Overset Euler/Boundary-Layer Solver with Panel-Based Aerodynamic Modeling for Aeroelastic Applications

An Euler solver with boundary-layer option, overset/Cartesian mesh and automated mesh-generation capability has been developed for aeroelastic applications to complex configurations. The automated mesh generation scheme can automatically generate a block mesh by extending the grid lines from surface meshes to the entire flowfield. In this way, the surface mesh can adopt the paneling definition required by commonly-practiced aerodynamic panel methods as input. The overset/Cartesian mesh capability allows convenient modeling of very complex configurations such as an aircraft with external stores, in which the aircraft and stores are modeled by different blocks of meshes, rendering this Euler solver as a user-friendly and cost-effective computational tool that can be readily adopted by industry for aeroelastic applications. The rapid progress of CFD methodology in the last decade has shown promising features of its simulated unsteady aerodynamics for flight vehicles. High level CFD methods such as Reynolds