Model¶

Below you will find a comprehensive list of all available features and properties. The model object has the following features:

graph TD A[Model] A --> F0[state] A --> F1[wing] A --> F2[refs] A --> F3[deformation] A --> F4[settings]

Feature: state¶

Use the 'state' feature to define the aircraft flight state. To compute aerodynamic forces, the true airspeed and ambient air density must be known. There are multiple allowed combinations to define the aircraft speed:

'airspeed' and 'density'

'mach' and 'altitude'

'airspeed' and 'altitude'

If you define use ‘altitude’ as input, the ambient atmospheric properties are computed assuming the ICAO 1993 standard atmosphere.

An arbitrary number of flight states can be added.

Maximum number: inf

Required: True (1)

Property: alpha¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[state] F1 --> P1[alpha]

Angle of attack [deg].

Maximum number: 1

Required: True (1)

Schema:

type	<class ‘numbers.Number’>
>	-90
<	90

Property: beta¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[state] F1 --> P1[beta]

Side-slip angle [deg].

Maximum number: 1

Required: True (1)

Schema:

type	<class ‘numbers.Number’>
>	-90
<	90

Property: airspeed¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[state] F1 --> P1[airspeed]

True airspeed [m/s].

Maximum number: 1

Required: False (0)

Schema:

type	<class ‘numbers.Number’>
>	0

Property: mach¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[state] F1 --> P1[mach]

Mach number [1].

Maximum number: 1

Required: False (0)

Schema:

type

Property: altitude¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[state] F1 --> P1[altitude]

Flight altitude [m]. When setting the altitude atmospheric properties such as the ambient air density or (if required) speed of sound are computed automatically. The ICAO 1993 standard atmosphere is assumed when computing these atmospheric properties.

Maximum number: 1

Required: False (0)

Schema:

type

Property: density¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[state] F1 --> P1[density]

Air density [kg/m³].

Maximum number: 1

Required: False (0)

Schema:

type

Property: rate_P¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[state] F1 --> P1[rate_P]

Roll rate [rad/s].

Maximum number: 1

Required: True (1)

Schema:

type

Property: rate_Q¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[state] F1 --> P1[rate_Q]

Pitch rate [rad/s].

Maximum number: 1

Required: True (1)

Schema:

type

Property: rate_R¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[state] F1 --> P1[rate_R]

Yaw rate [rad/s].

Maximum number: 1

Required: True (1)

Schema:

type

Feature: wing¶

Add a wing to the aircraft model. A wing consists of one or multiple segments. There can be leading or trailing edge control surfaces spanning across the segments.

Maximum number: inf

Required: True (1)

Property: symmetry¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[wing] F1 --> P1[symmetry]

Define symmetry properties of the wing. Wings can have mirror symmetry about the three planes spanned by the global coordinate system (‘xy’, ‘yz’, ‘xz’). Use ‘none’ if the wing has no symmetry (like a vertical tail).

Maximum number: 1

Required: True (1)

Schema:

type	<class ‘str’>
one_of	[‘none’, ‘xy’, ‘yz’, ‘xz’]

Property: segment¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[wing] F1 --> P1[segment]

Add a wing segment to the aircraft model. An arbitrary number of wing segments may be added to define a complex wing geometry. Each wing segment is defined by four vertices ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’ and ‘d’.

Maximum number: inf

Required: True (1)

A UID must be provided.

Schema:

type

schema

{‘vertices’: {‘type’: <class ‘dict’>, ‘schema’: {‘a’: {‘type’: <class ‘list’>, ‘min_len’: 3, ‘max_len’: 3, ‘item_types’: <class ‘numbers.Number’>}, ‘b’: {‘type’: <class ‘list’>, ‘min_len’: 3, ‘max_len’: 3, ‘item_types’: <class ‘numbers.Number’>}, ‘c’: {‘type’: <class ‘list’>, ‘min_len’: 3, ‘max_len’: 3, ‘item_types’: <class ‘numbers.Number’>}, ‘d’: {‘type’: <class ‘list’>, ‘min_len’: 3, ‘max_len’: 3, ‘item_types’: <class ‘numbers.Number’>}}}, ‘airfoils’: {‘type’: <class ‘dict’>, ‘schema’: {‘inner’: {‘type’: <class ‘str’>, ‘>’: 0}, ‘outer’: {‘type’: <class ‘str’>, ‘>’: 0}}}}

Property: control¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[wing] F1 --> P1[control]

Add a control surface to the aircraft model. A control surface can be either a leading edge device (‘flap’) or a trailing edge device (‘slat’). Each wing may have an arbitrary number of control surfaces.

Maximum number: inf

Required: False (0)

A UID must be provided.

Schema:

type

schema

{‘device_type’: {‘type’: <class ‘str’>, ‘one_of’: [‘flap’, ‘slat’]}, ‘deflection’: {‘type’: <class ‘numbers.Number’>}, ‘deflection_mirror’: {‘type’: <class ‘numbers.Number’>}, ‘segment_uids’: {‘inner’: {‘type’: <class ‘str’>, ‘>’: 0}, ‘outer’: {‘type’: <class ‘str’>, ‘>’: 0}}, ‘rel_vertices’: {‘eta_inner’: {‘type’: <class ‘numbers.Number’>}, ‘eta_outer’: {‘type’: <class ‘numbers.Number’>}, ‘xi_inner’: {‘type’: <class ‘numbers.Number’>}, ‘xi_outer’: {‘type’: <class ‘numbers.Number’>}}, ‘rel_hinge_vertices’: {‘xi_inner’: {‘type’: <class ‘numbers.Number’>}, ‘xi_outer’: {‘type’: <class ‘numbers.Number’>}}}

Feature: refs¶

Reference values used in the computation of aerodynamic coefficients. Coefficients can only be properly interpreted and compared if the reference parameters are known. Therefore, reference values must always be specified explicitly.

Maximum number: 1

Required: True (1)

Property: area¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[refs] F1 --> P1[area]

Reference area [m²].

Maximum number: 1

Required: True (1)

Schema:

type	<class ‘numbers.Number’>
>	0

Property: span¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[refs] F1 --> P1[span]

Reference span [m].

Maximum number: 1

Required: True (1)

Schema:

type	<class ‘numbers.Number’>
>	0

Property: chord¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[refs] F1 --> P1[chord]

Reference chord [m].

Maximum number: 1

Required: True (1)

Schema:

type	<class ‘numbers.Number’>
>	0

Property: gcenter¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[refs] F1 --> P1[gcenter]

Reference centre of mass.

Maximum number: 1

Required: True (1)

Schema:

type	<class ‘list’>
min_len	3
max_len	3
item_types	<class ‘numbers.Number’>

Property: rcenter¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[refs] F1 --> P1[rcenter]

Reference centre of rotation.

Maximum number: 1

Required: True (1)

Schema:

type	<class ‘list’>
min_len	3
max_len	3
item_types	<class ‘numbers.Number’>

Feature: deformation¶

Not yet implemented. Deformation field for aeroelastic analyses.

Maximum number: 1

Required: False (0)

Property: wing_uid¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[deformation] F1 --> P1[wing_uid]

Not yet implemented.

Maximum number: inf

Required: True (1)

Schema:

type	<class ‘str’>
>	0

Feature: settings¶

Use the 'settings' to define global settings.

Maximum number: 1

Required: False (0)

Property: plot_geometry¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[settings] F1 --> P1[plot_geometry]

Create a geometry plot.

Maximum number: 1

Required: False (0)

Schema:

type	<class ‘dict’>
schema	{‘show’: {‘type’: <class ‘bool’>}, ‘save’: {‘type’: <class ‘bool’>}, ‘opt’: {‘type’: <class ‘list’>, ‘item_types’: <class ‘str’>}}

Property: plot_lattice¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[settings] F1 --> P1[plot_lattice]

Create a plot of the VLM mesh.

Maximum number: 1

Required: False (0)

Schema:

type	<class ‘dict’>
schema	{‘show’: {‘type’: <class ‘bool’>}, ‘save’: {‘type’: <class ‘bool’>}, ‘opt’: {‘type’: <class ‘list’>, ‘item_types’: <class ‘str’>}}

Property: plot_results¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[settings] F1 --> P1[plot_results]

Create a plot of VLM results.

Maximum number: 1

Required: False (0)

Schema:

type	<class ‘dict’>
schema	{‘show’: {‘type’: <class ‘bool’>}, ‘save’: {‘type’: <class ‘bool’>}, ‘opt’: {‘type’: <class ‘list’>, ‘item_types’: <class ‘str’>}}

Property: save_dir¶

graph LR A[Model] A --> F1[settings] F1 --> P1[save_dir]

Directory for output files.

Maximum number: 1

Required: False (0)

Schema:

type	<class ‘str’>
>	0