Aircraft Conceptualization and Analysis by Flight Simulation

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to present a basic preliminary design tool that aims to elaborate on flight mechanical properties of a generic aircraft (e.g. parametrization of different configurations). The proposed framework utilizes either a given set of aerodynamic coefficients or calculates them according to the “blade-theory” by geometrical data. Then, the possible flight envelope of the given aircraft can be computed to evaluate the performance for a trimmed flight state. The modelled airframe can be analysed via the evolution of forces and moments acting on the center of mass to further elaborate on the expected performance. It is also meant to be a tool for testing localization, state estimation and control algorithms. Numerical results are reported for a generic delta-wing plus V-tail fighter configuration.