Aerodynamic study of Boeing 737 MAX 8 in cruise condition using computational fluid dynamics techniques

This study presents a computational investigation of the aerodynamic characteristics of a simplified Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in cruise condition using ANSYS Fluent. We first validated the CFD methodology using the ONERA M6 wing benchmark, followed by mesh-independence and turbulence-model studies. Because detailed Boeing 737 MAX 8 wing geometry is not publicly available, we evaluated six CAD configurations with different plausible airfoil, thickness-to-chord ratio, and incidence angle combinations. Comparison with available pilot data and published numerical results identified one configuration (Model E) as the most representative baseline. The study then investigated the effects of angle of attack and freestream Mach number on lift, drag, and aerodynamic efficiency. The maximum lift-to-drag ratio occurred at approximately 2° angle of attack. Transonic-flow analysis showed the formation and spanwise variation of supersonic regions and shocks, with a critical Mach number of 0.6108. At the cruise condition of $${M}_{\infty }=0.7708$$ , pressure distributions, shock–boundary-layer interaction, localized flow separation, and wingtip vortical structures were also examined. Overall, the results showed reasonable agreement with available reference data and established Model E as a baseline for future aerodynamic analysis and optimization of advanced high-efficiency aircraft configurations.