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Investigations into the effects of scale and compressibility on lift and drag in the RAE 5m pressurised low-speed wind tunnel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

S. P. Fiddes ,
D. A. Kirby ,
D. S. Woodward  and
D. H. Peckham
S. P. Fiddes
Affiliation:
RAE, Farnborough
D. A. Kirby
Affiliation:
RAE, Farnborough
D. S. Woodward
Affiliation:
RAE, Farnborough
D. H. Peckham
Affiliation:
RAE, Farnborough
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Summary

A survey is presented of results obtained from experiments in the RAE 5m low-speed pressurised wind tunnel. The tunnel is capable of operation over a range of pressures (from one to three atmospheres) so that the effects of Mach and Reynolds number may be separated. This decoupling of scale and compressibility effects has made possible reliable extrapolation of test results to full-scale conditions (where this is necessary) as well as giving greater insight into the underlying flow mechanisms. The large size of the tunnel, combined with pressurisation to three atmospheres, has enabled some tests, on small combat/trainer aircraft and on bomb-like stores, to be carried out at full scale.

Three facets of the work of the 5m tunnel are described — work aimed at predicting or improving the high-lift performance of specific aircraft, work of a more fundamental nature concerned particularly with the optimisation of high-lift devices on generalised research models, and work on the drag of stores carried externally on combat aircraft.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 89 , Issue 883 , March 1985 , pp. 93 - 108
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1985 

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References

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