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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1980

Effects of wing and tail location on the aerodynamic characteristics of an airplane for Mach numbers from 0.25 to 4.63

An experimental investigation was conducted to determine the effect of wing vertical position and horizontal-tail vertical and axial position on the static aerodynamic characteristics of a wing-body-horizontal-tail configuration. The configurations investigated included the wing in a high, mid, or low position on the body with the horizontal tail in each of these vertical positions as well as in three axial positions. The closest position of the horizontal tail to the wing essentially provided an all-wing configuration. In addition, tests were made for the three wing positions with the horizontal tail removed. The tests were made in three different wind tunnels to provide data for a Mach number range from 0.25 to 4.63. The purpose of the investigation was to illustrate the strong effects of interference flow fields as a function of geometry and flight attitude and to provide a systematic data base that might be useful for correlation with various analytical techniques. The results indicate some arrangements that might lead to aerodynamic problems and others in which the interference flow fields might be favorably exploited. The results suggest that a coplanar concept with a translating horizontal tail could potentially minimize the aerodynamic changes with Mach number and provide more optimum performance over the Mach number range.

Spearman, M. L.↗
NASA NTRS2016

The NASA Juncture Flow Experiment: Goals, Progress, and Preliminary Testing (Invited)

NASA has been working toward designing and conducting a juncture flow experiment on a wing-body aircraft configuration. The experiment is planned to provide validation-quality data for CFD that focuses on the onset and progression of a separation bubble near the wing-body juncture trailing edge region. This paper describes the goals and purpose of the experiment. Although currently considered unreliable, preliminary CFD analyses of several different configurations are shown. These configurations have been subsequently tested in a series of "risk-reduction" wind tunnel tests, in order to help down-select to a final configuration that will attain the desired flow behavior. The risk-reduction testing at the higher Reynolds number has not yet been completed (at the time of this writing), but some results from one of the low-Reynolds-number experiments are shown.

Rumsey, Christopher L.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Space shuttle phase B wind tunnel model and test information. Volume 3: Launch configuration

Archived wind tunnel test data are available for flyback booster or other alternate recoverable configuration as well as reusable orbiters studied during initial development (Phase B) of the Space Shuttle, including contractor data for an extensive variety of configurations with an array of wing and body planforms. The test data have been compiled into a database and are available for application to current winged flyback or recoverable booster aerodynamic studies. The Space Shuttle Phase B Wind Tunnel Database is structured by vehicle component and configuration. Basic components include booster, orbiter, and launch vehicle. Booster configuration types include straight and delta wings, canard, cylindrical, retroglide and twin body. Orbiter configurations include straight and delta wings, lifting body, drop tanks and double delta wings. Launch configurations include booster and orbiter components in various stacked and tandem combinations. The digital database consists of 220 files containing basic tunnel data. Database structure is documented in a series of reports which include configuration sketches for the various planforms tested. This is Volume 3 -- launch configurations.

Glynn, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Body and canard effects on an attached-flow maneuver wing at Mach 1.62

A wing-body-canard configuration was tested at a Mach number of 1.62 by using both a cambered and an uncambered wing. The cambered wing was designed to produce efficient high lift by using attached supercritical crossflow and was originally tested as an isolated wing. The uncambered wing has the same planform and essentially the same thickness distribution as the cambered wing. The experiment determined the effects of a body and canards on both wings. The experimental data showed that both the body and the canards influenced the wing pressure levels, but that the attached supercritical crossflow, which was achieved in the isolated cambered-wing test, was maintained in the presence of a body and canards. Tables of experimental pressure, force, and moment data are included, as well as photographs of oil flow patterns on the upper surface.

Pittman, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1959

Longitudinal Stability and Control Characteristics at Mach Numbers from 0.70 to 2.22 of a Triangular Wing Configuration Equipped with a Canard Control, a Trailing-Edge-Flap Control or a Cambered Forebody

Results of an investigation to determine the static longitudinal stability and control characteristics of an aspect-ratio-2 triangular wing and body configuration equipped with either a canard control, a trailing-edge-flap control, or a cambered forebody are presented without analysis for Mach numbers from 0.70 to 2.22. The canard surface had a triangular plan form and a ratio of exposed area to total wing area of 7.8 percent. The hinge line of the canard was in the extended wing chord plane, 0.83 wing mean aerodynamic chord ahead of the reference center of moments. The trailing-edge controls were constant-chord full-span flaps with exposed area equal to 10.7 percent of the total wing area. The cambered body was a modified Sears-Haack body with camber only ahead of the wing apex. Data are presented for various canard and flap deflections at angles of attack ranging from -6 deg to +18 deg.

Boyd, John W.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Aeroelastic Optimization of Generalized Tube and Wing Aircraft Concepts Using HCDstruct Version 2.0

Major enhancements were made to the Higher-fidelity Conceptual Design and structural optimization (HCDstruct) tool developed at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC). Whereas previous versions were limited to hybrid wing body (HWB) configurations, the current version of HCDstruct now supports the analysis of generalized tube and wing (TW) aircraft concepts. Along with significantly enhanced user input options for all air- craft configurations, these enhancements represent HCDstruct version 2.0. Validation was performed using a Boeing 737-200 aircraft model, for which primary structure weight estimates agreed well with available data. Additionally, preliminary analysis of the NASA D8 (ND8) aircraft concept was performed, highlighting several new features of the tool.

Quinlan, Jesse R.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Wind-tunnel investigation of several high aspect-ratio supercritical wing configurations on a wide-body-type fuselage

An investigation was conducted in the Langley 8-foot transonic pressure tunnel on two aspect-ratio 11.95 supercritical wings that were tested in combination with a representative wide-body-type fuselage. The two supercritical wings have identical planforms for equal sweep angles and differ only in thickness. Each wing was tested at quarter-chord sweep angles of 27 deg and 30 deg. At the higher sweep angle, the aspect ratio is reduced to 11.36. At 27 deg of quarter-chord sweep, the thicker supercritical wing (SCW-1) has maximum streamwise thickness-to-chord ratios of 0.16 at the wing-fuselage juncture, 0.14 at the planform break station, and 0.12 at the tip. The thinner wing (SCW-2) has maximum streamwise thickness-to-chord ratios of 0.144, 0.12, and 0.10 at the same stations respectively. Tests were also conducted on the thinner supercritical wing at the 27 deg sweep angle with a 15.24 cm (6.0 in.) shorter span which results in an aspect ratio of 10.25. For comparison, data were obtained on a current wide-body transport wing (AR=7) that was tested on the same fuselage used with the supercritical wings.

Bartlett, D. W.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Space shuttle phase B wind tunnel model and test information. Volume 1: Booster configuration

Archived wind tunnel test data are available for flyback booster or other alternative recoverable configurations as well as reusable orbiters studied during initial development (Phase B) of the Space Shuttle. Considerable wind tunnel data was acquired by the competing contractors and the NASA Centers for an extensive variety of configurations with an array of wing and body planforms. All contractor and NASA wind tunnel test data acquired in the Phase B development have been compiled into a database and are available for application to current winged flyback or recoverable booster aerodynamic studies. The Space Shuttle Phase B Wind Tunnel Database is structured by vehicle component and configuration type. Basic components include the booster, the orbiter and the launch vehicle. Booster configuration types include straight and delta wings, canard, cylindrical, retroglide and twin body. Orbiter configuration types include straight and delta wings, lifting body, drop tanks, and double delta wings. Launch configurations include booster and orbiter components in various stacked and tandem combinations. This is Volume 1 (Part 1) of the report -- Booster Configuration.

Glynn, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Space shuttle phase B wind tunnel model and test information. Volume 1: Booster configuration

Archived wind tunnel test data are available for flyback booster or other alternative recoverable configurations as well as reusable orbiters studied during initial development (Phase B) of the Space Shuttle. Considerable wind tunnel data was acquired by the competing contractors and the NASA Centers for an extensive variety of configurations with an array of wing and body planforms. All contractor and NASA wind tunnel test data acquired in the Phase B development have been compiled into a database and are available for application to current winged flyback or recoverable booster aerodynamic studies. The Space Shuttle Phase B Wind Tunnel Database is structured by vehicle component and configuration type. Basic components include the booster, the orbiter, and the launch vehicle. Booster configuration types include straight and delta wings, canard, cylindrical, retroglide and twin body. Orbiter configuration types include straight and delta wings, lifting body, drop tanks and double delta wings. Launch configurations include booster and orbiter components in various stacked and tandem combinations. This is Volume 1 (Part 2) of the report -- Booster Configuration.

Glynn, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Effect of configuration modifications on the low-subsonic aerodynamic characteristics of a space shuttle orbiter concept with a blended delta wing-body

An investigation of several configuration modifications to improve the subsonic stability and performance of a blended delta wing-body space shuttle-orbiter concept has been conducted in the Langley low-turbulence pressure tunnel. These modifications included variations in vertical-tail location and orientation, wing planform shape, and afterbody shape. The model was tested at a Reynolds number, based on body length, of 17 x one million, at a Mack number of 0.25, and at angles of attack from about -4 deg to 22 deg.

Freeman, D. C., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Effect of planform and body on supersonic aerodynamics of multibody configurations

An experimental and theoretical investigation of the effect of the wing planform and bodies on the supersonic aerodynamics of a low-fineness-ratio, multibody configuration has been conducted in the Langley Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel at Mach numbers of 1.60, 1.80, 2.00, and 2.16. Force and moment data, flow-visualization data, and surface-pressure data were obtained on eight low-fineness-ratio, twin-body configurations. These configurations varied in inboard wing planform shape, outboard wing planform shape, outboard wing planform size, and presence of the bodies. The force and moment data showed that increasing the ratio of outboard wing area to total wing area or increasing the leading-edge sweep of the inboard wing influenced the aerodynamic characteristics. The flow-visualization data showed a complex flow-field system of shocks, shock-induced separation, and body vortex systems occurring between the side bodies. This flow field was substantially affected by the inboard wing planform shape but minimally affected by the outboard wing planform shape. The flow-visualization and surface-pressure data showed that flow over the outboard wing developed as expected with changes in angle of attack and Mach number and was affected by the leading-edge sweep of the inboard wing and the presence of the bodies. Evaluation of the linear-theory prediction methods revealed their general inability to consistently predict the characteristics of these multibody configurations.

Mcmillin, S. Naomi↗
NASA NTRS2007

High Altitude Long Endurance UAV Analysis of Alternatives and Technology Requirements Development

An Analysis of Alternatives and a Technology Requirements Study were conducted for two mission areas utilizing various types of High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). A hurricane science mission and a communications relay mission provided air vehicle requirements which were used to derive sixteen potential HALE UAV configurations, including heavier-than-air (HTA) and lighter-than-air (LTA) concepts with both consumable fuel and solar regenerative propulsion systems. A HTA diesel-fueled wing-body-tail configuration emerged as the preferred concept given near-term technology constraints. The cost effectiveness analysis showed that simply maximizing vehicle endurance can be a sub-optimum system solution. In addition, the HTA solar regenerative configuration was utilized to perform both a mission requirements study and a technology development study. Given near-term technology constraints, the solar regenerative powered vehicle was limited to operations during the long days and short nights at higher latitudes during the summer months. Technology improvements are required in energy storage system specific energy and solar cell efficiency, along with airframe drag and mass reductions to enable the solar regenerative vehicle to meet the full mission requirements.

Nickol, Craig L.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Design of a Blended Wing Body (BWB) with Boundary Layer Ingestion (BLI) Nacelles

A study is being conducted to improve the propulsion/airframe integration for the Blended Wing-Body (BWB) configuration with boundary layer ingestion nacelles. TWO unstructured grid flow solvers, USM3D and FUN3D, have been coupled with different design methods and are being used to redesign the aft wing region and the nacelles to reduce drag and flow separation. An initial study comparing analyses from these two flow solvers against data from a wind tunnel test as well as predictions from the OVERFLOW structured grid code for a BWB without nacelles has been completed. Results indicate that the unstructured grid codes are sufficiently accurate for use in design. Results from the BWB design study will be presented.

Morehouse, Melissa B.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Study of the Mutual Interaction Between a Wing Wake and an Encountering Airplane

In an effort to increase airport productivity, several wind-tunnel and flight-test programs are currently underway to determine safe reductions in separation standards between aircraft. These programs are designed to study numerous concepts from the characteristics and detection of wake vortices to the wake-vortex encounter phenomenon. As part of this latter effort, computational tools are being developed and utilized as a means of modeling and verifying wake-vortex hazard encounters. The objective of this study is to assess the ability of PMARC, a low-order potential-flow panel method, to predict the forces and moments imposed on a following business-jet configuration by a vortex interaction. Other issues addressed include the investigation of several wake models and their ability to predict wake shape and trajectory, the validity of the velocity field imposed on the following configuration, modeling techniques and the effect of the high-lift system and the empennage. Comparisons with wind-tunnel data reveal that PMARC predicts the characteristics for the clean wing-body following configuration fairly well. Non-linear effects produced by the addition of the high-lift system and empennage, however, are not so well predicted.

Walden, A. B.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Subsonic-to-Hypersonic Aerodynamic Characteristics for a Winged, Circular-Body, Single-Stage-to-Orbit Spacecraft Configuration

Experimental aerodynamic characteristics were obtained for a generic, winged, circular-body, single-stage-to-orbit spacecraft configuration. The baseline configuration was longitudinally stable and trimmable at almost all Mach numbers from 0.15 to 10.0--with the exception occurring at low supersonic speeds. Landing speed and subsonic-to-hypersonic longitudinal stability and control appear to be within design guidelines. Lateral-directional instabilities found over the entire speed range, however, create a problem area for this configuration. Longitudinal aerodynamic predictions made utilizing the Aerodynamic Preliminary Analysis System (APAS) were in qualitative, often quantitative agreement with experimental values.

Phillips, W. P.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Space shuttle phase B wind tunnel model and test information. Volume 3: Launch configuration

Archived wind tunnel data are available for flyback booster or other alternative recoverable configurations as well as reusable orbiters studied during initial development (Phase B) of the Space Shuttle. Considerable wind tunnel data was acquired by the competing contractors and the NASA Centers for an extensive variety of configurations with an array of wing and body planforms. All contractor and NASA wind tunnel data acquired in the Phase B development have been compiled into a data base and are available for application to current winged flyback or recoverable booster aerodynamic studies. The Space Shuttle Phase B Wind Tunnel Database is structured by vehicle component and configuration type. Basic components include booster, orbiter and launch vehicle. Booster configuration types include straight and delta wings, canard, cylindrical, retroglide and twin body. Orbital configuration types include straight and delta wings, lifting body, drop tanks and double delta wings. This is Volume 3 (Part 2) of the report -- Launch Configuration -- which includes booster and orbiter components in various stacked and tandem combinations.

Glynn, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS2007

High Altitude Long Endurance Air Vehicle Analysis of Alternatives and Technology Requirements Development

The objective of this study was to develop a variety of High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) conceptual designs for two operationally useful missions (hurricane science and communications relay) and compare their performance and cost characteristics. Sixteen potential HALE UAV configurations were initially developed, including heavier-than-air (HTA) and lighter-than-air (LTA) concepts with both consumable fuel and solar regenerative (SR) propulsion systems. Through an Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) down select process, the two leading consumable fuel configurations (one each from the HTA and LTA alternatives) and an HTA SR configuration were selected for further analysis. Cost effectiveness analysis of the consumable fuel configurations revealed that simply maximizing vehicle endurance can lead to a sub-optimum system solution. An LTA concept with a hybrid propulsion system (solar arrays and a hydrogen-air proton exchange membrane fuel cell) was found to have the best mission performance; however, an HTA diesel-fueled wing-body-tail configuration emerged as the preferred consumable fuel concept because of the large size and technical risk of the LTA concept. The baseline missions could not be performed by even the best HTA SR concept. Mission and SR technology trade studies were conducted to enhance understanding of the potential capabilities of such a vehicle. With near-term technology SR-powered HTA vehicles are limited to operation in favorable solar conditions, such as the long days and short nights of summer at higher latitudes. Energy storage system specific energy and solar cell efficiency were found to be the key technology areas for enhancing HTA SR performance.

Nickol, Craig L.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Steady-state RANS Pretest CFD Comparisons for the SWiFT NTF Test

The NATO AVT-298 research program has been underway for seven years to improve the understanding of the full-scale aerodynamics for moderately-swept hybrid wing-bodies found on future civil and military configurations and how this differs from what is measured with low Reynolds number wind tunnel testing or predicted with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Toward this effort, a hybrid wing-body configuration, known as Swept Wing Flow Test (SWiFT), was designed and tested in the Aircraft Research Association (ARA) and NASA Langley National Transonic Facility (NTF) wind tunnels. This presentation summarizes comparisons between the NTF wind tunnel data and a series of pretest CFD computations generated using steady-state Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations from participants representing seven institutions using nine separate flow solvers. The objective of this research was to assess the effectiveness of state-of-practice CFD methods in predicting the aerodynamics of swept wing aircraft and identify recommended areas of improvement to the methods themselves. Computational force and moment data will be presented for a series of angle-of-attack and sideslip angle sweeps over a range of Reynolds numbers at both low-speed and near-cruise Mach numbers, as tested in the NTF experiment.

National Transonic Facility↗