Comparison of Conventional and Compression Pylon Designs for an Underwing Nacelle

This paper addresses one of the key components required to produce an environmentally friendly aircraft by reducing drag (and hence fuel consumption) through improved aerodynamic integration of the wing, pylon, and nacelle. The results of a computational investigation comparing the aerodynamic performance of a compression pylon design to a DLR F6 based conventional pylon design are presented in this paper. As with other computational predictions, the total lift and total drag were overpredicted. The change in drag between the wing body and the wing-body nacelle-pylon configurations was underpredicted by 14% at CL = 0.5. This validated CFD method was then used to investigate a compression pylon design. The results showed that a compression pylon produces an increase in lift and a reduction in drag. At zero degree angle of attack the total drag coefficient was reduced by at least 0.0006. The effect of the pylon is primarily inboard of the wing.