Mid-Fidelity Numerical Simulation of a Delta Wing-Body from Mach Number 0.24 to 1.7

This paper presents a validation of Simcenter FlightStream ®, a viscous surface-vorticity panel-method solver, for predicting the aerodynamics of a delta wing-body configuration over Mach numbers of 0.24 to 1.7. The solver combines a compressible surface-vorticity formulation with boundary-layer coupling, a field-panel transonic extension, and a Tangent Cone method for supersonic conditions. Numerical predictions of lift, drag and pitching-moment coefficients are compared against the wind-tunnel data for a wide range of angles of attack. In the subsonic regime, FlightStream ® reproduces linear lift behaviour and body-carryover effects with lift-curve slopes within approximately 3% of the experimental values and zero-lift drag within about 4-8%. Transonic results show good agreement in the attached-flow region, with increasing underprediction of drag and nose-down pitching moment at higher incidence due to the absence of a dedicated shock-capturing model and limited treatment of shock-separation interactions. In the supersonic regime, the Tangent Cone implementation predicts lift-curve slopes within 3-5% and drag within 5-10% for most cases, with larger discrepancies only at the highest angles of attack where vortex and separation effects intensify. All flow regimes are simulated on a single, modest surface mesh with solution times of tens of seconds per operating point on a standard workstation, demonstrating that FlightStream ® is a robust and efficient mid-fidelity tool for conceptual and preliminary aerodynamic design of delta-wing configurations across subsonic, transonic and supersonic flight conditions.