Analysis of lift-thrust coupling characteristics of wing-mounted ducted fan configurations

The wing-mounted ducted fan configuration is regarded as one of the most promising power-wing integration layouts for Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP) aircraft. Understanding and characterizing the lift-thrust coupling between the ducted fan and the wing is crucial for the design of such aircraft. To address the lack of a unified quantitative method for describing ducted fan-wing coupling effects, low-speed wind tunnel experiments are combined with numerical simulations to investigate the aerodynamic characteristics of three configurations: an isolated wing, an isolated ducted fan, and a wing-mounted ducted fan combination. The aerodynamic performance under coupled and uncoupled conditions is compared, and the improvement in lift-thrust characteristics per unit energy consumption is analyzed relative to the simple superposition of the individual components. Furthermore, coupling factors are proposed to quantitatively represent the interaction mechanism between the ducted fan and the wing, providing new key parameters for the overall design and aerodynamic layout optimization of DEP aircraft. The results show that the wing-mounted ducted fan generates significant lift augmentation at low speeds and demonstrates a distinct overall efficiency advantage in the medium-speed regime, while at higher speeds the coupling effect gradually transitions to thrust dominance, with diminishing gain. These findings establish a theoretical and methodological foundation for the integrated aerodynamic-propulsive design of distributed electric propulsion aircraft.