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The program input and output are described, and the program listing is presented. A sample program output for an infinite swept wing calculation is shown.
Three methods for calculating span load distribution, those developed by V.M Falkner, Wm. Mutterperl, and J. Weissinger, have been applied to five swept wings. The angles of sweep ranged from -45 degrees to +45 degrees. These methods were examined to establish their relative accuracy and case of application. Experimentally determined loadings were used as a basis for judging accuracy. For the convenience of the readers the computing forms and all information requisite to their application are included in appendixes. From the analysis it was found that the Weissinger method would be best suited to an over-all study of the effects of plan form on the span loading and associated characteristics of wings. The method gave good, but not best, accuracy and involved by far the least computing effort. The Falkner method gave the best accuracy but at a considerable expanse in computing effort and hence appeared to be most useful for a detailed study of a specific wing. The Mutterperl method offered no advantages in accuracy of facility over either of the other methods and hence is not recommended for use.
A geometric study has been made of some of the effects of dihedral on the heat transfer to swept delta wings. The results of this study show that the incorporation of large positive dihedral on highly swept wings can shift, even at moderately low angles of attack, the stagnation-line heat-transfer problem from the leading edges to the axis of symmetry (ridge line). An order-of-magnitude analysis (assuming laminar flow) indicates conditions for which it may be possible to reduce the heating at the ridge line (except in the vicinity of the wing apex) to a small fraction of the leading-edge heat transfer of a flat wing at the same lift. Furthermore, conditions are indicated where dihedral reduces the leading-edge heat transfer for angles of attack less than those required to shift the stagnation line from the leading edge to the ridge line.
The ability of a lower order panel method VSAERO, to accurately predict the lift and pitching moment of a complete forward-swept-wing/canard configuration was investigated. The program can simulate nonlinear effects including boundary-layer displacement thickness, wake roll up, and to a limited extent, separated wakes. The predictions were compared with experimental data obtained using a small-scale model in the 7- by 10- Foot Wind Tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center. For the particular configuration under investigation, wake roll up had only a small effect on the force and moment predictions. The effect of the displacement thickness modeling was to reduce the lift curve slope slightly, thus bringing the predicted lift into good agreement with the measured value. Pitching moment predictions were also improved by the boundary-layer simulation. The separation modeling was found to be sensitive to user inputs, but appears to give a reasonable representation of a separated wake. In general, the nonlinear capabilities of the code were found to improve the agreement with experimental data. The usefullness of the code would be enhanced by improving the reliability of the separated wake modeling and by the addition of a leading edge separation model.
An investigation was made to determine the accuracy with which the lateral flight motions of a swept-wing airplane could be predicted from experimental stability derivatives, determined in the 6-foot-diameter rolling-flow test section and 6 by 6-foot curved-flow test section of the Langley stability tunnel. In addition, determination of the significance of including the nonlinear aerodynamic effects of sideslip in the calculations of the motions was desired. All experimental aerodynamic data necessary for prediction of the lateral flight motions are presented along with a number of comparisons between flight and calculated motions caused by rudder and aileron disturbances.
An investigation of a model of a standard size body in combination with a representative 45 deg swept-wing-fuselage model has been conducted in the Langley 8-foot transonic pressure tunnel over a Mach number range from 0.80 to 1.43. The body, with a fineness ratio of 8.5, was tested with and without fins, and was pylon-mounted beneath the fuselage or wing. Force measurements were obtained on the wing-fuselage model with and without the body, for an angle-of-attack range from -2 deg to approximately 12 deg and an angle-of-sideslip range from -8 deg to 8 deg. In addition, body loads were measured over the same angle-of-attack and angle-of-sideslip range. The Reynolds number for the investigation, based on the wing mean aerodynamic chord, varied from 1.85 x 10(exp 6) to 2.85 x 10(exp 6). The addition of the body beneath the fuselage or the wing increased the drag coefficient of the complete model over the Mach number range tested. On the basis of the drag increase per body, the under-fuselage position was the more favorable. Furthermore, the bodies tended to increase the lateral stability of the complete model. The variation of body loads with angle of attack for the unfinned bodies was generally small and linear over the Mach number range tested with the addition of fins causing large increases in the rates of change of normal-force coefficient and nose-down pitching-moment coefficient. The variation of body side-force coefficient with sideslip for the unfinned body beneath the fuselage was at least twice as large as the variation of this load for the unfinned body beneath the wing. The addition of fins to the body beneath either the fuselage or the wing approximately doubled the rate of change of body side-force coefficient with sideslip. Furthermore, the variation of body side-force coefficient with sideslip for the body beneath the wing was at least twice as large as the variation of this load with angle of attack.
Femtosecond laser electronic excitation tagging (FLEET) was applied to obtain flowfield velocity data for the Swept Wing Flow Test (SWiFT) at the NASA Langley Research Center National Transonic Facility (NTF). Despite numerous challenges associated with performing flow velocimetry measurements within a large-scale cryogenic wind tunnel facility, the experimental campaign was conducted under various conditions, including dry air at 320 K, cool nitrogen at 240 K, and Mach numbers of 0.2 and 0.8. FLEET velocimetry measurements were performed in the downstream wake of the SWiFT model, providing a quantitative dataset. This dataset includes one-dimensional velocity profiles and two-dimensional velocity maps acquired at different angles of attack and Reynolds numbers. The two-dimensional single component velocity maps indicate relatively uniform flow across the 120-mm wide wake flow survey suggesting that the main flow features can be represented by single-position linear velocity profiles. The measured instantaneous velocity profiles at variable angles of attack are compared to model lift coefficient information obtained at Mach 0.2. At high Reynolds numbers, a sudden velocity decrease was observed in the FLEET measurements at the same time as stall in lift coefficient was observed. At a low Reynolds number, both the velocity profiles and the lift coefficient show a smoother transition, without a sudden stall. Furthermore, the two-dimensional, one component velocity map reveals a velocity deficit region at Mach 0.8 at various angles of attack. Both single shot and mean velocity measurements were acquired allowing assessment of flowfield fluctuations and measurement precisions. The uncertainties are within 4 m/s in mean measurements based on repeatability data and about 5 m/s in instantaneous single-shot measurements. Measurements are reported with ~4.8 mm spatial resolution with 32-pixel averaging used to reduce measurement errors.
Designs of aircraft structures have been moving toward leaner, lightweight designs for increased fuel efficiency. The Passive Aeroelastic Tailored (PAT) wing developed under the NASA Advanced Air Transport Technology (AATT) project is an example of a swept-wing design with high aspect ratio that incorporates lightweight highly-flexible tailored composite construction. The passive aeroelastic tailored structural design has explored the design space to enable aeroelastically tailored wing structures to increase aspect ratios (from 9 to 14) and ultimately reduce weight by 20 percent to 25 percent without impacting aeroelastic performance. To further study the aeroelastic performance of such a wing, the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) (Edwards, California) has developed efficient real-time structural algorithms that are used in conjunction with a fiber-optic measurement system for lightweight vehicle applications. The AFRC Fiber Optic Sensing System (FOSS) provides up to 8,000 distributed surface strain measurements at one-half-inch increments and can be used to estimate a variety of structural parameters such as shape and load. This report discusses the implementation of strain-based displacement and twist-sensing techniques applied to the PAT wing test article tested at the NASA AFRC Flight Loads Laboratory. Empirical FOSS strain data are collected under varying loading conditions. Strain data are processed with the displacement and twist-sensing algorithms and independently verified by comparison to conventional ground-based instrumentation.
An investigation has been conducted with a free-flying radio-controlled 0.15-scale model of a twin-jet swept-wing fighter airplane to determine the tendency of this design to enter spins and to evaluate the nature of the spin obtained from post-stall motions. The test results indicate that it may be difficult to obtain a developed spin on the airplane, particularly the flat-type spin. Two types of erect developed spins will be possible; one will be flat and fast rotating from which recovery may not be obtained and the other will be steeper and oscillatory from which recoveries will be satisfactory. Controls will be effective for satisfactory termination of the post-stall gyrations obtained. The recommended recovery technique from both post-stall gyrations and developed spins will be movement of the rudder to oppose the yawing rotation and simultaneous movement of the ailerons to with the rotation (stick right when turning to the right). When recovery is imminent, the stick should be moved longitudinally to neutral. It is recommended that the spin not be allowed to develop fully on this airplane. The developed-spin results obtained in the investigation were in good agreement with spin-tunnel results.
The computer program FLO-22 for analyzing inviscid transonic flow past 3-D swept-wing configurations was modified to use vector operations and run on the STAR-100 computer. The vectorized version described herein was called FLO-22-V1. Vector operations were incorporated into Successive Line Over-Relaxation in the transformed horizontal direction. Vector relational operations and control vectors were used to implement upwind differencing at supersonic points. A high speed of computation and extended grid domain were characteristics of FLO-22-V1. The new program was not the optimal vectorization of Successive Line Over-Relaxation applied to transonic flow; however, it proved that vector operations can readily be implemented to increase the computation rate of the algorithm.
Femtosecond laser electronic excitation tagging (FLEET) was applied to obtain flowfield velocity data for the Swept Wing Flow Test (SWiFT) at the NASA Langley Research Center National Transonic Facility (NTF). Despite numerous challenges associated with performing flow velocimetry measurements within a large-scale cryogenic wind tunnel facility, the experimental campaign was conducted under various conditions, including dry air at 320 K, cool nitrogen at 240 K, and Mach numbers of 0.2 and 0.8. FLEET velocimetry measurements were performed in the downstream wake of the SWiFT model, providing a quantitative dataset. This dataset includes one-dimensional velocity profiles and two-dimensional velocity maps acquired at different angles of attack and Reynolds numbers. The two-dimensional single component velocity maps indicate relatively uniform flow across the 120-mm wide wake flow survey suggesting that the main flow features can be represented by single-position linear velocity profiles. The measured instantaneous velocity profiles at variable angles of attack are compared to model lift coefficient information obtained at Mach 0.2. At high Reynolds numbers, a sudden velocity decrease was observed in the FLEET measurements at the same time as stall in lift coefficient was observed. At a low Reynolds number, both the velocity profiles and the lift coefficient show a smoother transition, without a sudden stall. Furthermore, the two-dimensional, one component velocity map reveals a velocity deficit region at Mach 0.8 at various angles of attack. Both single shot and mean velocity measurements were acquired allowing assessment of flowfield fluctuations and measurement precisions. The uncertainties are within 4 m/s in mean measurements based on repeatability data and about 5 m/s in instantaneous single-shot measurements. Measurements are reported with ~4.8 mm spatial resolution with 32-pixel averaging used to reduce measurement errors.
An analysis method and computer program have been developed for the calculation of the viscosity dependent aerodynamic characteristics of multi-element infinite swept wings in incompressible flow. The wing configuration consisting at the most of a slat, a main element and double slotted flap is represented in the method by a large number of panels. The inviscid pressure distribution about a given configuration in the normal chord direction is determined using a two dimensional potential flow program employing a vortex lattice technique. The boundary layer development over each individual element of the high lift configuration is determined using either integral or finite difference boundary layer techniques. A source distribution is then determined as a function of the calculated boundary layer displacement thickness and pressure distributions. This source distribution is included in the second calculation of the potential flow about the configuration. Once the solution has converged (usually after 2-5 iterations between the potential flow and boundary layer calculations) lift, drag, and pitching moments can be determined as functions of Reynolds number.
A wind-tunnel free-flight investigation was conducted to study the dynamic stability characteristics of a model of a forward-swept-wing fighter-airplane configuration at high angles of attack. Various other wind-tunnel techniques employed in the study included static- and dynamic- (forced-oscillation) force tests, free-to-roll tests, and flow-visualization tests. A unique facet of the study was the extreme level of static pitch instability (in excess of negative 32-percent static margin) inherent in the airframe design which precluded free-flight testing without stability augmentation in pitch. Results are presented which emphasize the high-angle-of-attack aerodynamics and the vehicle-component contributions to these characteristics. The effects of these aerodynamic characteristics on the high-angle-of-attack flying qualities of the configuration are discussed in terms of results of the wind-tunnel free-flight tests.
A study has been conducted in the NASA-Langley Transonic Dynamics wind tunnel to determine the divergence characteristics of a high aspect ratio forward swept wing of rectangular planform, for sweep angles of zero, -15, -30, -45, and -60 deg. In addition to a rectangular wingtip, a tip whose geometry lay parallel with the freestream flow was tested at a sweep angle of -45 deg. The primary objective was to obtain data that could be used to verify the divergence prediction capabilities of an aeroelastic analysis code employing kernel function aerodynamics. The analytical predictions of convergence were found to be conservative for all forward sweep angles, and the effect of the two tip shapes on divergence dynamic pressure were accurately predicted.
This report presents the results of flight measurements of longitudinal stability and control characteristics made on a swept-wing jet aircraft to determine the origin of the pitch-up encountered in maneuvering flight at transonic speeds. For this purpose measurements were made of elevator angle, tail angle of attack, and wing-fuselage pitching moments (obtained from measurements of the balancing tail loads).
A flight investigation of a 1/7-scale rocket-powered model of the XF10F Grumman XFl0F airplane in the swept-wing configuration has been made. The purpose of this test was to determine the static longitudinal stability, damping in pitch, and longitudinal control effectiveness of the airplane with the center of gravity at 20 percent of the wing mean aerodynamic chord. Only a small amount of data was obtained from the test because, immediately after booster separation at a Mach number of 0.88, the configuration was directionally unstable and diverged in sideslip. Simultaneous with the sideslip divergence, the model became longitudinally unstable at 3 degree angle of attack and -6 degree sideslip and diverged in pitch to a high angle of attack. During the pitch-up the free-floating horizontal tail became unstable at 5 degree angle of attack and the tail drifted against its positive deflection limit.
In support of the Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge [ACTE] project at the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, displacement transfer functions were applied to the swept wing of a Gulfstream G-III airplane (Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Savannah, Georgia) to obtain deformed shape predictions. Four strainsensing lines (two on the lower surface, two on the upper surface) were used to calculate the deformed shape of the G III wing under bending and torsion. There being an insufficient number of surface strain sensors, the existing G III wing box finite element model was used to generate simulated surface strains for input to the displacement transfer functions. The resulting predicted deflections have good correlation with the finite-element generated deflections as well as the measured deflections from the ground load calibration test. The convergence study showed that the displacement prediction error at the G III wing tip can be reduced by increasing the number of strain stations (for each strain-sensing line) down to a minimum error of l.6 percent at 17 strain stations; using more than 17 strain stations yielded no benefit because the error slightly increased to 1.9% when 32 strain stations were used.
A contoured, nonporous, wind-tunnel liner has been designed in order to simulate a free-flight infinite yawed-wing, transonic-flow condition about a large-chord, supercritical-section, laminar-flow-control (LFC), swept-wing test panel. The numerical procedure developed for this aerodynamic liner design is based upon the simple idea of streamlining and incorporates several existing transonic and boundary-layer analysis codes. A summary of the entire procedure is presented to indicate: what was done and why, the sequence of steps, and the overall data flow. The liner is being installed in the NASA Langley 8-Foot Transonic Pressure Tunnel (TPT). Test results indicating the aerodynamic performance of the liner are not yet available; thus, the liner design results given here are examples of the calculated requirements and the hardware implementation.