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A single engine two passenger airplane, constructed completely from fiber reinforced plastic materials is introduced. The cockpit, controls, wing profile, and landing gear are discussed. Development of the airframe is also presented.
A transonic unsteady aerodynamic and aeroelasticity code has been developed for application to realistic aircraft configurations. The new code is called CAP-TSD which is an acronym for Computational Aeroelasticity Program - Transonic Small Disturbance. The CAP-TSD code uses a time-accurate approximate factorization (AF) algorithm for solution of the unsteady transonic small-disturbance equation. The AF algorithm is very efficient for solution of steady and unsteady transonic flow problems. It can provide accurate solutions in only several hundred time steps yielding a significant computational cost savings when compared to alternative methods. The new code can treat complete aircraft geometries with multiple lifting surfaces and bodies including canard, wing, tail, control surfaces, launchers, pylons, fuselage, stores, and nacelles. Applications are presented for a series of five configurations of increasing complexity to demonstrate the wide range of geometrical applicability of CAP-TSD. These results are in good agreement with available experimental steady and unsteady pressure data. Calculations for the General Dynamics one-ninth scale F-16C aircraft model are presented to demonstrate application to a realistic configuration. Unsteady results for the entire F-16C aircraft undergoing a rigid pitching motion illustrated the capability required to perform transonic unsteady aerodynamic and aeroelastic analyses for such configurations.
A transonic unsteady aerodynamic and aeroelasticity code has been developed for application to realistic aircraft configurations. The new code is called CAP-TSD which is an acronym for Computational Aeroelasticity Program - Transonic Small Disturbance. The CAP-TSD code uses a time-accurate approximate factorization (AF) algorithm for solution of the unsteady transonic small-disturbance equation. The AF algorithm is very efficient for solution of steady and unsteady transonic flow problems. It can provide accurate solutions in only several hundred time steps yielding a significant computational cost savings when compared to alternative methods. The new code can treat complete aircraft geometries with multiple lifting surfaces and bodies including canard, wing, tail, control surfaces, launchers, pylons, fuselage, stores, and nacelles. Applications are presented for a series of five configurations of increasing complexity to demonstrate the wide range of geometrical applicability of CAP-TSD. These results are in good agreement with available experimental steady and unsteady pressure data. Calculations for the General Dynamics one-ninth scale F-16C aircraft model are presented to demonstrate application to a realistic configuration. Unsteady results for the entire F-16C aircraft undergoing a rigid pitching motion illustrated the capability required to perform transonic unsteady aerodynamic and aeroelastic analyses for such configurations.
An experimental investigation of the in-ground effect aerodynamic characteristics and predicted landing-ground-roll performance of wing-canard fighter configuration with a secondary nozzle thrust reverser was completed. These tests were conducted in the Langley 14 by 22 foot Subsonic Wind Tunnel using a model equipped with a pneumatic jet for thrust simulation of nozzle pressure ratios up to 4.0. The model was tested in the landing rollout configuration at approx. wheel touchdown height for a range of decreasing dynamic pressure from 50 psf down to 10 psf. Landing-ground-roll predictions of the configuration were calculated using the wind tunnel results.
A flight test program was performed using the Boeing 757 flight research airplane to investigate the effect of noise from wing mounted engines on laminar boundary layer transition. An NLF glove was installed on the right wing panel just outboard of the engine. The extent of laminar flow on the glove was measured as a function of engine power setting for a range of flight conditions. A combination of surface and probe microphones was distributed over the upper and lower wing surfaces to measure sound spectra. The flight test program was completed in June 1985 and the results of preliminary analysis indicate that a maximum of about 29 percent of chord laminar flow was obtained on the upper surface and about 28 percent on the lower surface (at a high sideslip condition). The engine speed was varied from about 2600 (idle) to about 4500 (maximum continuous power) r/min. This produced changes in sound pressure level up to 20 dB on the lower surface. On the upper surface, the noise levels were independent of engine power but sensitive to airplane Mach number. No effect of engine power setting on upper surface transition location was observed, and only a small forward movement of the transition location on the lower surface was observed at the high power settings. Volume 1 of this report contains the program description and data analysis. Volume 2 is a compilation of all of the flight test data.
An experimental effort was implemented in aeroelasticity called the Benchmark Models Program. The primary purpose of this program is to provide the necessary data to evaluate computational fluid dynamic codes for aeroelastic analysis. It also focuses on increasing the understanding of the physics of unsteady flows and providing data for empirical design. An overview is given of this program and some results obtained in the initial tests are highlighted. The tests that were completed include measurement of unsteady pressures during flutter of a rigid wing with an NACA 0012 airfoil section and dynamic response measurements of a flexible rectangular wing with a thick circular arc airfoil undergoing shock boundary layer oscillations.
This paper summarizes the results obtained with the NSU-3D unstructured multigrid solver for the AIAA Drag Prediction Workshop held in Anaheim, CA, June 2001. The test case for the workshop consists of a wing-body configuration at transonic flow conditions. Flow analyses for a complete test matrix of lift coefficient values and Mach numbers at a constant Reynolds number are performed, thus producing a set of drag polars and drag rise curves which are compared with experimental data. Results were obtained independently by both authors using an identical baseline grid and different refined grids. Most cases were run in parallel on commodity cluster-type machines while the largest cases were run on an SGI Origin machine using 128 processors. The objective of this paper is to study the accuracy of the subject unstructured grid solver for predicting drag in the transonic cruise regime, to assess the efficiency of the method in terms of convergence, cpu time, and memory, and to determine the effects of grid resolution on this predictive ability and its computational efficiency. A good predictive ability is demonstrated over a wide range of conditions, although accuracy was found to degrade for cases at higher Mach numbers and lift values where increasing amounts of flow separation occur. The ability to rapidly compute large numbers of cases at varying flow conditions using an unstructured solver on inexpensive clusters of commodity computers is also demonstrated.
The results of a preliminary investigation of submerged duct entrances are presented. It is shown that an entrance of this type possess desirable critical speed and pressure recovery characteristics when used on a fuselage or nacelle in a region of low incremental velocity and thin boundary layer. The data obtained indicate that submerged entrances are most suitable for use with internal-flow systems which diffuse the air only a small amount: for example, those used with jet motors which have axial-flow compressors. Where complete diffusion of the air is required, fuselage-nose or wing leading edge inlets may prove to be superior. The results of the investigation have been prepared in such a form as to permit their use by a designer and the application of these data to a specific design is discussed.
Advancing and exploring the science of Multidisciplinary Analysis & Optimization (MDAO) capabilities are high-level goals in the Fundamental Aeronautics Program s Subsonic Fixed Wing (SFW) project. The OpenMDAO team has made significant progress toward completing the Alpha OpenMDAO deliverable due in September 2010. Included in the presentation are: details of progress on developing the OpenMDAO framework, example usage of OpenMDAO, technology transfer plans, near term plans, progress toward establishing partnerships with external parties, and discussion of additional potential collaborations.
An investigation was made in the NACA 19-foot pressure wind tunnel to determine the effect of various win-gun installation on the aerodynamic characteristics of a model with an NACA low-drag wing. Measurements were made of lift and drag over an angle-of-attack range and for several values of dynamic pressure on a four-tenths scale model of a high-speed airplane equipped with the low-drag wing and with various wing-gun installations. Two installations were tested: one in which the blast tube and part of the gun barrel protrude ahead of the wing and another in which the guns is mounted wholly within the wing. Two types of openings for the latter installation were tested. For each installation three simulated guns were mounted in each wing. The results are given in the form of nondimensional coefficients. The installations tested appear to have little effect on the maximum-lift coefficient of the model. However, the drag coefficient shows a definite change. The least adverse effect was obtained with the completely internal mounting and small nose entrance. The results indicate that a properly designed wing-gun installation will have very little adverse effect on the aerodynamic characteristics of the low-drag wing.
In recent years significant advances have been made for parallel computers in both hardware and software. Now parallel computers have become viable tools in computational mechanics. Many application codes developed on conventional computers have been modified to benefit from parallel computers. Significant speedups in some areas have been achieved by parallel computations. For single-discipline use of both fluid dynamics and structural dynamics, computations have been made on wing-body configurations using parallel computers. However, only a limited amount of work has been completed in combining these two disciplines for multidisciplinary applications. The prime reason is the increased level of complication associated with a multidisciplinary approach. In this work, procedures to compute aeroelasticity on parallel computers using direct coupling of fluid and structural equations will be investigated for wing-body configurations. The parallel computer selected for computations is an Intel iPSC/860 computer which is a distributed-memory, multiple-instruction, multiple data (MIMD) computer with 128 processors. In this study, the computational efficiency issues of parallel integration of both fluid and structural equations will be investigated in detail. The fluid and structural domains will be modeled using finite-difference and finite-element approaches, respectively. Results from the parallel computer will be compared with those from the conventional computers using a single processor. This study will provide an efficient computational tool for the aeroelastic analysis of wing-body structures on MIMD type parallel computers.
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.
This paper presents the first results in an assessment of the strength, stiffness, and damage tolerance of stiffened wing and fuselage subcomponents. Under this NASA funded program, 10 large wing and fuselage panels, variously fabricated by automated tow placement and dry-stitched preform/resin transfer molding, are to be tested. The first test of an automated tow placement six-longeron fuselage panel under shear load was completed successfully. Using NASTRAN finite-element analysis the stiffness of the panel in the linear range prior to buckling was predicted within 3.5 percent. A nonlinear analysis predicted the buckling load within 10 percent and final failure load within 6 percent. The first test of a resin transfer molding six-stringer wing panel under compression was also completed. The panel failed unexpectedly in buckling because of inadequate supporting structure. The average strain was 0.43 percent with a line load of 20.3 kips per inch of width. This strain still exceeds the design allowable strains. Also, the stringers did not debond before failure, which is in contrast to the general behavior of unstitched panels.
This paper discusses a wind tunnel experiment of active gust load alleviation of a flexible wing which took place at University of Washington (UW) in 2019. The experiment performed under a NASA SBIR contract with Scientific Systems Company, Inc (SSCI). The objective of the experiment is to demonstrate active controls of the Variable Camber Continuous Trailing Edge Flap (VCCTEF) system for gust load alleviation and real-time drag optimization. The wind tunnel model is a 8.2% sub-scale Common Research Model (CRM) wing. The wing structure is designed to provide a substantial degree of flexibility to represent that of a modern high-aspect ratio wing. Eight active control surfaces are employed in the VCCTEF. A new gust generator system was designed and installed by UW under a sub-contract with SSCI. The first test entry started in July 2019 and ended in September 2019. During this test entry, many significant issues were found with the hardware and software. The significant issues with the servos prevented the test objective from being completed. A follow-up second test entry in 2020 is being planned. The wing system is being repaired by SSCI. This paper reports on the progress of this experimental effort and the aeroservoelastic (ASE) model validation which was conducted during the test entry.
An investigation was conducted to obtain the aerodynamic characteristics of a model of a fighter-type airplane embodying partial body indentation. The wing had an aspect ratio of 4, taper ratio of 0.5, 35 deg sweepback of the 0.25-chord line, and a modified NACA 65A006 airfoil section at the root and a modified NACA 65A004 airfoil section at the tip. The fuselage has been indented in the region of the wing in order to obtain a favorable area distribution. The results reported herein consist of the performance and of the static longitudinal and lateral stability and control characteristics of the complete model. The Mach number range extended from 0.60 to 1.13, and the corresponding Reynolds number based on the wing mean aerodynamic chord varied from 1.77 x 10(exp 6) to 2.15 x 10(exp 6). The drag rise for both the cambered leading edge and symmetrical wing sections occurred at a Mach number of 0.95. Certain local modifications to the body which further improved the distribution of cross-sectional area gave additional reductions in drag at a Mach number of 1.00. The basic configuration indicated a mild pitch-up tendency at lift coefficients near 0.70 for the Mach number range from 0.80 to 0.90; however, the pitch-up instability may not be too objectionable on the basis of dynamic-stability considerations. The basic configuration indicated positive directional stability and positive effective dihedral through the angle-of-attack range and Mach number range with the exception of a region of negative effective dihedral at low lifts at Mach numbers of 1.00 and slightly above.
A computational study of the wing for the distributed electric propulsion X-57 Maxwell airplane configuration at cruise and takeoff/landing conditions was completed. Three unstructured-mesh, Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics methods, FUN3D, USM3D and Kestrel, were used to predict the performance buildup of components to the full X-57 configuration. The goal of the X-57 wing and distributed electric propulsion system design was to meet or exceed the required lift coefficient of 3.95 for a stall speed of 58 knots. The X-57 Maxwell airplane was designed with a small, high aspect ratio cruise wing that was designed for a high cruise lift coefficient of 0.75 at a cruise speed of 150 knots and altitude of 8,000 ft, with an angle of attack of approximately 0deg. The computational data indicates that the X-57 full aircraft drag would meet the cruise drag goal with a 25 count drag margin. The cruise configuration maximum lift coefficient is 2.07 and without including the stabilator is 1.86 at an angle of attack of 14 deg, predicted with the USM3D flow solver using the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model. The maximum lift coefficient for the high-lift wing (with the 30deg flap deflection) without the stabilator contribution is 2.60 at an angle of attack of 13 deg. For high-lift blowing conditions with 13.7 hp/prop, the maximum lift coefficient excluding the stabilator is 4.426 at (alpha) = 13 deg. Therefore, the lift augmentation from the high-lift propellers is 1.7 and the total lift augmentation from the high-lift system (30 deg flap deflection and the high-lift blowing) is 2.38. The drag for the high-lift wing with 30 deg flap deflection is much higher than the cruise wing configuration, but the high-lift system is used only during a small portion of the flight envelope. The pitching moment is relatively constant for both blown and unblown conditions when the stabilator is excluded. Modeling the full geometry has indicated some adverse effects from the fuselage on the wing and stabilator. At high angles of attack, the solutions with the USM3D flow solver using the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model indicates large flow separation on the wing upper surface between the two high-lift nacelles near the fuselage, and also a reduction in sectional lift on the stabilator in the first 50 percent of the stabilator semispan. However, the large flow separation near the fuselage is mostly eliminated in the solutions predicted with two codes, USM3D and Kestrel, using Hybrid Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes/Large Eddy Simulation turbulence models.
An investigation has been made at Mach numbers of 1.61 and 2.01 and Reynolds numbers of 1.7 x l0(exp 6) and 3.6 x l0(exp 6) to determine the pressure distributions over a swept wing with a series of 14 control configurations. The wing had 40 deg of sweep of the quarter-chord line, an aspect ratio of 3.1, and a taper ratio of 0.4. Measurements were made at angles of attack from 0 deg to +/- 15 deg for control deflections from -60 deg to 60 deg. This report contains tabulated pressure data for the complete range of test conditions.
The SOUSSA (steady, oscillatory, and unsteady subsonic and supersonic aerodynamics) program is the computational implementation of a general potential flow analysis (by the Green's function method) that can generate pressure distributions on complete aircraft having arbitrary shapes, motions and deformations. Some applications of the initial release version of this program to several wings in steady and oscillatory motion, including flutter are presented. The results are validated by comparisons with other calculations and experiments. Experiences in using the program as well as some recent improvements are described.