulation are discussed, as the aviation and games software industry’s requirements converge. A SWOT (strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats) analysis of the commodity flight simulation software industry is presented, including flight modelling, scenery generation, multiplayer technology, artificial intelligence, mission planning, and event handling. Issues such as data portability, economics, licensing, intellectual-property, interoperability, developer extensibility, robustness, qualification, and maintainability are addressed.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is used as a case study of how commodity flight simulation has been extended to include extensive programmatic access to its core engine. Examples are given on how the base platform of this application can be extended by third-party developers and the power this extensibility model provides to the industry.

This paper is presented to highlight particular technology trends in the commodity flight simulation industry, the fidelity that commodity flight simulations can provide, and to provide a high-level overview of the strengths and weaknesses thereof.

A new controller design method of lateral-directional dynamics is proposed. This method is based on the formulated pilot model, and the controller is designed so that the pilot-aeroplane system attains the desired requirements. Robust stabilities and handling qualities can be taken into account. The proposed method was applied to B747 dynamics, and flight simulator experiments were performed, and the designed controller was verified.

The prediction of this aeroelastic phenomenon is an urgent need of the designer and requires devoted numerical tools. This work examines the influence of the accuracy of the aerodynamic modelling on whirl flutter analysis, with particular attention to those models that can conveniently be applied to preliminary design and control purposes. Considering a simple pylon/prop-rotor structure, the aeroelastic instability boundaries are identified by 2D quasi-steady and 2D unsteady aerodynamics theories, along with a 3D unsteady, potential flow BEM solver. A methodology for deriving reduced-order models from unsteady aerodynamic solutions is used. The numerical investigation highlights that the accuracy of the aerodynamic solver included in the analysis may be of crucial importance. The use of 2D aerodynamic models does not always guarantee conservative stability predictions, and this is particularly true for three-bladed rotors where a fully 3D unsteady solver coupled with a wake alignment algorithm seems to be necessary.

A time-accurate solution method for the coupled potential flow and integral boundary-layer equations is used to study aerofoils near stall, where laboratory experiments have shown high-amplitude low-frequency oscillations. The laminar-turbulent transition model incorporates an absolute instability formulation, which allows the transition process in separation bubbles to be sustained in the absence of upstream disturbances, in agreement with recent direct numerical simulations. The method is demonstrated to capture large scale flow oscillations with Strouhal numbers and amplitudes comparable to experiments. The success of this particular physical model suggests that bubble bursting is primarily due to a potential-flow/boundary-layer interaction effect, in which relatively simple models of boundary layer transition and turbulence suffice to describe the key phenomena.

Some in-service deterioration in any mechanical device, such as an aircraft’s gas-turbine engine, is inevitable. However, its extent and rate depend upon the qualities of design and manufacture, as well as on the maintenance/repair practices followed by the users. Deterioration of an engine normally results in the engine seeking a different steady operating-point relative to that for an engine without any deterioration. The variation in engine’s steady operating point leads to changes in the specific fuel consumption (SFC) and/or fuel flow (FF). Any rise in SFC and/or FF and thereby the increased quantity of fuel required is of prime importance in military aviation.

For a military aircraft’s mission-profiles (consisting of several flight-segments), using a bespoke computer simulations, the consequences of low-pressure compressor’s deterioration of an aeroengine upon the weight of the fuel that has to be carried and consumed are predicted. This will help in making wiser management decisions (such as whether to remove an aero-engine from the aircraft for maintenance or to continue using it with some changes in aircraft’s mission profile). Hence improved engine utilization can be achieved, so resulting in lower overall life-cycle costs.

A recently developed transitional model for boundary-layer flows has been examined on a flat plate and the well-known S809 wind turbine blade. Proposed numerical model tries to simulate streamwise fluctuations, induced by freestream turbulence, in pre-transitional boundary-layer flows by introducing an additional transport equation for laminar kinetic energy term. This new approach can be used for modeling of transitional flows which are exposed to both the freestream turbulence intensity and streamwise pressure gradient, which are known as the most dominant factors in occurrence of transition. Computational method of this model is based on the solution of the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and the eddy-viscosity concept. The model includes three transport equations of laminar kinetic energy, turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation rate frequency. The present model is capable of predicting either natural or bypass transitional mechanisms, which may occur in attached boundary-layer flows. In addition, the model can simulate transition in the separated free shear layers and the subsequent turbulent re-attachment to form a laminar separation bubble. Flat plate was exposed to different freestream turbulence intensities and streamwise pressure gradients. Wind turbine blade was examined under two different Reynolds numbers, with one of them suitable for the occurrence of laminar separation bubbles on its surfaces. To evaluate the performance of this new model in resolving transitional boundary-layer flows, final results have been compared to those obtained through application of conventional turbulence models. Comparison of final results for the flat plate and the S809 aerofoil with available experimental data show very close agreements.

Based on power spectral technique and Lyapunov approach, methodology to determine the vertical gust load on aircraft encountering atmospheric turbulence under different flight conditions is presented in this paper. Modified longitudinal short period aircraft equations of motion to reflect gust inputs are solved. Family of five linear dynamics models of increasing gust excitation complexity are developed to describe the normal load factor throughout an aircraft due to vertical gust. These models (except Model 2) give a rapid estimation of normal load factor in case complete data are not readily available. Numerical model constructed for a Boeing 747 jet transport is solved to illustrate the results. These results show that Model 5 exhibits higher frequency contents when compared with other models under different flight conditions. The normal load factor of aircraft is estimated at different probabilities of not exceeding the corresponding load factor value based on statistical technique. The Models 1, 3, 4 and 5 predict the load factor with maximum 5% error when compared with Model 2 which considered all gust penetration effects. Finally, the results show a good agreement with the published work in load factor determination, at different probabilities of not exceeding this value when encountering a turbulent vertical gust.

The method of metal embedding is widely employed in solid propellant motors with end-burning configuration, thereby significantly improving the burning rate of the propellants. In this study, the cylindrical foil embedding method is applied to double-base solid propellant, as a new method, and the effects of the type and thickness of the foil on the burning surface, as well as the burning rate, are experimentally investigated. It is shown that by using the foil embedding method, the burning characteristics of solid propellants can be improved. Results have been compared to some available data. To the best of the author’s knowledge there are no published data available on this method.

We develop a simple theory for hot air balloon performance with fixed thermal power and linear heat transfer to the environment, applicable to low-temperature situations such as Titan’s atmosphere. The theory results in a closed-form solution and it is shown that an optimum balloon diameter exists – the maximum payload is achieved when the envelope mass and payload mass are equal. It is also shown simply that the floating mass for a given power has a stronger sensitivity to heat transfer coefficient than to the envelope specific mass. A hot air balloon on Titan with a ~2kW heat source could loft a theoretical maximum payload of ~195kg or ~100kg with appropriate margins.

Low speed circular, elliptic and planar jets are investigated computationally for basic sound generation and hydrodynamics. The jets are assumed to be incompressible and are simulated using the large eddy simulation (LES) approach. The emitted sound is calculated using Lighthill’s acoustic analogy. Two formulations are used, Lighthill’s stress tensor formulation and Powell’s vortex sound formulation. A new boundary correction for Powell’s formulation is developed in order to account for the finite size of the computational domain. Low to moderate Reynolds number jets are simulated. Good agreement with known hydrodynamic results is achieved. This includes the nature of the transition process, e.g. enhanced mixing and axis switching in the elliptic jet and in some statistical results. The new boundary correction for Powell’s formulation proves to be vital in order to achieve good agreement with Lighthill’s formulation. Some success in high frequency prediction at least for the circular and elliptic jets is achieved in terms of getting the expected asymptotic behaviour. Both formulations show that the elliptic jet noise level is mildly lower than the circular jet noise level. Good to very good agreement is achieved in terms of directivities and frequency spectra with known results for the various jets.

This paper presents an automated optimisation procedure for the feature selection stage of a previously proposed structural health monitoring methodology using a genetic algorithm. The same diagnostic is used in the attempt to progress up the levels of damage detection to location and severity. It was validated experimentally on a Gnat aircraft wing. An artificial neural network is used as a classifier and the work is compared with the previous selection strategy based on engineering judgement.

Current and future Air Force weapons systems lack the necessary power and cooling capacity to provide full systems level capability as a result of energy and thermal management limitations. Cooling capacity of fuel is already fully utilised leaving little room for additional cooling needs. Additionally, increasing speed, power, and miniaturisation of future systems continue to stress any thermal management capability that we can now deliver. Thus, the focus of this paper is a conceptual assessment of the key energy and thermal management technologies to meet the future energy challenges. It presents an overview of the current state of the art and also possible future research.

Dual-mode scramjet is one of the candidates for hypersonic flight propulsion system which will be used in wide range of flight Mach numbers from 4 to 12 or higher, wherein dual-mode scramjet should be well designed to be suitable for subsonic/supersonic combustion operation according to the flight conditions. Therefore this system is required to operate in a finite number of operational modes that necessitate robust, stable, and smooth transitions between them by which selective operability of supersonic/subsonic combustion modes and efficient combustor operation in these modes may be realised. A key issue in making mode transition efficient and stable is mode transition control. The major problem in mode transition control is the handling of the various flow and combustion coupling effects of dual-mode scramjet whose physical states are spatially coupled and whose governing equations are partial differential equations. Involving these distributed parameter issues, our basic idea is using the shape control theory to study the control problems of mode transition for dual-mode scramjet with the aim of achieving the desirable design properties and increasing control reliabilities. This specific approach is motivated by the promise of novel techniques in control theory developed in recent years. Concrete control arithmetic of this approach, such as shape control model, sensitivity analysis and gradient-based optimisation procedure, are given in this paper. Simulation results for an axisymmetric, wall-injection dual-mode scramjet show the feasibility and validity of the method.

In conventional gas turbine performance simulation, engine components are represented by characteristics where the 3D properties of the flow fields are averaged providing key flow properties at the component interfaces. Even though a very efficient method, the simplification of 3D flows to an averaged value is not always desirable. In particular for high-bypass turbofan aero-engines, the fan generates significant pressure variations from hub to tip. These profiles are affected by the flow profile resulting from the intake where boundary layers introduce radial distortion patterns.

This study investigates a performance simulation method where the intake and fan component of a two-shaft high-bypass turbofan are represented in an axi-symmetric 2D fashion. The intake was modelled using a commercial computational fluid dynamics tool. The remaining engine components were modelled using an in-house conventional gas turbine simulation tool with a radial representation of the fan. The coordinated application of both tools required an iterative data exchange, which is described in detail.

The inclusion of the radial representation of fan and intake showed twice the effect on thrust per inlet loss at cruise conditions. It was therefore worth considering despite the significant numerical effort.

Steady non-vortex shedding base flow behind a bluff body is considered. Such a flow is characterised by the flow separation at the trailing edge of the body with an emerging shear layer which reattaches on the axis with strong recompression and recirculating flow bounded by the base, the shear layer, and the axis.

Steady wake flows behind a bluff body at low speeds have been studied for more than a century (for example, Kirchhoff; Riabouchinsky). Recently, research on steady bluff body wake flow at low speeds has been reviewed and reinterpreted by Roshko. Roshko has also commented on some basic aspects of steady supersonic base flow following on from Chapman and Korst analyses.

In the present paper, we examine the steady base flow features both at low speeds and supersonic speeds in the light of Roshko’s model and expand on some further aspects of base flows at supersonic and hypersonic speeds, not covered by Roshko.

The evolution of simulators from proprietary hardware platforms to affordable commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) platforms has gone on for the past 15 years and is now nearly complete. Nevertheless, past efforts to standardise simulator synthetic environments (SE) have only been partially successful and have engendered considerable aggravation for users in need of creating content that can be deployed to distributed full-mission simulators. This paper provides a detailed description of the SE generation pipeline and the reasoning that has modeled its evolution over the past few decades. The arrival of digital multi-spectral high-resolution satellite imagery and highly capable visual systems now requires orders of magnitude more storage and processing than equivalent databases just a few years ago. These factors are threatening the equilibrium of the SE pipeline and are becoming important elements affecting SE interoperability, portability and re-usability. Past design trade-offs and compromises, appropriate at the time, must now be re-examined along with all SE-related processes, starting from ingestion of raw source data right through to the processing by the simulator devices. Clearly, greater standardisation is needed within the simulation community and a comprehensive, open SE representation would palliate to the many challenges we now face. To this end, this paper provides a checklist of the characteristics for a future ‘ideal’ SE representation and evaluates four emerging synthetic environment initiatives against this extensive checklist.

As aviation is one of the fastest growing industrial sectors world wide, air-traffic emissions are projected to increase their stake in the contribution to global warming. According to studies, both carbon dioxide and contrails are the principal air-traffic pollutants, whereas the impact from contrails in terms of radiative forcing is possibly larger than that of all other air-traffic pollutants combined. New regulations with the objective of mitigating contrail occurrences might cause a change in the design requirements of aircraft. In light of this, a method considering contrail formation during the aircraft design process is presented in this paper. Aircraft performance and optimisation is carried out with NASA’s flight optimisation system. Combining historical meteorological data with air-traffic data enables an assessment regarding contrail formation. As an example, a particular aircraft type in terms of range, speed and payload is optimised for minimum block fuel consumption considering different altitudes. The change in contrail formation in terms of contrail-km formed is calculated. The results suggest that if aircraft of the considered class were designed for higher altitudes, contrail occurrences would diminish slightly at a non-negligible fuel burn penalty.

The dynamic inflow model is a powerful tool for predicting the induced velocity distribution over a rotor disc. On account of its closed form and simplicity, the model is especially practical for studying flight mechanics or for designing control systems for helicopters. Scant attention has, however, been paid so far in utilising the dynamic inflow model to analyse an autorotating rotor, which is different from a powered rotor in the geometric relation between the direction of the inflow and the rotor disc. Autorotation is an abnormal condition for helicopters, but for gyroplanes it is the normal mode of operation. Therefore the theoretical discussion on an autorotating rotor is of importance not only to improve the understanding of present gyroplanes, but also in the development of new gyroplanes and to analyse the windmill-brake state of helicopters. Dynamic inflow modelling is reviewed from first principles, and this identifies a modification to the mass flow parameter. A qualitative assessment of this change indicates that it is likely to have a negligible impact on the trim state of rotorcraft in autorotation, but a significant effect on the dynamic inflow modes in certain flight conditions. This is confirmed by numerical simulation, although considerable differences only become apparent for steep descents with low forward speed. It is concluded that while modification of the mass flow parameter is perhaps mathematically accurate, for practical purposes it is required only in a limited area of the flight envelope of autorotating rotorcraft.

Unsteady aerodynamic loads on aircraft configurations are used for aeroelastic or flight dynamic analyses. The sources for deriving these loads include strip theory aerodynamics and three-dimensional panel methods. In some applications the behaviour of the unsteady air loads as the frequency approaches zero is important, and it is well known that the behaviour of strip theory aerodynamics employing the exact circulation function differs qualitatively from that of the three-dimensional panel methods such as the subsonic doublet lattice method (DLM). Theoretical results from an earlier study of the low frequency behaviour of the DLM are used here to show the relationship between the DLM and strip theory and the relationship is verified by a numerical example.

The first supersonic business jet to enter the market will not face its competition from rival supersonic designs under development. Its true competitors are the then current generation of highly evolved high-subsonic business jets when compared on economic grounds. For a price tag of $1m for the new conception of very light jets, ranging up to $45m for the highest-performing ‘race-horse’-like corporate jets, this breed of aircraft is able to accommodate the needs of most executives, VIPs, officials, from corporate transportation to cargo services of civil to military origin. Understanding the state of modern business class aircraft and their market is essential in gaining base knowledge required for any supersonic business jet endeavor aiming at a prospective market. The key descriptors for this marketplace are market potential, market productivity, and market drivers, altogether being a measure for growth and consumer demand. Such common denominator is used to gain the understanding necessary to ascertain and visualise the top level implications regarding any supersonic business case. Having assembled an understanding of the key descriptors for business aviation, the study first analyses the flight operation of traditional subsonic and high-subsonic business jets. Such perceptive is then complemented with the peculiarities associated with supersonic operation, ultimately defining the supersonic solution space consisting of market viability, efficiency, and overall flight performance. Consequently, a vehicle development strategy and mission specification are suggested for the first generation of supersonic business jets (SSBJ) and supersonic cargo jets (SSCJ).