Preliminary investigations of the effect of plan form, sweep, and section on the damping- in-roll characteristics of wings through the transonic speed region
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The oblique wing concept for transonic aircraft was proposed to reduce drag. The dynamic stability of the aircraft was investigated by analytically determining the stability derivatives at angles of skew ranging from 0 and 45 deg and using these stability derivatives in a linear analysis of the coupled aircraft behavior. The stability derivatives were obtained using a lifting line aerodynamic theory and found to give reasonable agreement with derivatives developed in a previous study for the same aircraft. In the dynamic analysis, no instability or large changes occurred in the root locations for skew angles varying from 0 to 45 deg with the exception of roll convergence. The damping in roll, however, decreased by an order of magnitude. Rolling was a prominent feature of all the oscillatory mode shapes at high skew angles.
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An experimental method for measuring rolling friction is proposed. The method is mechanically simple. It is based on an oscillator in a uniform magnetic field and does not involve any mechanical forces except for the measured friction. The measured pickup voltage is Fourier analyzed and yields the friction spectral response. The proposed experiment is not tailored for a particular case. Instead, various modes of operation, suitable to different experimental conditions, are discussed.
Lateral-stability flight tests were made over the Mach number range from 0.7 to 1.3 of models of three airplane configurations having 45deg sweptback wings. One model had a high wing; one, a low wing; and one, a high wing with cathedral. The models were otherwise identical. The lateral oscillations of the models resulting from intermittent yawing disturbances were interpreted in terms of full-scale airplane flying qualities and were further analyzed by the time-vector method to obtain values of the lateral stability derivatives. The effects of changes i n wing height on the static sideslip derivatives were fairly constant in the speed range investigated and agreed well with estimated values based on subsonic wind-tunnel tests. Effects of geometric dihedral on the rolling moment due to sideslip agreed well with theoretical and other experimental results and with a theoretical relation involving the damping in roll. The damping in roll, when compared with theoretical and other experimental results, shared good agreement at supersonic speeds but was somewhat higher at a Mach number of 1.0 and at subsonic speeds. The damping in yaw shared no large changes in the transonic region.
Flight test data have been used to extract the lateral static and dynamic aerodynamic parameters of the Kestrel aircraft. The aircraft configurations included thrust-jet angles of 0 deg, 15 deg, and 30 deg, and the test Mach numbers were 0.43, 0.62, and 0.82. The results showed that most of the parameters varied linearly with trim normal-force coefficient. The directional stability parameter showed a small increase with increasing trim normal-force coefficient and also with nozzle deflection. The effective-dihedral parameter, the damping-in-roll parameter, and damping-in-yaw parameter all increased (became more negative) with increasing trim normal-force coefficient. For the latter three parameters, the effect of nozzle deflection was dependent on the trim normal-force coefficient.
A method introduced by Munk is extended to prove that the light-curve slope of thin wings in either subsonic flow or supersonic flow is the same when the direction of flight of the wing is reversed. It is also shown that the wing reversal does not change the thickness drag, damping-in-roll parameter or the damping-in-pitch parameter.
Investigation of damping in roll within range of maximum lift with the Albatross L 75, with and without Handley Page automatic control slots, revealed the following: Without control slots, any attempt to go beyond a certain angle of attack near c(sub a max) in glide and climb, is followed by sudden sideslip. The conduct of the airplane throughout the motions in roll, moreover, confirmed that all attempts to higher angles of attack are accompanied by sudden loss of damping in roll.
A low scale wind tunnel investigation was conducted in rolling flow to determine the effects of aspect ratio and sweep (when varied independently) on the rolling stability derivatives for a series of untapered wings. Test results indicate that when the aspect ratio was held constant, an increase in the sweepback angle caused a significant reduction in the damping in roll at low lift coefficients for only the higher aspect ratios that were tested. This result was in agreement with available swept wing theory which indicated no effect of sweep for aspect ratios near zero. The result of the linear theory that the damping in roll is independent of lift coefficient and that the yawing moment and lateral force due to rolling are directly proportional to the lift coefficient was found to be valid for only a very limited lift coefficient range when the wings were highly swept. For such wings, the damping was found to increase in magnitude and the yawing moment due to rolling, to change from negative to positive at moderate lift coefficients. The effect of wing tip suction, not acounted for by present theory, was found to be very important with regard to the yawing moment due to rolling, particularly for low aspect ratio swept wings. An empirical means of correcting present theory for the effect of tip suction is suggested.
A method of the unsteady suction analogy is developed using the unsteady quasi-vortex-lattice method which accurately predicts unsteady leading-edge and side-edge suction forces, and applies to any reduced frequencies. The importance of vortex lag is demonstrated, and damping derivatives, including roll and pitch damping derivatives with reduced frequencies and angles of attack are accurately predicted. Agreement of predicted pitch stiffness derivatives, however, is found to depend on the Reynolds number, possible aeroelastic effect, and the degree of edge-separated vortex flow on the model. Applications to the prediction of longitudinal dynamic stability derivatives for slender wings at high angles of attack are also presented.
The analysis of the stability derivatives of low-aspect-ratio triangular wings at subsonic and supersonic speeds, given in NACA TN no. 1423, is extended to apply to triangular wings having large vertex angles and traveling at supersonic speeds. The lift, rolling moment due to sideslip, and damping in roll and pitch for this more general case have been treated elsewhere on the basis of the theory of small disturbances. The surface potentials for angle of attack and rolling taken therefrom are used to obtain the several side-force and yawing-moment derivatives that depend on leading-edge suction, and a tentative value for the rolling moment due to yawing. The lift and moment due to downward acceleration are obtained on the basis of an unpublished unsteady-flow solution. All the known stability derivatives of the triangular wing at supersonic speeds, regardless of source, are summarized for convenience and presented with respect to both body axes and stability axes. The results are limited to Mach numbers for which the triangular wing is contained within the Mach cone for its vertex. The spanwise variation of Mach number in the case of yawing is neglected, although the effect must be of importance.
Damping-in-roll coefficients for a series of triangular plan-form wings and two rectangular plan-form wings have been obtained from supersonic-tunnel tests. The wings were mounted on a body of revolution and tested at Mach numbers of 1.62 and 1.92.
An investigation has been conducted to determine the static stability and control and damping in roll and yaw of a 0.13-scale model of the Convair XFY-1 airplane with propellers off from 0 deg to 90 deg angle of attack. The tests showed that a slightly unstable pitch-up tendency occurred simultaneously with a break in the normal-force curve in the angle-of-attack range from about 27 deg to 36 deg. The top vertical tail contributed positive values of static directional stability and effective dihedral up to an angle of attack of about 35 deg. The bottom tail contributed positive values of static directional stability but negative values of effective dihedral throughout the angle-of-attack range. Effectiveness of the control surfaces decreased to very low values at the high angles of attack, The model had positive damping in yaw and damping in roll about the body axes over the angle-of-attack range but the damping in yaw decreased to about zero at 90 deg angle of attack.
An investigation has been made in the Langley free-flight tunnel at low-subsonic speed to determine the static stability, control effectiveness, and damping in roll and yaw of a model with a low-aspect-ratio unswept wing and two different fuselage forebodies at angles of attack from 0 deg to 90 deg. Results were obtained with a fuselage configuration having a long pointed nose and a shorter rounded nose. Although the wing stalled at an angle of attack of about 12 deg, maximum lift did not occur until an angle of attack of about 40 deg or 50 deg was obtained. The static longitudinal stability of the model having a short rounded nose was greater than that of the model having a longer pointed nose over the entire angle-of-attack range. The pointed-nose model had large out-of-trim yawing moments above an angle of attack of about 40 deg. Shortening and rounding the nose of the model delayed these out-of-trim yawing moments to slightly higher angles of attack. Both models were directionally unstable above an angle of attack of about 20 deg, but both had positive effective dihedral over virtually the entire angle-of-attack range. At the higher angles of attack the pointed-nose model had generally better damping in roll than that of the rounded-nose model. Both models had very high damping in yaw at an angle of attack of about 50 deg or 60 deg.
Dynamic stability testing was conducted on a 2.5% scale model of the X-33 technology demonstrator sub-orbital flight-test vehicle. This testing was conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) l6-Foot Transonic Wind Tunnel with the LaRC High-speed Dynamic Stability system. Forced oscillation data were acquired for various configurations over a Mach number range of 0.3 to 1.15 measuring pitch, roll and yaw damping, as well as the normal force due to pitch rate and the cross derivatives. The test angle of attack range was from -2 to 24 degrees, except for those cases where load constraints limited the higher angles of attack at the higher Mach numbers. A variety of model configurations with and without control surfaces were employed, including a body alone configuration. Stable pitch damping is exhibited for the baseline configuration throughout the angle of attack range for Mach numbers 0.3, 0.8, and 1.15. Stable pitch damping is present for Mach numbers 0.9 and 0.6 with the exception of angles 2 and 16 degrees, respectively. Constant and stable roll damping were present for the baseline configuration over the range of Mach numbers up to an angle of attack of 16 degrees. The yaw damping for the baseline is somewhat stable and constant for the angle of attack range from -2 to 8 degrees, with the exception of Mach numbers 0.6 and 0.8. Yaw damping becomes highly unstable for all Mach numbers at angles of attack greater than 8 degrees.
The application of an automated optimization approach to the integrated structural and control design of an aircraft wing and its control surface is illustrated. The performance index or cost function for optimization is the aileron hinge moment required to sustain a specified terminal roll rate at a chosen design speed at which aeroelastic effects are significant. The design variables used for aileron hinge-moment minimization are the aileron flap-to-chord ratio; the location of the aileron with respect to the roll axis; and the orientations of three advanced composite plies comprising 60 percent of the wing structure. The effects of aileron location and advanced composite ply orientation on the terminal roll rate and aileron hinge moment are examined. Optimization is seen to involve a compromise between a laminated structure/aileron combination that is effective in creating large rolling moments and one that minimizes the damping-in-roll. These two requirements are in conflict; the optimization driver must locate a compromise design point by moving the control surface and changing its size while also creating a suitable structural design.
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