Interference of Wing and Fuselage from Tests of 30 Combinations with Triangular and Elliptical Fuselages in the NACA Variable-density Tunnel
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Sherman, Albert.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
An investigation of the interference associated with tail surfaces added to wing-fuselage combinations was included in the interference program in progress in the NACA variable-density tunnel. The results indicate that, in aerodynamically clean combinations, the increment of the high-speed drag can be estimated from section characteristics within useful limits of accuracy. The interference appears mainly as effects on the downwash angle and as losses in the tail effectiveness and varies with the geometry of the combination. An interference burble, which markedly increases the glide-path angle and the stability in pitch before the actual stall, may be considered a means of obtaining satisfactory stalling characteristics for complete combination.
An investigation of the interference associated with tail surfaces added to wing-fuselage combinations was included in the interference program in progress in the NACA variable-density tunnel. The results indicate that, in aerodynamically clean combinations, the increment to the high-speed drag can be estimated from section characteristics within useful limits of accuracy. The interference appears mainly as effects on the downwash angel and as losses in the tail. An interference burble, which markedly increases the glide-path angle and the stability in pitch before the actual stall, may be considered a means of obtaining satisfactory stalling characteristics for a complete combination.
A preliminary investigation of the stalling processes of four typical airfoil sections was made over the critical range of the Reynolds Number. Motion pictures were taken of the movements of small silk tufts on the airfoil surface as the angle of attack increased through a range of angles including the stall. The boundary-layer flow also at certain angles of attack was indicated by the patterns formed by a suspension of lampblack in oil brushed onto the airfoil surface. These observations were analyzed together with corresponding force-test measurements to derive a picture of the stalling processes of airfoils.
As part of the wing-fuselage interference program in progress in the NACA variable-density wind tunnel, a method of eliminating the interference bubble associated with critical mid wing combinations was investigated. The interference bubble of the critical mid wing combination was shown to respond to modification at the nose of the juncture and to be entirely suppressed with little or no adverse effect on the high-speed drag by special leading edge fillets.
The round fuselage of an unfilleted low-wing combination was modified to incorporate straight-side junctures. The resulting combination, with or without horizontal tail surfaces, had practically the same aerodynamic characteristics as the corresponding round-fuselage tapered-fillet combination.
As part of the wing-fuselage interference investigation in progress in the N.A.C.A. variable density wind tunnel, the effects of various split-flap arrangements applied to wing-fuselage combinations were determined. Split flaps were found to exert their influence independently of the interference, and their effects on the aerodynamic characteristics of rectangular-airfoil combinations appeared to be more or less proportional to their exposed span lengths. The interference, moreover, showed the same character with the split flaps as without them.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Report presents the results of tests conducted on 28 wing-fuselage combinations made in the variable-density wind tunnel as a part of the wing-fuselage interference program being conducted therein and in addition to the 209 combinations previously reported in NACA-TR-540. These tests practically complete the study of combinations with a rectangular fuselage and continue the study of combinations with a round fuselage and a tapered wing.
Report presents the results of an investigation of a systematically chosen representative group of related airfoils conducted in the NACA variable-density wind tunnel over a wide range of Reynolds number extending well into the flight range. The tests were made to provide information from which the variations of airfoil section characteristics with changes in the Reynolds number could be inferred and methods of allowing for these variations in practice could be determined. This work is one phase of an extensive and general airfoil investigation being conducted in the variable-density tunnel and extends the previously published researches concerning airfoil characteristics as affected by variations in airfoil profile determined at a single value of the Reynolds number.
In connection with the interference program being conducted in the NACA variable-density wind tunnel, an analysis was made of available material with the object of presenting a qualitative discussion on wing characteristics as affected by cut-outs and of determining means for their quantitative calculation.
A type of fixed open slot so arranged that no flow would pass through it at a lift coefficient corresponding to high-speed flight was investigated in the N.A.C.A. 7 by 10 foot wind tunnel to determine the possibilities of such a high-lift device for increasing the speed-range ratio of a wing. The condition of no through flow was achieved by locating the slot openings at points of equal static pressure at the design lift coefficient as determined from the pressure distribution about the plain wing. Two models of Clark Y wings with such equal-pressure slots were tested and the smoke-flow patterns about them observed. The results of this investigation show that the condition of no air flow through the slot at the desired lift coefficient is attainable. The surface discontinuities produced by the slot openings have, however, such a large effect on the drag that such slots show little promise. An appreciable increase is produced in the maximum lift and the speed-range can be as high as for the plain wing.
The drag and interference caused by short-span protuberances from the surface of an airfoil have been investigated in the NACA variable-density wind tunnel at a Reynolds number of approximately 3,100,000, based on the chord length of the airfoil. The effects of variations of protuberance span length, span position, and shape were measured by determining how the wing characteristics were affected by the addition of the various protuberances.