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Preliminary flight test correlations of the X-HALE aeroelastic experiment

Part of: The RAeS Written Paper Prizes 2016

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2016

J. R. Jones  and
C. E. S. Cesnik
C. E. S. Cesnik*
Affiliation:
Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, Michigan, USA
*
cesnik@umich.edu
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Abstract

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An experimental, remotely-piloted aircraft has been designed and fabricated at University of Michigan that is aeroelastically representative of very flexible aircraft. Known as X-HALE, this Experimental High-Altitude Long-Endurance aircraft exhibits geometrically nonlinear behaviour and displays specific aeroelastic characteristics designed into the experiment. This paper presents the data from the initial flight tests of the lightly instrumented X-HALE Risk Reduction Vehicle that confirm the expected aeroelastic characteristics. This opens the way for future flight tests with a fully-instrumented platform which will provide data to support validation of coupled, nonlinear aeroelastic/flight dynamic codes.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 119 , Issue 1217 , July 2015 , pp. 855 - 870
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 2015

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