Normalization of Wind-Tunnel Data for NASA Common Research Model

Abstract

A wind-tunnel test of an 80%-scale copy of the NASA Common Research Model was performed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency using its transonic wind tunnel. The wind-tunnel model was fabricated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in consultation with NASA Langley Research Center and AIAA Drag Prediction Workshop committee members. The static aerodynamic forces and surface pressure distributions on the wing of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency model were measured at a relatively low Reynolds number of due to tunnel capability limitations, where boundary-layer transition was simulated using optimized roughness. Measured data were compared with those of wind-tunnel tests of the Common Research Model obtained from NASA Langley Research Center’s National Transonic Facility as well as computational fluid dynamics predictions, both at a Reynolds number of . The comparison among these datasets required data normalization to the designed shape aligned at a reference condition, because the wing deformation of the wind-tunnel models deformed due to the dynamic pressure and the Reynolds number was different between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the National Transonic Facility tests. In this paper, the normalization procedures, in addition to basic wind-tunnel corrections, are proposed and the corrected results are examined.