Enhanced Fidelity Transonic Wing (EFT)

EFT

Civil aircraft wing design faces a growing challenge to improve the fidelity of performance predictions. Recognising that improving performance relies on small refinements and that the success of a design can depend on the mitigation of complex aerodynamic risks, the Enhanced Fidelity Transonic Wing (EFT) project addresses this challenge.

The EFT project significantly enhances the performance assessment fidelity of transonic wings, reducing risk and uncertainty in the aircraft design process, and enabling aircraft to be driven to higher performance standards.

Where wing maximum lift (CLmax) is fundamental in determining aircraft low-speed performance, improving the CLmax estimation uncertainty to ±5 lift counts is ideal, requiring a step-change in the physical understanding and modelling approach.

The transonic drag rise characteristics of modern aircraft wings are becoming so carefully tuned that precise predictions are vital to capture fundamental design trades. The EFT project can improve the confidence of exotic drag rise behaviour prediction to within 1% aircraft drag and, as wing designs move to more efficient and flexible structures, accurate knowledge of the wing shape in all conditions is essential.

The project utilised digital technology like cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and data sciences to help overcome challenges within the aerospace industry.

EFT

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