COMPARATIVE INVESTIGATION OF VLM CODES FOR JOINED-WING ANALYSIS

Abstract

The Vortex lattice method (VLM) is a popular aerodynamic analysis method used at the early stages of aircraft design. In this paper a comparative investigation of several computer programs applying the VLM is carried out and their ability to simulate non conventional wing configurations is evaluated. It was found that Athena Vortex Lattice (AVL) code calculated the most correct results, but other programs like Tornado provide useful supplemental information. Keywords: