Wind tunnel model support and wall interference corrections using the CFD techniques

The importance of the wind tunnel facilities in the aeronautical and space industry is crucial because an experimental test campaign could provide a precise overview of the aerodynamic loads in free-stream conditions of studied vehicle. In order to provide accurate and reliable results coming from the wind tunnel, an appropriate post processing is required. Over the time, the subject of the Wind Tunnel Data Corrections has been treated by many authors. The most important corrections are related to the presence of the walls of the test section and the presence of the sting (adaptor) which connect the model with the pitching system of the wind tunnel. All these interferences (due to presence of walls test section and sting) induce different boundary conditions of the flow compared to the free-stream conditions. The general idea in most papers is to apply corrections using classical methods derived from potential flow theory (available just for subsonic flow regimes in either solid walls or open test section), or using the numerical methods, like panel or CFD techniques (valid for all flow regimes) replicating as close as possible the test configuration and condition. Nowadays, the numerical methods are preferred for all regimes due to increased accuracy given by the higher computational capabilities and development of adequate models and algorithms. The purpose of the present paper is to describe the procedure of applying of the corrections to the wind tunnel data (aerodynamic coefficients) adopting the CFD techniques using the commercial solver Fluent, for a slender body.