Design and Aerodynamic Analysis of Continuous Mold-line link flap

Flaps used in modern aircraft are known to produce high-intensity noise. Their blunt side edges of the wing's flap produce vorticial wakes which are the main contributors to the noise generated. A concept called continuous mold-line (CML) link flap has been studied rigorously for its impact on the acoustic behavior of the wing. These studies found that eliminating the blunt side tips with a continuous mold-line reduces the noise generated by the wing, drastically. However, very few studies have discussed the effects of mold-line shape on its aerodynamic characteristics. Therefore, the objective of this research is to investigate the effect of shape and geometry on the aerodynamics of CML wings. First, the shape of the continuous mold-line is parametrized using a hyperbolic tangent curve. Then, using ANSYS FLUENT a computational model is developed to calculate the lift and drag generated by different CML configurations. Both, inviscid and viscous studies are performed using FLUENT's pressure-based solver. The effect of span and slope at the mid-point of the transition zone are discussed. The study found that the slope at the mid-point of the transition zone does not affect the overall lift generated by the wing. Also, increasing the span of the transition zone initially increases the drag and begins to decrease at higher span lengths. Overall, it was found that the aerodynamic characteristics (such as lift, drag, and efficiency) of the CML wing are better than the conventional blunt tip hinged flap.