Sideslip Conditions Research Articles

Grease soap particles passing through an elastohydrodynamic contact under side slip conditions

In a previous investigation, grease thickener fibres were tracked as they passed through an elastohydrodynamic (EHD) contact in pure rolling using interferometry in a standard ball-and-disc apparatus. In order to capture single thickener fibres, a high-speed video camera was used. Here, the experiments have been repeated introducing different amounts of side slip for different rolling speeds and a faster video camera capable of capturing 4500 frames/s. The contact was lubricated with a continuous supply of grease. Two greases, based on the same synthetic poly(α-olefin) but thickened with Li-12-OH and lithium complex soap respectively, were studied. It was observed that the thickener fibres were stretched both before entering the contact and as they passed through it. Fibres seem to avoid the minimum film thickness regions and, if they enter, the film is restored immediately after passage.

Full-scale wind-tunnel studies of F/A-18 tail buffet

Tail buffet studies were conducted on a full-scale, production F/A-18 fighter aircraft in the 80 by 120 ft Wind Tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center. The F/A-18 was tested over an angle-of-attack range of 18-50 deg, and at wind speeds of up to 168 ft/s, corresponding to a Reynolds number of 12.3x10(exp 6) based on mean aerodynamic chord and a Mach number of 0.15. The port, vertical tail fin was instrumented and the aircraft was equipped with a removable leading-edge extension (LEX) fence. Time-averaged, power-spectral analysis results are presented for the tail fin bending moment derived from the integrated pressure field, for the zero side-slip condition, both with and without the LEX fence. The LEX fence significantly reduces the magnitude of the rms pressures and bending moments. Scaling issues are addressed by comparing full-scale results for pressures at the 60%-span and 45%-chord location with small-scale, F/A-18 tail-buffet data. The comparison shows that the tail buffet frequency scales very well with length and velocity. Root-mean-square pressures and power spectra do not scale as well. The LEX fence is shown to reduce tail buffet loads at all model scales.

In-flight boundary-layer transition measurements on a swept wing

Flight tests were conducted at three different altitudes to detect transition on a smoothed test region of a swept-wing business jet wing using surface hot-film sensors and sublimating chemicals. Strong influence of sweep angle on transition location was observed when the aircraft was flown at some sideslip conditions to simulate changes in effective wing sweep angle. No effects of engine noise on transition were measured when different engine power settings were used. Flight instrumentation and ground data analysis techniques are described. Correlation was obtained between the hot-film sensor signals and sublimating chemicals for transition detection. Crossflow vortices were observed for one flight condition. Results of analyzed data for various flight-test conditions are presented.

Applications of similitude in airship design

The study of propeller effect reported here shows that for a typical single-engine, low-wing, general-aviation aircraft with untapered wings, the propeller up wash on the left wing initiated separation at an angle of attack which is 3 deg smaller than the angle of attack at which the separation of the right wing occurred. When the aircraft was yawed, it was found that positive yaw angles resulted in a violent rolling moment and wing separation was initiated at smaller angle of attack. For the negative yaw condition, the separation occurred at 2-3 deg of angle of attack later, and the resulting rolling moments were within control limits. The above finding suggests that aircraft similar to the one tested, under positive sideslip condition, are likely to face a stall-spin entry when performing, for example, a low-speed final left turn with excessive rudder deflection before landing. Acknowledgment

Lateral aerodynamics of delta wings with leading-edge separation

An unsteady vortex lattice method is presented for the calculation of the aerodynamic forces acting on lifting surfaces undergoing complex three dimensional motion. For the present case the nonsymmetric motion of a slender delta wing was considered and the resulting lateral characteristics were calculated. The flow separation line was specified along the wing leading edge and the emanating vortex sheet shape and rollup was then calculated. Numerical results are presented for the combined high angle of attack and side slip condition and for the wing constant roll and coning motions.