RANS/LES and LBM/VLES Aero-Acoustic Analysis of Weapon Bays at Transonic Mach Number

Numerical aero-acoustic analysis was conducted on a weapon bay of a generic aircraft model using two conceptually different solvers, one based on the Navier-Stokes equations, the other based on the lattice-Boltzmann approach. The bay model was installed on a representative combat aircraft, incorporating doors and a store. The effect of angle of attack and store position on the aero-acoustic response within the weapon bay was analysed at a transonic Mach number of 0.90. It was found that both numerical approaches are capable of predicting, with good accuracy, the weapon bay's acoustic spectrum (+-10dB) and store forces and moments (+-10%), as compared to experimental data.