Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Analysis of the Burnelli CBY-3 Loadmaster

Wojciechowski, Maria; Orlovsky, Nicholas

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Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Analysis of the Burnelli CBY-3 Loadmaster

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This work presents a study to evaluate the lift and drag characteristics of the 1940s-era Burnelli CBY-3 Loadmaster and compare it to that of a contemporary aircraft, the Douglas DC-3. Specifically, we investigated the question of whether the Loadmaster produced more lift than the DC-3 at comparable flight conditions and second, what fraction of the Loadmaster lift was produced by the lifting-body style fuselage. The fact that no digital model of the Loadmaster airframe exists posed a unique challenge as one had to be created to perform the CFD analysis. An original methodology was developed from which archival 2D plans were photographed and imported into SolidWorks. These 2D digital sketches were then used to create the 3D geometry for the solid model. Key dimensions were checked throughout the process using both 2D drawings and the actual aircraft with the model adjusted accordingly. The solid model was imported into Ansys Fluent where the flight characteristics were evaluated at cruise velocity over a range of angles of attack. These results are summarized, and we show that the DC-3 produced more lift than the CBY-3 Loadmaster despite the extra lift provided by the unique fuselage. We believe this was in part a result of the fact that the CBY-3 design had not been fully optimized at the time the prototype was built, whereas the DC-3 was already a very mature design by the mid-1940s. Finally, we found that the lifting-body fuselage contributed approximately 30% of the total aircraft lift.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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