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Community submission — not verified by nTop. This package was submitted by an outside community member and has not been reviewed or verified by nTop. Treat its accuracy, safety, and compatibility claims with appropriate caution.

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Summary

Parametric Lesher Teal aircraft with a Run Command link to a Python AeroSandbox script that updates cruise CL, CD, L/D and neutral point within seconds of any geometry change.

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Package Details

A parametric nTop model of the Lesher Teal, the record-setting pusher aircraft that University of Michigan professor Edgar J. Lesher designed and first flew in 1965. It’s the starter file for a student hackathon challenge: parameterize the aircraft so it captures the designer’s intent, then pull out parameters for a design of experiments. The built-in Aircraft Flow Analysis gives high-fidelity results but takes a while to solve. This package adds a Quick Aero Estimate section: an nTop Run Command block sends the current geometry to a small Python script, which uses AeroSandbox and reports cruise CL, CD, L/D, max L/D, neutral point and static margin within about 3 seconds of any change. The aero integration (teal_aero.py and the Run Command chain) was built with Claude. Lesher Teal model in nTop with flow-analysis streamlines

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Files

The site’s download button gives you the notebook. Get teal_aero.py from this package folder on GitHub, or clone the whole repo:

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Setup (about 5 minutes)

  1. Install Python 3.9 or newer from python.org and tick Add python.exe to PATH.
  2. Install AeroSandbox:
  3. Create the folder C:\TealAero and put teal_aero.py in it. To use a different folder, change the notebook’s Aero Tool Folder variable to match, using forward slashes.
  4. Check the script works (it prints the baseline estimate):
  5. Open lesher-teal-hackathon-starter.ntop in nTop 6.2 or later and save a working copy.
  6. The first time the notebook runs, nTop asks you to Trust the Run Command block. Click Trust.
If AeroSandbox is installed in a different Python (a venv or conda env), set Python Executable to that interpreter’s full path.

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Using it

Every aero-relevant input is a named variable, in the Wings, Fuselage and Stabilizers sections:
  • Wing: root point (its placement), chord, airfoil, span, sweep, taper, twist, dihedral
  • H-stab: the same eight inputs
  • Twin fins (VStab): root point, chord, airfoil, height, sweep, taper
  • Ventral fin: root point (Lower Stab Root), chord, airfoil, height, sweep, taper
  • Fuselage: the top, side and bottom rail point lists
Both the geometry blocks and the aero estimate read these variables. When you replace a typed value with an expression on your own design parameters, the estimate follows automatically. Each run also writes aero_results.json and aero_results.png (polars plus top and side views) next to the script, so you can check the geometry was read correctly. If an estimate doesn’t appear, copy the text of Aero Command Line into a terminal and run it to see the error.

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From a terminal (DOE)

Any key you leave out keeps its Teal baseline value. Lengths are in m, angles in deg.
--list prints every key with its baseline value. Add --csv doe.csv --no-plot to each run to collect a sweep into one CSV.

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Evidence and limits

  • The notebook was prepared and checked in an internal nTop build (43139, with the Notebook API). This publication copy was not reopened in a public nTop 6.2 release.
  • In that build, Run Command produced the estimate shown above: cruise L/D 14.2, neutral point 2.753 m. Wing-placement and tail changes updated it as expected, and the script matches a direct terminal run.
  • The flow analysis is included but paused, without results; run it yourself.
  • This is a quick estimate:
    • Drag covers only the wing, tails and fuselage. Propeller, cooling, gear and interference drag are left out, so real power is higher.
    • CL_max and stall speed are rough.
    • Moments are untrimmed (no elevator deflection).
    • A positive twist value is read as washout, and the tip gets half of it because the wing block ramps twist over the full span.
    • Fuselage sections are modeled as ellipses through the rails.
  • Use it to rank designs, then check final candidates with the flow analysis.

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License and credits

The notebook and script are released under the MIT license; see LICENSE.

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Source

https://community.ntop.com/#/detail/lesher-teal-hackathon-starter

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Download

Download lesher-teal-hackathon-starter.ntop