Effect of aircraft landing angle on hydrodynamics characteristics during wave landing

Abstract

In order to study the effect of different courses on the landing performance of aircraft when landing in waves, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method is developed to investigate the landing performance of the NACA TN 2929 A aircraft model. The solution of fluid flow is based on the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the shear stress transport (SST) k−ω turbulence model, and the numerical scheme employed is the Finite Volume Method (FVM). The fifth-order Stokes wave is generated by using the velocity inlet wave-making method. In the work, the slamming load, pitch change and motion response of the aircraft landing at different wave positions are analyzed. The landing characteristics of aircraft landing parallel to the wave, perpendicular to the wave and at the yaw angle are studied. It is found that the landing characteristics of the aircraft at the 1/2 π phase are better than those at other ones, with the maximum load at the π phase. When the aircraft lands parallel to the wave, yaw displacement generated at 1/2 π phase and 3/2 π phase is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction in the initial short time. These results are important for reducing slamming loads and improving the airworthiness of the aircraft structure when landing on a wave surface.