Numerical investigation for subsonic performance of the high-pressure capturing wing configuration with wing dihedral

Abstract

High-pressure capturing wing (HCW) aerodynamic configuration demonstrates favorable aerodynamic performance under hypersonic conditions, and its novel additional lifting wing (also known as HCW) has the potential to enhance lift characteristics under subsonic conditions. Therefore, this configuration presents a promising option for wide-speed-range vehicles. However, the stability characteristics of this novel configuration under subsonic conditions have not yet been investigated. In this paper, the effects of wing dihedral angles on the subsonic aerodynamic characteristics of a parametric conceptual HCW configuration with two lifting wings were investigated. Specifically, the design variables for this study were the dihedral angles of the upper HCW and the lower delta wing. To obtain the distributions of various aerodynamic parameters over the design space, a combination of the uniform experimental design method, computational fluid dynamics numerical simulation techniques, and kriging surrogate model algorithm was employed. The findings suggest that wing dihedral angles have a greater impact on the lift-drag ratio (L/D) at low angles of attack compared to high angles of attack. L/D can be enhanced by incorporating a positive dihedral angle in HCW, and as the delta wing's negative dihedral angle rises, L/D tends to increase earlier and decrease later at low angles of attack. Furthermore, for the longitudinal, lateral, and directional stability characteristics of this configuration, the positive dihedral angles of the delta wing offer greater overall advantages than negative ones in improving them, and the positive dihedral angles of HCW yield more significant enhancements in stability compared to negative ones.