Drag Characterization Study of Variable Camber Continuous Trailing Edge Flap

Abstract

A Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) computational study was conducted to investigate the effect of various variable camber continuous trailing edge flap (VCCTEF) configurations on the lift and drag of a NASA generic transport model (GTM) wing section. Out of the five two-dimensional (2D) VCCTEF configurations considered with varying camber in the three-segment flap region, with a total deflection of 6 deg, the best stall performance was exhibited by the circular and parabolic arc camber flaps. Both circular and parabolic arc flaps give similar lift performance, with the circular arc yielding a higher lift coefficient and parabolic arc resulting in the lowest drag and hence the best L/D performance at design Cl. Analysis of results based on linear theory shows excellent agreement between computed and theoretical incremental lift.