Propulsion System Modeling and Takeoff Distance Calculations for a Powered-Lift Aircraft with Circulation-Control Wing Aerodynamics

The computation of takeoff distance for powered-lift aircraft is complicated because of the coupling of aerodynamic performance (lift, drag and moment coefficients) with forward speed. Cal Poly has developed an analysis procedure to capture this coupling, and the development of this procedure is continuing. In the past year, Cal Poly has completed a Phase I NRA contract from the NASA for the configuration development and modeling of CESTOL aircraft. The primary objective of this contract was to identify an aircraft configuration in enough detail to proceed into a Phase II contract to design and construct a large scale wind tunnel model followed by a wind tunnel test to measure both aerodynamic performance and noise. Four aircraft configurations have been developed, and all but one of the configurations use circulation control wing aerodynamics (CCW) to produce powered-lift aerodynamic effect for the wing. The aircraft configuration selected for the Phase II contract makes extensive use of CCW to develop high lift aerodynamics for takeoff and initial climb and again for final descent and landing.