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The existence of concave solutions of Berman's equation which describes the laminar flow in channels with injection through porous walls is established. It was found that the (unique) concave solutions exist for all injection Reynolds numbers R less than 0.
The use of the smoke tube and titanium tetrachloride techniques in the study of low Reynolds number flow about two different airfoils is presented. Emphasis is placed on the problems of determining the characteristics of laminar separation bubbles occurring on the Wortmann FX63-137 airfoil and the NACA 66(3)-018 airfoil. Comparisons are made with the hot-wire technique and the use of kerosene vapor.
Crossflow vorticity detected with nonintrusive electronic sensor elements. Individual crossflow sensor elements respond to variation in heat transfer caused by laminar-crossflow vortexes. Installed in variety of patterns, including staggered or combined into continuous longitudinal strip.
The dramatic increases in fuel costs and the potential for periods of limited fuel availability provided the impetus to explore technologies to reduce transport aircraft fuel consumption. NASA sponsored the Aircraft Energy Efficiency (ACEE) program beginning in 1976 to develop technologies to improve fuel efficiency. The Lockheed-Georgia Company accomplished under NAS1-16235 Laminar-Flow-Control (LFC) Wing Panel Structural Design and Development (WSSD); design, manufacturing, and testing activities. An in-depth preliminary design of the baseline 1993 LFC wing was accomplished. A surface panel using the Lockheed graphite/epoxy integrated LFC wing box structural concept was designed. The concept was shown by analysis to be structurally efficient and cost effective. Critical details of the surface and surface joint was demonstrated by fabricating and testing complex, concept selection specimens. The Lockheed-Georgia Company accomplishments, Development of LFC Wind Surface Composite Structures (WSCS), are documented. Tests were conducted on two CV2 panels to verify the static tension and fatigue strength of LFC wing surface chordwise joints.
Five decades of flight experiences with natural laminar flow (NLF) have provided a basis of understanding how this technology can be used for reduction of viscous drag on modern practical aircraft. The effects of cruise unit Reynolds number on NLF achievability and maintainability; compressibility effects on Tollmein-Schlichting growth; flight experiment on the Cessna Citation III business jet; flight instrumentation on Lear 28/29; OV-I NLF engine nacelle experiments; and viscous drag reduction are examined.
The goal of this research is to accurately predict the characteristics of the laminar separation bubble and its effects on airfoil performance. To this end, a model of the bubble is under development and will be incorporated in the analysis section of the Eppler and Somers program. As a first step in this direction, an existing bubble model was inserted into the program. It was decided to address the problem of the short bubble before attempting the prediction of the long bubble. In the second place, an integral boundary-layer method is believed more desirable than a finite difference approach. While these two methods achieve similar prediction accuracy, finite-difference methods tend to involve significantly longer computer run times than the integral methods. Finally, as the boundary-layer analysis in the Eppler and Somers program employs the momentum and kinetic energy integral equations, a short-bubble model compatible with these equations is most preferable.
Analysis and numerical procedures are presented to investigate the transient radiative interactions of nongray absorbing-emitting species in laminar fully-developed flows between two parallel plates. The particular species considered are OH, CO, CO2, and H2O and different mixtures of these. Transient and steady-state results are obtained for the temperaure distribution and bulk temperature for different plate spacings, wall temperatures, and pressures. Results, in general, indicate that the rate of radiative heating can be quite high during earlier times. This information is useful in designing thermal protection systems for transient operations.
A large-chord, swept, supercritical, laminar-flow-control (LFC) airfoil was designed and constructed and is currently undergoing tests in the Langley 8 ft Transonic Pressure Tunnel. The experiment was directed toward evaluating the compatibility of LFC and supercritical airfoils, validating prediction techniques, and generating a data base for future transport airfoil design as part of NASA's ongoing research program to significantly reduce drag and increase aircraft efficiency. Unique features of the airfoil included a high design Mach number with shock free flow and boundary layer control by suction. Special requirements for the experiment included modifications to the wind tunnel to achieve the necessary flow quality and contouring of the test section walls to simulate free air flow about a swept model at transonic speeds. Design of the airfoil with a slotted suction surface, the suction system, and modifications to the tunnel to meet test requirements are discussed.
A study was conducted to evaluate the application of hybrid laminar flow control (HLFC) to global range military transport aircraft. The global mission included the capability to transport 132,500 pounds of payload 6500 nautical miles, land and deliver the payload and without refueling return 6500 nautical miles to a friendly airbase. The preliminary design studies show significant performance benefits obtained for the HLFC aircraft as compared to counterpart turbulent flow aircraft. The study results at M=0.77 show that the largest benefits of HLFC are obtained with a high wing with engines on the wing configuration. As compared with the turbulent flow baseline aircraft, the high wing HLFC aircraft shows 17 percent reduction in fuel burned, 19.2 percent increase in lift-to-drag ratio, an insignificant increase in operating weight, and a 7.4 percent reduction in gross weight.
Coherent structures in turbulent shear flows were studied extensively by several techniques, including the VITA technique which selects rapidly accelerating or decelerating regions in the flow. The evolution of a localized disturbance in a laminar boundary layer shows strong similarity to the evolution of coherent structures in a turbulent-wall bounded flow. Starting from a liftup-sweep motion, a strong shear layer develops which shares many of the features seen in conditionally-sampled turbulent velocity fields. The structure of the shear layer, Reynolds stress distribution, and wall pressure footprint are qualitatively the same, indicating that the dynamics responsible for the structure's evolution are simple mechanisms dependent only on the presence of a high mean shear and a wall and independent of the effects of local random fluctuations and outer flow effects. As the disturbance progressed, the development of streak-like-high- and low-speed regions associated with the three-dimensionality.
A review of the NACA and NASA low-drag airfoil research is presented with particular emphasis given to the development of mechanical high-lift flap systems and their application to general aviation aircraft. These flap systems include split, plain, single-slotted, and double-slotted trailing-edge flaps plus slat and Krueger leading-edge devices. The recently developed continuous variable-camber high-lift mechanism is also described. The state-of-the-art of theoretical methods for the design and analysis of multi-component airfoils in two-dimensional subsonic flow is discussed, and a detailed description of the Langley MCARF (Multi-Component Airfoil Analysis Program) computer code is presented. The results of a recent effort to design a single- and double-slotted flap system for the NASA high speed natural laminar flow (HSNLF) (1)-0213 airfoil using the MCARF code are presented to demonstrate the capabilities and limitations of the code.
Two research studies are described which directly relate to the application of natural laminar flow (NLF) technology to transonic transport-type wing planforms. Each involved using state-of-the-art computational methods to design three-dimensional wing contours which generate significant runs of favorable pressure gradients. The first study supported the Variable Sweep Transition Flight Experiment and involves design of a full-span glove which extends from the leading edge to the spoiler hinge line on the upper surface of an F-14 outer wing panel. A wing was designed computationally for a corporate transport aircraft in the second study. The resulting wing design generated favorable pressure gradients from the leading edge aft to the mid-chord on both upper and lower surfaces at the cruise design point. Detailed descriptions of the computational design approach are presented along with the various constraints imposed on each of the designs.
An unswept, semispan wing model equipped with full-span leading- and trailing-edge flaps was tested in the Langley 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel to determine the effect of high-lift components on the aerodynamics of an advanced laminar-flow-control (LFC) airfoil section. Chordwise pressure distributions near the midsemispan were measured for four configurations: cruise, trailing-edge flap only, and trailing-edge flap with a leading edge Kreuger flap of either 0.10 or 0.12 chord. Part 1 of this report presents a representative sample of the plotted pressure distribution data for each configuration tested. Part 2 (under separate cover) presents the entire set of plotted and tabulated pressure distribution data. The data are presented without analysis.
An averaging total pressure wake rake used by the Cessna Aircraft Company in flight tests of a modified 210 airplane with a laminar flow wing was calibrated in wind tunnel tests against a five-tube pressure probe. The model generating the wake was a full-scale model of the Cessna airplane wing. Indications of drag trends were the same for both instruments.
An unswept, semispan wing model equipped with full-span leading- and trailing-edge flaps was tested in the Langley 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel to determine the effect of high-lift components on the aerodynamics of an advanced laminar-flow-control (LFC) airfoil section. Chordwise pressure distributions near the midsemispan were measured for four configurations: cruise, trailing-edge flap only, and trailing-edge flap with a leading-edge Krueger flap of either 0.10 or 0.12 chord. Part 1 of this report (under separate cover) presents a representative sample of the plotted pressure distribution data for each configuration tested. Part 2 presents the entire set of plotted and tabulated pressure distribution data. The data are presented without analysis.
A finite difference scheme for three-dimensional steady laminar incompressible flows is presented. The Navier-Stokes equations are expressed conservatively in terms of velocity and pressure increments (delta form). First order upwind differences are used for first order partial derivatives of velocity increments resulting in a diagonally dominant matrix system. Central differences are applied to all other terms for second order accuracy. The SIMPLE pressure correction algorithm is used to satisfy the continuity equation. Numerical results are presented for cubic cavity flow problems for Reynolds numbers up to 2000 and are in good agreement with other numerical results.
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes are routinely used to predict the flowfield and the heating environment around complex reentry configurations. At hypervelocities, where the velocity is greater than 3 km/sec, the AFWAL version of the blunt body code predicts the correct surface pressure distributions but underpredicts laminar wall heat fluxes. This study was performed to determine the reasons for the underprediction. The computer code chosen solves thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations in a time-asymptotic manner and assumes a constant isentropic exponent. Flowfields around a spherical configuration at various entry velocities are computed. The computed pressure distributions agree well with the tabulated, inviscid results of Lyubimov and Rusanov for entry velocities ranging from 0.6 to 5.92 km/sec. At hypervelocities, the calculated stagnation point heat transfer rates were lower by roughly fifty percent when compared to engineering correlations available in the literature. Good comparisons between heat transfer rates are obtained at hypervelocity entry conditions provided the CFD code is modified to include equilibrium air properties.
A 3-D laminar and turbulent boundary-layer method is developed for compressible flow over swept wings. The governing equations and curvature terms are derived in detail for a nonorthogonal, curvilinear coordinate system. Reynolds shear-stress terms are modeled by the Cebeci-Smith eddy-viscosity formulation. The governing equations are descretized using the second-order accurate, predictor-corrector finite-difference technique of Matsuno, which has the advantage that the crossflow difference formulas are formed independent of the sign of the crossflow velocity component. The method is coupled with a full potential wing/body inviscid code (FLO-30) and the inviscid-viscous interaction is performed by updating the original wing surface with the viscous displacement surface calculated by the boundary-layer code. The number of these global iterations ranged from five to twelve depending on Mach number, sweep angle, and angle of attack. Several test cases are computed by this method and the results are compared with another inviscid-viscous interaction method (TAWFIVE) and with experimental data.