The Contribution of Aircraft External Structural Design for Aerodynamic Performance and Flight Efficiency

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-864-6_63How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Aircraft Aerodynamics; External Structural Design; Lift-To-Drag Ratio Optimisation; Wing Configuration; Cfd and Wind Tunnel Validation

Abstract

Modern aircraft’s external structural design achieves substantial enhancements in flight efficiency and stability through aerodynamic optimisation. Research demonstrates that optimisation of bluntness ratio and semi-cone angle parameters achieves aerodynamic drag balance. In wing design, the SD7003 air foil elevates its lift-to-drag ratio by 15% through surface roughness modulation. Delta wings (leading-edge sweep ≥ 65°) generate vortex acceleration effects (vortex core velocities 4–5 times freestream velocity) but face abrupt lift loss risks due to vortex breakdown. Swept wings delay shockwave formation to increase critical Mach number yet exhibit a 30% reduction in low-speed lift coefficient compared to conventional air foils and buffet-induced fatigue risks. The Blended Wing-Body (BWB) configuration eliminates interference drag, boosting maximum lift-to-drag ratio by 20%, though requiring 3–5% aerodynamic efficiency sacrifice via negative twist angle adjustments. Wingtip devices reduce ERJ145’s induced drag by 5–7% through wingtip vortex reconstruction. Numerically, the RANS/LES hybrid model successfully captures unsteady vortex breakdown characteristics, forming a complementary validation framework with wind tunnel experiments. Practical implementation cases reveal that the Airbus A350 achieves a 25% fuel efficiency improvement through integrated wind tunnel testing and 3d-CAD/CFD tools, confirming the critical role of aerodynamic structural optimisation in modern aviation performance.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Bofan Lin
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/10/23
TI  - The Contribution of Aircraft External Structural Design for Aerodynamic Performance and Flight Efficiency
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 2nd International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Intelligent Control (EEIC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 746
EP  - 753
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-864-6_63
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-864-6_63
ID  - Lin2025
ER  -