I am wondering why there aren’t full simulations using CFD for flight.
In: 4
Because all models are wrong, but some models are useful.
Wind tunnels can relatively quickly simulate complex flows with no concerns about mesh refinement, and cover continuously changing sweeps of the vehicle configuration, but the walls of the wind tunnel can interfere with the flow, and the small scale means some details can’t be included.
CFD can model the full-sized vehicle without the effects of surrounding walls, and these days is likely cheaper and easier than a wind tunnel, but modeling uncertainties and mesh refinement makes it difficult to confirm that the solution is correct.
You’ve actually missed one: [some simulators] don’t just use CFD and wind tunnels – full sized flight test is a large and important component as well, and often find slightly different performance than both the wind tunnel and CFD. However it’s the highest cost, especially if it’s a vehicle that requires a pilot.
[edited to make it more clearly relevant to the original question being about simulators]
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