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Flight-Test Evaluation of the Longitudinal Stability and Control Characteristics of 0.5-Scale Models of the Fairchild Lark Pilotless-Aircraft Configuration: Standard Configuration with Wing Flaps Deflected 60 Degrees and Model having Tail in Line with Wings, TED No. NACA 2387

NACA-RM-L7F17 · NASA (NTRS) · 1947

Public domain · NASA (NTRS)Technical Reports

Overview

Flight tests were conducted at the Flight Test Station of the Pilotless Aircraft Research Division at Wallop Island, Va., to determine the longitudinal control and stability characteristics of 0.5-scale models of the Fairchild Lark pilotless aircraft with the tail in line with the wings a d with…

Publisher
NASA (NTRS)
Document
NACA-RM-L7F17
Year
1947
Pages
30

Document

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RESEARCH MEMORANDUM

Restriction/ Classification Cancelled -L <

NATIONAL ADVISORY COM .MITTEE

FOR AERONAUTICS

WASHINGTON P3LEtXESS-AIZtCRAFT CONFI(URATI0N By David G. Stone F l i a t t e s t s were conducted at the Flight W e t Station of the Pilotless Aircraft Resoarch Division a t Wall026 Island, V a . , t o determine the longitudinal control and etabrlity charecteristics of 0.5-scale lilodels of the Fairchild Lark pilotless aircraft with the tail in line with the wings a d with the horizontal wing flaps deflected 6 0 ' . The data were obtained by the w e of a telemstsr and by redax tracMng.

The W A w a ~ requesW!. by the Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy DeparZanent, to fliat testa of the Fairchild Lark pilotleas- aircraft configuration t o evaluate the longitudinal e t a b i l i t y and control characteristics a t high subsonic spoede in order to predict the behavior of the full-scaleaircra2.t. I n order t o obtain t h i s information 0.5-acde models, extornally ,gmmetzically 6 l m i l a ? ? . t O the

Fairchild Lark, were cona4xucted and flown a t the FliQht Test

Station of the PZlotlese A i r c r a f t Research Division a t Wallops IelasLd, Va. Tbe results reported herein pertaln t o the longitudinal characteristics of the f ol1mTin.g configurations: (1) model with the tail surfacee in line wtth the win- and wing flapB not deflected, Etnd (2) model of tb sta.nde3.d configuration (dihedral of tail surfaces 45’) with the wing f l a p s deflected 6 0 ° .

The full-scale Fairchild Lark is flown a t constant a n g l e of attack. The l i f t 5ncrement.s for maneuvering are gained by deflection of the horizontal w i n g flaps, and the longitudinal control surf ace8 a r e used only a8 trimmers. In these model toater thecontrolsurfaces produced angle o f ‘ attack, but t e s t e with various wing-flap deflection6 provided data for an evaluation of the ef2ectivemss of the trimming control function. Tho models were flown with a programmed flicker- type deflection of the longitudAna1 trimming control surfaces.

free-stmam Mach nwnber f’ree-sixeam static pressure, pounds per q u a r e foot free -8-m t o t a l preasure, murids p r s q w e foot normd-f orce coefficient chord-force coefficfent rata of, chanw of pitching-mament cwfficient with angle of attack, per de p e of u9t coefficient w i t h angle of attack,

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rate of chm- of n o - acceleration with elevator deflection, per d e w e period of oscillation, eeconds m w n t of inertia about Y-axdsr slug-fee t2 w e i g h t of model, pounds horizontal ving area, 2.725 square f e e t wing chord, 0.883 f a o t longitudinal acceleration, feet per second per second normal acceleration, feet per second ger second acceleration OT @avity, 32.2 fee% per second per second .

b f l e c t i o n of horizontal. wing flaps, degrees deflection of ruddor elevators o r elevators, degrees ( t r a i l i n g edge dmn is positive) sgecific heat ratio; value taken, 1 . 4 The sim;jlified 0.5-scale models used in this inveatig&tion were externally geometrically sirnib t o the full-scale Itark (TAQ-1) of t 3 e Pilotless ?lam Dfvision of the Fairchild Engine and A i r p l a m Corporation.Deacrigtione of the 0.5-scale L m k models are given in references 1 and. 2.

Figme 1 presents the general aJ;Tangen;snt of t h e model with the tail surfaces i n the erne plane as the w i n g s . A photomaph of this model with rocket motor end blaet tube is shown i n f i g m e 2.

The t a i l - i n - l i m b a t s were accoqlished by rotating the tail section, by fastening the vertical control surfaces at Oo d e f b c t i m , and by connecting the servosystem t o the horizontal control surfaces which were then elevators. For this flight the elevators ware

4 - mAcA #M No. LV17

deflected from approximately - 1 1 ' to loo in proCF;rammd mwmant t ; O

give a f licLmr - t p operation. This control-surface motion was in operation before the model left launcher & all dur- the flight. For t h i s flight the WFng flap8 were not def l e c b d .

The model was ground-launched without a booeter on a zero- length launcher s e t at an a n & of 45O from level. A photograph of tihe model on the launcher is shown in fig- 3 .

The @ n e r d specifications of the model a8 compared t o the full-scale aircraft ~JXI given in table I.

Standard Configuration Model Figure 2 : pressnt~l the general arranepsmnt of t h e model representing t h e standard configuration. A photograph of this &e1 wit11 rocket m o t o r and b h s t tube is shown in f f , - u r e 5. Thie f l i a t was made with

We horizontal wlng flaps dejTlected so, asd t h e rudder-elevator8

were deflected from approxiaa.tely -90 to 6 O i n a progranmd flicker- : . type operatian. A detail photograph of the horizontal w w flap deflected down 60° is shown fn figme 6.

The data from the fliats were obtained by the w e of a telems.i;er, C N Doppler radar, and photography. The four-channel telemeters

e v e continuous simala of the lon&tudinal acceleration, n o m 1

acceleration, -act pressure, and control-surface deflection. The impact-pressure r e c o r d from the blemeter was reduced to Mach number by the following oquation:

r 7 -1

L f where p was talosn ae the pressure at sea level a . t the tim 'of the c tests. Since +&e models reached an a l t f t u d e of anly about 500 feet during the hia-meed region, no hrge errors in M a r b introduced by t a k h g p constant. Tho velocitr of sound f o r the tail-in-line t e s t s was 1136 feet per second a;nd P or the standaud-coIlffgUration t e s t s was U42 feet per eecond.

The no-1-acceleration factor and. the nomal-force coefficient w8re based on a linear vaslation with tims of the virq loading from the t a h - o f f corditinn t o the burnout condition.

T i m -History Records

Tail-in-line model. - A t i m e history of the f l i g h t of a 0.5-ecale

madel Lark with the t a i l i n line with the win;;a and S, 5: Oo 5s presented in figure 9. The tot& elapeed fli&t time w a ~ 40.8 seconds.

Only the f i r s t 8 seconds of -the night are presented. since no change 5n the recorded fliat characteristics waa noted until the compressed air f o r the servosystem was exgended a few seconds later. The m a x l m m sped obtained corro~~ponds to a Mach nmbr of 0.87, occurs a t a time of 3 . s eeconde after Lamchiw, and coincides with the buK19ng out of the rocket motor. The dashed. Mach nmber curve was obtaineh 'by intewation of the longitudinal acceleration with the i n i t i a l ZoLnt a t t = 2.4 where the data frm the t o t a l head and radar check oxactly. After t = 3.8 the tote.l-hea8 channel failod

.t;O record p r o p r l y , and the recor- tine of the radar was expended

at t = 3.5.

Referring t o figure 9 , it may be seen that the normal acceleration, with the usual 6hOTt-j?eriOd oscillations, followed the deflection of the elevators throughout tho a p e d r - . 3ositive normal accelerations

of 7g a n & newtin acceleratione of 38 were obtained T o r elevator

deflectiane ~f a p p o m t e b -lo* & U. , respct3Vsly. NO reverad

of the normal accelemtion WES eqerienced' for the s p e d r b encountered. The low maximum velocity as compared with that ehown in reference I can be attributed to soor rocket thrust as indicated bg a2 w 76 as c q a r e d with a2 z 9g i n pmvious teats.

Figure 10 presents the variation of no--force coefZicienk with Mach nmber for the y m r - o n flight period. Fi&;Lure ll presents curves of chord-force and nomnal-force coefficients f o r the gomr-off decelerating p a r t of the f l i g h t . A t tines where CN = 0 the C may be said t o be equivalent t o drag coefficient; hence a t t = g.79 .

(M = 0.61) the b a g cosffici$nt is G .oBg, decreasing to 0.033 at

t = 7.56 (14 = 0.73).

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s t m w a c o n f i m t i o n model (6p = ab). - A t l m e hlstorg of the

flight of a 0.5-scale model Lark of standard configuration f l a p deflected 60° I s presented in figure 12. The total elapeed flight t i m e was 17.9 seconds. As determined from visual and photoE;raphic observation, the model b e ~ a elow r o l l near t = 1.8 indicating that the ri&t wing flap loosened resulting in unl.sawn def lectione, and near t = 7.0 the right wing flap brolce off caustng a severe roll. Further recordconversion beyond the t W 3 ths f l a p broke off was considered umzocen&my. The mRx-lmum s2oed obtaimd c m s p o m i a t o a Mach number of 0.91, occurs at t = 3.78, and coincideswith the burnLng out of the roclzt motor. The daehed Mach nwnber curve was obtained by intewation of the l o n g i t u d i n a l acceleration. For this flight the total-head channel and the Doppler ra,dar failed to record pro-mrly .

Referring t o figure 12, it may be seen that the normal etccelemtion, with the usual short-period oscillations, followed the &eflection of the rudder-elevators throu&ou-t; the speed range. Althea the rigbt wing flap had loosened, n o & accelsrgtions of 30s were obtained

f o r a rudderelevator deflection of -9 . Alao,czfter the f l a p

looerened, coneiderable waviness occurred in the longitudinal acceleration cur=.

F i w e 13 presents t h e variation of normal-i"orce c m f f i c i e n t with hhch number f o r the power-on flight geriod, Figme 14 presents curvee of chord-f orce and normal-force cwff icients for the power-off decelerating part of the fli&ht.

L o n g i t w 1 Stability Evaluatiom of the s t a t i c longitudinal &ability were obtaiwd 'by analysis of the short-period oscillation induced 3s the abrupt movement of' the elamtors as doscribed i n reference 3 . The following equation was used t a determine the r a t e of c - of pitch--mmnt coefficient wlth angle of attack: The m i a t i o m of ceater of gretvity and moment of Inertia are dcra included i n the computation of z.

The values of 2 obtained are for the nodel-flight center-

of -gravity locations which ?or t h e tail-in-line confiGurat1on vguried

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f r o m 18.86- to l8.gl-percent chord azd f o r t h e staJlde3.d configuration varied from 19.34- to 18.29-percent chord a8 the rocket motor Burned out.

The values of theperiod P determinscl from fidwes 9 and 12 are presented in f i , - u r e 15 +o s h o w the variation of the period of oscillation with Mach number. The scatter of "clhe test points on figure 15 indicates L h e amount o f ' error i n determining P. Considerable

scatter is shown for the sf X 6 0 ' case. T h i s may be &w t o

loosening of the flap.

Figure 15 presents the atatic longitudinal stability, as c o q u b d using the above equation, as a f m c t i o n of Mach nmber. These curv-es indicate that as M increaaes, the sta;bili* increases weatly f o r both confignrations. With the tail in lins with the win@, the s t a t i c stability i s lese at l o w M&ch nm3ers but increams faster and is =eater as M increases ae cmpared with the tail interdigitated

with the win-. For t h e case of sf w 6 0 ° at high values of CN

the s t a b i l i t y 608s n o t increase as fast w9kh incraaeing Mach nmber as at low values of C a .

dCL -t;o

Bjr Wriw the value of the s l o p of the l W t curve -

da be 0.08 (reference 3 ) , and also includ3ng t h e m i a t i o n of the center of gravity, the neutra.l points ware computed. f o r the- condttione.

The neutral points, of course, do n o t fnclude the pmbable changes

3 w i t h mch n m b r . m e variations of w neutral pointe for

da the tail-in-line node& (sf = O o ) end the stmdd-configura;tion model (8f 60°) wLth M are given in figme 17. A g a i n the increase i n s t a b i l i t y i s indicated by the lwge rearward movement of t h e neutral 2oint as M increases above 0.70.

O n the full-scale W k the tafl control surfaces are wed f o r triiiiing the aircraft o a v , where= the 1 W t Lncrmenta are gained by wing-flap deflections or all-movable ~ r i n g a . In these nodel tests the control surfaces produced c h m s e of angle of att;tack, but tests with various wing-flap deflections provided the data for an evaluation of the abil3tr of the control surfaces t o trim the c&&.ne at high lifts. The abilitx of the 1onGtudiW control Burfaces to produce noma1 accelerations is presented i n figure 18 as a plot of noMnal-acceleration factor against Mach nm3er.

The normal-acceleration factor was determined by the t o t a l changs i n f o r the t o t a l change i n 6,. Thi8 msthod of e; determining the normal-acceleration factor eliminates the need f o r de^^^ the 6e required f o r % = o as was required f o r

k z

computation of the normal.-acceleration factor in reference 1. The values of the norixd-acceleration factor neglect the effects of the difference be-hmen normal force and lift force, end the rate of chanm of flight path with tims. The maxinrum variation of center- of-gravity locations between models is app?oX&mtsly 2-prcent chord.

The dlfference due to gower-on i n t h e S, w 600 case is probably

cawed by thrust miaalinernsnt with center of p v i t y . In order

to obtain the normal accelerations produced per degree of elevator deflection f o r aqv desired wflng LORding, divide t h e normal-acceleration factor by thedesired wing loading. For example, at M = 0.75 and W = U O , the following comparisons ma;. be znaite: It is evldent that placing the tail i n line with the win38 results i n an appreciable loss in t h e a b i l i t y of the elevators to produce normal accelerations. Also, wing-flap deflections of 600

show a reduction in an - ger - 6 , as canpared to Q = 15O tzp t o

M X 0 8. It may be noted thet at M = 0.73 the longttudiml s b b i l i t g is aEroxisately the ~ a m e f o r t h e tail-in-line Etnd t a i l -

interdigitated tests; therefore,the change in 2 pep S, must be

due t o a reduction in the effectiveness of the trimming control.

Also, since the s t a b i l i t y is less for the S, 6 0 ° conf'lguration, this again indicates a reduction i n control effectfv~nesa f o r trimmin6. This reduction in controleffectiveness mag be attributed to w i n g d B e f f e c t s upon the t a i l .

Aleo sham In f i w e e 9 anit 12, the production of normal acceleration lags the application of control deflection. For the b s t of the tail-in-line rnode1,the lag in the produced normal acceler- ation is of the order 09 0.10 to 0.15 second after application of

m a RM NO. ~ 7 ~ 1 7 _____ 9

the control. For t h e m o d e l with I h p s deflected 60° the lag is a~proxinatelg 0.10 second. These lag t h e s na.y be conrpared to values of 0 t o 0.05 second shown i n references 1 and 2 f o r the s k n d a r d

nodel w i t h sf = 00 and 150. This l a g i n the effectiveness of t h e

elevators may be due again to wake interference frm the w i n g . The magnitude of this aerodynamic lag is such a s t o seriously complicate the internal s t a b i l i t y of an autopilot eervoeyetem.

The f l i & t tests t o deteraim the lon@tUdinal stability and control characteriskics with the tail i n line wit'a the wings ( 6 , = 0 0 ) Euld w i t h the horfzontel w i n g f l a y deflected down 600 for the Tairchild T m k pilotless a i r c r a f t mre conducted at the F l i g h t Test Station of the P i l o t l e s s Aircr82.t; Resewch Division at Wallops Island, Va. Ikon theresulte of the fliat b e t s , tihe following mneral conclusions indicated: Placing the t a i l i n line with t h e wiws results i n a comfdemble reduction fn the ef"fsctiveness of the longitudinal trbming control.

This configuration f a statically stable with laz@ increases in the longitudinal stability occurring above M ?z 0.7. m e model exhibSted dynanic stabilitr throughout the s p e d ran@. The eerodynamic lag of the t r - control encountered in the tail-in-line configuration would make angle-of-attack stabilization ver: difficult.

Deflecting the horizontal wing flag8 60° w i t h the tail inter- digitated with the w w a result8 in a reduction In the effectiveness 02 the tr-g control &B colilpared t o + = 1 5 ' up to M z 0 .&I.

Deflecting tbe f l a y s 6 0 ° produces a conaid.era.ble increase in static

~ O ~ g i t u & i n a l o 6 ~ b i l . i t y at h i & Mach mkers. S W U r l y , with flaps

deflected Go , the aerodynamic lag of .the t r - control w o u l d make

angle-of-attack stabilization d i f f i c u l t .

mvia

CJB ISACA RM No. L7F17 1. Stom, Eavid G., and Mitchmn, Gredy L. : Flight-Itest Evaluation of the Lonrptudinal Stability and Control Characterfatics of 0.5-Scale Mode1.a of the Fairchild Lark Pilotloss -Aircraft Configuration. Model with Wing Flaps Not Deflected - TED No.

NACA 2387. M C A MR Eo. ~ 6 ~ 2 2 , B u r . Aoro., 1946.

2. Stone, Davdd G.: F l i a t - T e a t ,Fvaluation of the Lon@tudiaal Stability &nd Control Characteristics of 0.g-Scale Models of the Fairchild Lezk Pilotless-AircraftConfiguration. Model with W m Flaps Deflected 1 5 ' - TED No. NACA 2385.

NACA RM No. L6J28a, Bur. Aero., 1946.

3. Stone, David G. : Fll&t-TestEvaluation of the LongLtUilinaJ.

S t a b i l i w and Control ~ h a r a c t e r f s t i c s of O.3-Scal.e Models of t h e Fairchild I m k ?ilotlem-Aircreft Conflwation. Static Longitudinal Stability o f ' Modela with, W i n & Flap B f l e c t i o w O f Oo a33d 1 5 ' - TED NO. WCA 2387. HACA REiL Ho. L6Ll7a, B u r . Aero., 1946.

Full-soale I t e m airoraft 164 & 8.5 3 -49 3.49 3 . 4 9 74 ’ 37 37 21.2 1 0 . 6 10.6 0 0 0 0 0 0 NACA 16-209 NACA 16-209 =A 1 6 . 6 - 0 0 9 UCA 16-009 1 0 . 9 2 -725 48 24 24 - 15.4 7.7 7 . 7 . o 0 0 45 , 0 0 0 ~ A C A 16-008 ~ A C A 16408 HACA 16-008 T o t a l projeoted. C O W projected 1.283 1.813 7 -25 P o v b r Liquid P e r 600 lo00 1200 220 3 -8 3 -9 f”0ff 18.86 LBUzaout 18.x “ o f f 125.4 Weight, lb 1060 Burnout 97.9 Take-aff 46.0 U O Burnout 35.9

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Momnt of iraertia abbut Y - a x i s , Take-off 8.9 slug” 221 (approx.1 . . ..

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Figure 3.- Tall-m-line model on launcher.

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a1 CONFIDENTIAL NACA RI No . L7F17 Fi g . 6 Figure 6. - Phooo.gr apn of ho riz onta l wing flap deflected 60 on standard configuration mod el.

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Figure 8.- Launching of model Lark; standard configuration; Of = 60°.

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Document details

Doc number
NACA-RM-L7F17
Publisher
NASA (NTRS)
Year
1947
Pages
30
File size
2.6 MB