AVL Tutorial - Part 04 - Aero Console and Geometry Files
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- Опубліковано 28 лип 2024
- This AVL Tutorial - Part 4 - Aero Console and Geometry Files
In this tutorial, I will go through a brief overview of aero console software as a user interface for AVL that helps design geometry, mass, and run files much easier and more visually than you can do just with AVL or notepad.
I teach a course at the University of Windsor called "Aerodynamics and Performance", which goes through the concepts and theories of aerodynamics and aircraft performance and used AVL and XFoil as the software for students to experiment with their learnings and showcase them in their course project.
AVL was written by Mark Drela and Harold Youngren (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
"AVL is a program for the aerodynamic and flight-dynamic analysis of rigid aircraft
of arbitrary configuration. It employs an extended vortex lattice model for
the lifting surfaces, together with a slender-body model for fuselages and nacelles.
General nonlinear flight states can be specified. The flight dynamic analysis
combines a full linearization of the aerodynamic model about any flight state,
together with specified mass properties."
Note:
If the editor in Aero Console has text showing oddly and letters seem too close to one another, this has to do with the display scale on your system, if it is not at 100% you face this issue. Check the following solutions:
Windows 10: • How to Change Screen S...
Windows 11: • Windows 11 - How To Ad...
Content:
00:00 Introduction
01:00 Where to Download Aero Console
05:00 Aero Console Features
09:00 Aero Console Options Overview
17:00 AVL Geometry File Structure
28:00 Sample Aircraft Design in Aero Console
Resources:
Link to download AVL: web.mit.edu/drela/Public/web/avl/
Link to download Aero Console: github.com/drarahimi/AERO_Con...
Anderson, J. D. (2016). Fundamentals of aerodynamics (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. www.mheducation.com/highered/...
Drela, M. (2014). Flight vehicle aerodynamics. MIT Press. mitpress.mit.edu/books/flight...
#Engineering #Aerodynamics #Aircraft #Design #Teaching #Education
omg this man is my hero. He is like an angel. what an amazing man. also making it available and teaching. what an wonderful man. I am so happy.
You are very welcome
Thank You
Thanks for your work, professor ^_^
You are vrey welcome
Honestly It was perfect and your explanation was completely clear. Wish you success 🌹
Glad it helped!
Professor Afshin Rahimi,
Very nice interface and introduction of AVL / XFOIL, Thanks for your contribution.
Thank you Hsin-Luen. You are most welcome. I hope it helps other learners that are using the software to better understand and use the software for their needs.
Your explanation is so good. I am surprised to see that this video has just 64 view !!!
Glad it was helpful! It is a newer video so it might gain some traction over time.
hello, how did you plot the plane? I made every step on video but its showing only the key inputs options window and when i try to load geometry it shows:
File READ error: e423.dat
** Airfoil file not found : e423.dat
** Using default zero-camber airfoil
*** Cannot adjust spanwise spacing at section 2, on surface [asa]
*** Insufficient number of spanwise vortices to work with
I think I replied to you via email so no more need to reply here. Hope your design is working now :)
Thank you. Is it possible to save the CL distribution, so the values of CL in y?
Yes you can. After you load your geometry, mass, and run file, you need to enter the OPER menu, then eXecute the computation and once that is done use the command FS for strip forces. If you wish to just see them you can press ENTER or if you wish to save them in a file you can write a file name and press ENTER.
Thank you for your perfect explanation. And, I installed the latest Aero_console (1.3.0) and went through the geometry designer and I couldn't see the "Load/save" button as you shown
Thank you for your kind words. Over time since I uploaded that video, I have made changes to the software based on the comments and feedback I got from my students. So the latest version of the software that is on Github has some changes to the video version you see on UA-cam. In version 1.3.0, if you have project files in the directory of the Aero_console.exe file, the app will load them in the project name drop down list and then you can switch between the geometry/mass/run files by clicking on the corresponding tabs in the geometry designer to have a quicker access to each of these files and as you click on any tabs the other tabs are automatically saved to save time. If you want to save a new project, just type a new name in the project name field in the geometry designer window and start typing your code in the geometry/mass/run tabs and they will automatically save to the filename you gave with the proper extensions (i.e., avl, mass, run) for each file. For example, if you type "test" in the dropdown list and start working on geometry tab (writing code) the program will automatically save test.avl in the same directory as aero_console.exe file for you to work with.
I got your point. Many thanks for your detailed explanation. @@arahimi_
سلام و عرض ادب
ببخشید برای هندسه بخش بدنه در نرم افزارتون موجود نیست لطفا اونم اضافه کنید
واقعا نیاز مند همچین آموزشی بودم مخصوصا برا بخش هندسه دستتون درد نکنه
اگرم امکان داره می خواستم در باره پایان نامم ی صحبتی باهتون بکنم واتساپ یا تلگرام امکانش هست؟
What about twin boom tail which has some angles? I mean how can i define the angle between vertical fins and elevator in twin boom tail!!?
You would have to dfine your surfaces in a way that the angles are as you wish in your design. It is more so how you can have perspective views of your design from top, left, and from and accordingly find the coordinates of surface sections in each x, y, z directions for the geometry
I am having difficulty adding a control after I have created a section. Basically, Putting a new control between two sections is giving me an error message.
Here is what it says,
"You must have all sections and control tags inside a !beginsurface and !endsurface tag block. If your cursor is not between the !beginsurface ad !endsurface, move your cursor to betweeen the two tags before inserting a section block"
and after doing what it says there is no remedy. Seems like there is a bug or the issue is Aero Console will not let you move a control or add one in after you have created the sections. Any help?
Hi, this check is done in Aero Console not AVL, and there may be some issues with this as it was not thoroughly tested. I will be doing some improvements over the next couple of months but cannot give an ETA for when it will be looked at. I suggest you look into other ways around this issue or use other UIs for AVL.
hello sir, have a question regarding the drooped wing. if the wing is divided into n sections ex n=10, from n=8, have to droop the wing. so how to do that in AVL, sir?
I have not this before so I am not sure how to go about it.
Hi Afshin, I really appreciate your work, thanks for your tutorials they are excellent. I have some questions related to the HingeVec keyword, what happens if the control surfaces has a swept trailing edge? How should be defined the HingeVec?
What mean if the HingeVec is 0 0 0? HingeVec values can only vary from 0 to 1 including negative values? and finally :) you consider that AVL can used to preliminar design in airplanes of full scale?
thanks for everything! :)
Hi Abraham, you are very welcome.
For the hinge vector question: from the official AVL help file "XYZhvec vector giving hinge axis about which surface rotates + deflection is + rotation about hinge vector by righthand rule. Specifying XYZhvec = 0. 0. 0. puts the hinge vector along the hinge" This means if the wing is swept, the program will automatically rotate the control surface to rotate along the hinge regardless of the orientation of the wing. So even if you have a swept wing, keeping this vector as [0, 0, 0] should do what you need.
For the applicability of AVL for preliminary design of full scale airplnes, this is a stretch to use AVL for such purposes but if the design is in very very early stages it should be OK. Oterwise you would need to use moe advanced and recent applications to model your aircraft and perform your design process. Examples of such tools can be found here www.sculpteo.com/en/3d-learning-hub/3d-printing-software/best-aircraft-design-software/
@@arahimi_ excellent, thank you very much for your answer, I have also heard that Xplane to model the flight dynamics can be an interesting option, even though the flight model is based more on the blade element theory than on the stability derivatives, what do you think about it? thanks again I appreciate your time
@@abrahamreyes3917 You are welcome Abraham. I have not worked with Xplane but it seems to be more towards demonstration purposes and demos that aerodynamics analysis. I don't know if this would be a good option for just preliminary design purposes.
@@arahimi_ Thank you very much for your answers, I really appreciate it. One last question, I promise :) Is it possible to extract the data values from the distribution of the cl of a wing in AVL? thank you so much!
@@abrahamreyes3917 Hi Abraham, yes you can. After you load your geometry, mass, and run file, you need to enter the OPER menu, then eXecute the computation and once that is done use the command FS for strip forces. If you wish to just see them you can press ENTER or if you wish to save them in a file you can write a file name and press ENTER.
I set YDUPLICATE equal zero but the symetric did not accur in graph
Hi Kenan, please note that Aero Console is not fully supporting all the commands in the AVL geometry file yet, your final reference should be the output from the AVL geometry output for your model, Aero Console is designed to help new users get a feel of how their model (simple models) would look. I am planning to extend its functionalities and support for more features of the geometry design in future versions, but for now I am occupied with other matters. Hope this helps.
@@arahimi_ thank you for reply , I m going to try finish sample which in video. May be it can be symmetric in avl eventually.
i am getting this error when i try adding a surface (conversion from string "0.0 " to type 'Double' is not valid) may you please assist
Can you send your example geometry file and maybe some screenshots to my email address so I can investigate?
will Xhinge will differ for each type of wing or is it 0.8 itself, sir
It depends where the control surface is hinged at as a percentage of the chord. in this example, +0.8 means it is hinged at 80% of the chord from the leading edge of the airfoil to the trailing edge of the airfoil at the section of interest.
from web.mit.edu/drela/Public/web/avl/avl_doc.txt:
Xhinge x/c location of hinge.
If positive, control surface extent is Xhinge..1 (TE surface)
If negative, control surface extent is 0..-Xhinge (LE surface)
sir, thank you for the response. one last query How to calculate the chord % where the control surface is hinged.
@@nitheshkumar9886 No worries. the xhinge value is a design parameter, you are either given the value in your requirements or have to come up with it as you try to improve your overall design performance