High reynolds number tools and techniques for civil aircraft design - an overview of the HiReTT programme

The collaborative research project HiReTT, coordinated by Airbus UK, is focused on understanding the effects of scale on aircraft drag. The project was launched in January 2000 as part of the European Fifth Framework Programme. In this paper an overview of the HiReTT project objectives and work plan is given to together with progress achieved in the first year of the project. The improvement in analysis tools and test techniques delivered by this programme will enable an accurate prediction of aircraft performance to be made with the aircraft design process that can be validated ahead of first flight.