Reynolds Number Effects on Transonic Designed Multi-Swept Combat Wing at Subsonic & Supersonic Speeds

Wings being considered for modern combat aircraft may have multi-swept cranked LE planforms and these will develop vortical flows and interactions. However, there are dilemmas associated with controlling vortical flow through the flight envelope. It is recognized that from drag and pitch-breaks perspective, it is desirable to keep the vortical flow as small as possible and delay its onset. So, towards achieving a good compromise between efficient supersonic / Transonic flight and good stability and handling at low speeds, we describe two wing designs for Mach 1.4 ability. The wings have 4% t/c aerofoil sections with rounded LE and were designed using CFD solvers: SU2, KESTREL & ENSOLV for appropriate camber / twist. This paper focuses on the Transonic design. Using CFD solvers: SU2 & ENSOLV, evaluations are presented with Reynolds number varying. It is shown that very significant effects arise through the angle of attack range. Further work by including LE and TE devices will lead to major enhancements.