Thrust Reverser Optimization for Safety with CFD

Abstract

With its function of decreasing the ground roll distance, thrust reverser (T/R) may cause safety problems in case of its inadequate integration with the aircraft. Traditionally, designers rely on wind tunnel testing, which is expensive and time-consuming and usually carried out only near the end of the design process, to verify their designs. This paper addresses a numerical procedure for integration of the thrust reverser with the aircraft, in which the risk of ingestion of the exhaust gas and foreign objects, the adverse effects on stability and control are evaluated for sequential thrust reverser configurations so as to obtain an optimal design that meets airworthiness requirements, by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis performed on a complete aircraft model including fuselage, wing, pylon, slats, flaps, spoilers, empennages and nacelle with thrust reverser deployed. The Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved using the commercial CFD flow solver, CFX5. The κ-ɛ two equations model has been chosen to model the effect of turbulence. This procedure has been applied to the development of a regional jet, yielding remarkable reduction of wind tunnel tests, providing a faster design-to-build cycle. The work indicates the proposed procedure can be successfully used for reverser aerodynamic optimization to meet safety requirements.