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Free flight drag measurements on delta wing with wing-fuselage-store
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The on-orbit structural dynamic performance of a microwave radiometer antenna for Earth science applications is addressed. The radiometer is one of the Earth-observing instruments aboard a proposed geostationary platform as part of the Mission to the Planet Earth. A sequential approach is presented for assessing the ability of an antenna structure to retain its geometric shape subject to a representative onboard disturbance. This approach includes establishing the structural requirements of the antenna, developing the structural and disturbance models, performing modal and forced response analyses, and evaluating the resulting distortions in terms of the antenna's ability to meet stringent structural performance requirements. Two antenna configurations are discussed: free-flying and platform-mounted. These configurations are analyzed for a representative disturbance function which simulates rotation of the subreflector in order to perform a raster-type scan of the Earth disk. Results show that the scanning maneuver modeled would not induce antenna structural errors outside the specified limits.
The present paper addresses the on-orbit dynamic performance of a low-frequency microwave radiometer for earth science applications. The radiometer is one of the earth-observing instruments aboard a geostationary platform proposed as part of the Mission to Planet Earth. The paper includes establishing the structural requirements of the antenna, developing the structural and disturbance models, performing modal and forced response analyses, and evaluating the resulting distortions in terms of the antenna's ability to meet stringent structural performance requirements. Two antenna configurations are discussed: free-flying and platform-mounted. These configurations are analyzed for a representative disturbance function which simulates rotation of the subreflector in order to perform a raster-type scan of the earth disk. Results show that the scanning maneuver modeled did not induce antenna performance errors which were outside their estimated limits.
Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations were performed on an N+2 conceptual commercial supersonic transport aircraft to explore the possibility of relocating the engines from below the wings to above the wings in order to capitalize upon potential noise shielding benefits. The simulations focused on the feasibility of the top-mounted propulsion configuration in terms of inlet performance and flow separation around the nacelles at climbout conditions for both 0deg and 8deg angle of attack. The results showed overall good inlet performance and little separation around the nacelles. The results were comparable to the engines in their original underwing configuration.
The SUSAN Electrofan is a new hybrid electric large regional jet aircraft concept being studied by NASA that leverages advanced propulsion system technologies such as distributed electric propulsion (DEP) and boundary-layer ingestion (BLI) to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. In order to evaluate the individual benefits of these technologies toward the SUSAN Electrofan’s wing-mounted propulsion systems, three configurations are proposed. The first consists of two underwing pylon-mounted podded propulsors and serves as a baseline, while the second features an underwing pylon-mounted DEP concept with 16 ducted fans in a mail-slot nacelle. The third and final configuration mounts the mail-slot nacelle directly onto the pressure side of the wing to also take advantage of BLI. This paper presents preliminary investigations into the design and performance of the first two propulsion system configurations. This begins with an initial propulsor and mail-slot design where the aeropropulsive design space is explored, and adverse effects are addressed through iterative geometry modifications. The propulsion system configurations are then installed onto a wing–body model to account for integration effects and assess the relative aerodynamic and shaft power performance of each concept. Results indicate the potential benefits of DEP, which come from significant reductions in total drag, provided by operation at much lower propulsor fan pressure ratios.
An Euler code has been developed for the analysis of a wing-mounted propfan configuration. Surface-fitted grids are used to represent the wing, fuselage, and nacelle geometry. The propeller is simulated by an actuator disk along a computational plane. A grid embedding technique is employed to capture detailed flow field resolution in the vicinity of the engine exhaust plume. Results of a NASA turboprop configuration are compared with test data. Specific issues on grid embedding and methods of resolving them are discussed.
A study was performed to assess the effect of booster configuration on the ascent abort process. A generic abort event sequence was created and booster related risk drivers were identified. Three model boosters were considered in light of the risk drivers: a solid rocket motor configuration, a side mount combination solid and liquid configuration, and a stacked liquid configuration. The primary risk drivers included explosive fireball, overpressure, and fragment effects and booster-crew module re-contact. Risk drivers that were not specifically booster dependent were not addressed. The solid rocket configuration had the most benign influence on an abort while the side mount architecture provided the most challenging abort environment.
Flow visualization tests were conducted on a 27 percent-scale AH-64 attack helicopter model fitted with various mast-mounted-sight configurations in an attempt to identify the cause of adverse vibration encountered during full-scale flight tests of an Apache/Longbow configuration. The tests were conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center in the 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel. A symmetric and an asymmetric mast-mounted-sight oriented at several skew angles were tested at forward and rearward flight speeds of 30 and 45 knots. A laser light sheet seeded with vaporized propylene glycol was used to visualize the wake of the sight in planes parallel and perpendicular to the freestream flow. Analysis of the flow visualization data identified the frequency of the wake shed from the sight, the angle-of-attack at the sight, and the location where the sight wake crossed the rotor plane. Differences in wake structure were observed between the various sight configurations and slew angles. Postulations into the cause of the adverse vibration found in flight test are given along with considerations for future tests.
An experimental investigation (SA14FA, TWT 620) was conducted in the MSFC 14-inch Trisonic Wind Tunnel (TWT) to determine the entry static stability of a 0.00563 scale shuttle solid rocket booster (SRB). The primary objective was to determine the effects of four side mounted sting configurations and to improve the definition of the aerodynamic characteristics in the vicinity of the SRB entry trim point. Data were obtained for two 60 and two 90 degree side mounted stings and a straight nose mounted sting. The angle of attack range for the side-mounted stings was 100 to 170 degrees while that for the nose mounted sting was 150 to 170 degrees. The Mach number range consisted of 0.6 to 3.48. Except for the aft attach ring, no protuberances were considered and the side slip and roll angles were zero. The test model was scaled from the 142-inch diameter SRB known as configuration 139 which was used during test TWT 572 (SA5F).
Finite element analysis (FEA), statistical energy analysis (SEA), and a power flow method (computer program PAIN) were used to assess low frequency interior noise associated with advanced propeller installations. FEA and SEA models were used to predict cabin noise and vibration and evaluate suppression concepts for structure-borne noise associated with the shaft rotational frequency and harmonics (less than 100 Hz). SEA and PAIN models were used to predict cabin noise and vibration and evaluate suppression concepts for airborne noise associated with engine radiated propeller tones. Both aft-mounted and wing-mounted propeller configurations were evaluated. Ground vibration test data from a 727 airplane modified to accept a propeller engine were used to compare with predictions for the aft-mounted propeller. Similar data from the 767 airplane was used for the wing-mounted comparisons.
Five all solid state cockpit television system (CTVS) cameras, built to USAF requirements for high performance type F-16 aircraft, were modified and tested for possible use in the closed circuit television system on the space shuttle orbiter. The 400 HZ power supply in the electronics unit assembly was replaced with two DC/DC converters to enable operation from 28VDC spacecraft-type power sources. Nonessential circuit functions were deleted to minimize input power requirements. The normal 31 mm focal length lense assemblies were replaced with wider field-of-view 19 mm focal length lenses. Base plates for and housings were redesigned to facilitate mounting and heat-sinking of the camera in the space environment and short length (14") adapter cables were designed, fabricated, and tested to meet requirements for cameras configured to mount on the astronauts helmet/visor assembly. Technical requirements, design implementation, environmental tests, Modifications prodedures, and reliability/quality efforts are discussed. Schematics are included.
The Linear Aerospike SR-71 Experiment (LASRE) is presently being conducted to test a 20-percent-scale version of the Linear Aerospike rocket engine. This rocket engine has been chosen to power the X-33 Single Stage to Orbit Technology Demonstrator Vehicle. The rocket engine was integrated into a lifting body configuration and mounted to the upper surface of an SR-71 aircraft. This paper presents stability and control results and performance results from the envelope expansion flight tests of the LASRE configuration up to Mach 1.8 and compares the results with wind tunnel predictions. Longitudinal stability and elevator control effectiveness were well-predicted from wind tunnel tests. Zero-lift pitching moment was mispredicted transonically. Directional stability, dihedral stability, and rudder effectiveness were overpredicted. The SR-71 handling qualities were never significantly impacted as a result of the missed predictions. Performance results confirmed the large amount of wind-tunnel-predicted transonic drag for the LASRE configuration. This drag increase made the performance of the vehicle so poor that acceleration through transonic Mach numbers could not be achieved on a hot day without depleting the available fuel.
A scale model of the Boeing Company space shuttle booster configuration 3 was tested in the MSFC 14-inch trisonic wind tunnel. This test was proposed to fill-in the original test run schedule as well as to investigate the aerodynamic stability and control characteristics of the booster with three wing configurations not previously tested. The configurations tested included: (1) a cylindrical booster body with an axisymmetric nose, (2) clipped delta canards that had variable incidence from 0 deg to -60 deg, (3) different aft body mounted wing configurations, (4) two vertical fin configurations, and (5) a Grumman G-3 orbiter configuration. Tests were conducted over a Mach range from 0.6 to 5.0.
An investigation was conducted to determine the aerodynamic characteristics of an advanced turboprop aircraft model with aft-pylon-mounted pusher propellers. Tests were conducted through an angle-of-attack range of -8 to 28 degrees, and an angle-of-sideslip range of -20 to 20 degrees at free-stream conditions corresponding to Reynolds numbers of 0.55 to 2.14 x 10 to the 6th power based on mean aerodynamic chord. Test results show that for the unpowered configurations the maximum lift coefficients for the cruise, takeoff, and landing configurations are 1.45, 1.90, and 2.10, respectively. Nacelle installation results in a drag coefficient increase of 0.01. Increasing propeller thrust results in a significant increase in lift for angles of attack above stall and improves the longitudinal stability. The cruise configuration remains longitudinally stable to an angle of attack 5 degrees beyond the stall angle, the takeoff configuration is stable 4 degrees beyond stall angle, and the landing configuration is stable 3 degrees beyond stall angle. The predominant effect of symmetric thrust on the lateral-directional aerodynamic characteristics is in the post-stall region, where additional rudder control is available with power on.
The effect on drag of positioning symmetrically mounted Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc. stores in pairs on a parabolic fuselage of fineness ratio 10.0 has been determined by flight tests of rocket-propelled, zero-lift models through a range of Mach number from 0.9 to 1.8. The stores were mounted in half-submerged positions and on pylons and were tested in three longitudinal locations on the fuselage with the forward position being located at the maximum diameter of the fuselage. The effects on drag of removing the half-submerged stores or extending them outward on pylons also was investigated by tests of models with half-submerged-store cavities on the fuselage. Two pylons differing in airfoil section and thickness were tested at the forward position of the stores on the fuselage with cavities. The half-submerged stores gave the smallest drag increments, which were approximately equal regardless of their respective longitudinal locations. Removing the half-submerged stores to expose the cavities increased the drag increments from two to three times. For the pylon-mounted stores, the store in the midposition had less drag than in the forward or rear positions at supersonic speeds. Adding the half-submerged-store cavities to the pylon-mounted-store configurations reduced the drag at the rear position between Mach numbers 0.95 and 1.50 and increased the drag at the midposition throughout the speed range. Changing from the 6-percent-thick flat pylon to the 10-percent-thick airfoil pylon increased the total drag slightly above Mach number 1.10. Good agreement was obtain& between the experimental and theoretical interference drag coefficients for the pylon-mounted stores (without fuselage cavities} in the three longitudinal locations tested at Mach numbers 1.2 and 1.5.
The application of electromagnetic impulse deicing (EIDI) systems to turbofan engine inlets on business aircraft has been investigated experimentally. The tests were performed in the Icing Research Tunnel at NASA's Lewis Research Center. The deicing system testbed was a Falcon Fanjet 20 engine nacelle. The effectiveness of various deicing coil configurations and mount designs were compared, and design parameters were developed specifically for EIDI systems in turbofan engines. Flight tests were also carried out at altitudes in the range 3000-6000 ft corresponding to a temperature range of -3 to -8 C. It is shown that the ice particles removed from the engine inlet by the deicing system were small enough for the engine to ingest. Tentative design specifications are given with respect to the optimum coil configuration, and operating power of a EIDI production candidate.
Inlet flow-field and compressor-face performance data were obtained for a 0.095-scale model of vertical/short take-off landing (V/STOL) fighter/attack aircraft configuration with twin top-mounted inlets. Tests were conducted at Mach numbers from 0.6 to 2.0 and angles of attack and sideslip up to 27 deg. and 12 deg., respectively. Reynolds number was held constant at 9.8 x 10 to the 6th power per meter. The effects of inlet location, wing leading-edge extension (LEX) planform area, canopy-dorsal integration, variable incidence canards, and wing leading- and trailing-edge flap deflections were determined. The results show that at Mach numbers up to 0.9, distortion is relatively low (20% or less) at all angles of attack and sideslip. However, at Mach numbers of 1.2 and above, operation may be restricted because of either high distortion or low pressure recovery (80% or less), or both. These difficulties may be overcome with alterations to the LEX/canopy/body juncture.