Effect of Geometry Modification for Intake Wind Tunnel Testing

Aircraft geometries are generally modified for air intake wind tunnel testing to accommodate testing hardware namely mass flow controller and instrumentation rake. This paper investigates the validity of using modified aircraft models for intake wind tunnel testing. The study uses Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to evaluate the impact of geometric modifications, specifically removal or truncation of external components such as fuselage, wing and canard on intake performance. The results show that modified models can be used for accurate wind tunnel testing, with specific models recommended for high speed and low speed tests.