CFD-Based Design of a Supersonic Business Jet for Low Environmental Impacts Including Trim and Stability Constraints

This paper describes the high-fidelity aerodynamic design process of the Future Supersonic Business Jet Low-Boom (FSTB-L) configuration in the Supersonic Transport Open Research Models and Impact on Environment (STORMIE) project. Focus of the work is to reduce the environmental impacts while maintaining stability and trim in low-speed and high-speed flight conditions. The design process is based on unstructured grids and CFD simulations with the DLR TAU code. An axisymmetric engine with a spike inlet and plug nozzle is designed and integrated into the airframe. The results show that the aircraft is less unstable than predicted by preliminary design. Although flap deflections have the potential to significantly increase the glide ratio at take-off, the pitching moment is increased and the canard deflection is not sufficient to maintain trimmed flight. A fuselage optimization increased the glide ratio from 7.29 to 9.23. It is shown that for sonic boom prediction small changes of the angle of attack can be simulated accurately by rotating the grid in numerical simulations although this results in a misalignment of the cells in the far-field grid compared to the Mach-cone. A landing and take-off noise assessment shows only a slight exceedance of the current noise certification limits by 1.0 EPNdB.