UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD

SCHOOL OF COMPUTING, SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

AERODYNAMIC CHARACTERISTIC OF A SLENDER WING
BODY CONFIGURATION AT HIGH INCIDENCE














MOHAMED A ELIAS
AERODYNAMICS
DR. L. JOHNSTON
SUBMISSION DATE: 11/11/2011
AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
CONTENT


























INTRODUCTION
The aim of this experiment is to understand the behaviour of the non-linear
aerodynamic characteristic of a slender wing-body by changing the incidence angle
over period of time. This experiment will elaborate further study on vortex separation
flow over highly-swept sharp leading-edge wing and the results obtained from this
experiment will then be compared using the FOTRAN application for vortex-lattice
computational method.

APPARATUS
Slender body the missile shaped body with the wing cropped-delta configuration is
used in the wind tunnel to test the experiment.
Wind tunnel- is used to carry out the experiment to measure the lift forces, drag forces
and pitching moments.
Force balance system is used to hold the slender body onto the wind tunnel in order
to rotate at different angle of attack.
Betz Manometer in order to measure the air pressure in working section
Data Logger to get all the experiments readings
Thermometer to record the temperature in the working section
Voltmeter is used to read voltage variation output for lift, drag and pitching
moment.

GEOMETRIC CHARACTERISTIC OF WING
Leading-Edge Sweep Angle: L.E 70
- Chord Sweep Angle 64.1022
Root Chord 0.437m
Tip Chord 0.08m
Wing Span: S 0.26m
Zero Lift Incidence Angle:
L
=0 0
Mean Aerodynamic Chord: C
mac
0.2996m




PROCEDURES
Missile shaped slender wing body is tested into a low speed wind tunnel at zero
incidence angle and gradually changed from negative to positive incidence angle of
attack, in order to measure the lift, drag and pitching moment at different ranges.
Vortex lattice method is used to predict the coefficient of lift and coefficient of drag
and the results obtained are compared with the experiment. Further the Polhamus
leading-edge suction analogy was used to calculate the coefficient of lift and
coefficient of drag and the same was compared with the experimental results and the
vortex lattice methods results. The following are the steps carried out to perform the
experiment:
- The model was placed into the wind tunnel
- The wind tunnel was switched on and set to 700RPM
- Incidence angle was then set to -14
- Record the Temperature for the working section
- Note down the readings of the voltages form the data logger for the lift, drag and
pitching moment.
- Repeat these measurements by varying the angle of attack from -14 to 28 degrees
with the increment of 2.
- After the final set of measurement record the temperature of the working
section.
- Finally record the atmospheric pressure using the barometer.












THEORY
Aerodynamics is the branch of physics that deals with the motion of air and other
gaseous fluids and with the forces acting on bodies passing through such a fluid.
Aerodynamics seeks, in particular, to explain the principles governing the flight of
aircraft, rockets, and missiles.
Aerodynamic forces are generated and act on a rocket as it flies through the air.
Forces are vector quantities having both a magnitude and a direction. The magnitude
of the aerodynamic forces depends on the shape, size and velocity of the rocket and
some properties of the air through which it flies. By convention, the single
aerodynamic force is broken into two components: the drag force which is opposed to
the direction of motion, and the lift force which acts perpendicular to the direction of
motion. The lift and drag act through the centre of pressure which is the average
location of the aerodynamic forces on an object. Aerodynamic forces are mechanical
forces. They are generated by the interaction and contact of a solid body with a fluid,
a liquid or a gas. Aerodynamic forces are not generated by a force field, in the sense
of the field, or an electromagnetic field.
For lift and drag to be generated, the rocket must be in contact with the air. So outside
the atmosphere there is no lift and no drag. Aerodynamic forces are generated by the
difference in velocity between the rocket and the air. There must be motion between
the rocket and the air. If there is no relative motion, there is no lift and no drag.
Aerodynamic forces are more important for a model rocket than for a full scale rocket
because the entire flight path of the model rocket takes place in the atmosphere. A full
scale rocket climbs above the atmosphere very quickly.
Aerodynamic forces are used differently on a rocket than on an airplane. On an
airplane, lift is used to overcome the weight of the aircraft, but on a rocket, thrust is
used in opposition to weight. Because the centre of pressure is not normally located at
the centre of gravity of the rocket, aerodynamic forces can cause the rocket to rotate
in flight. The lift of a rocket is a side force used to stabilize and control the direction
of flight. While most aircraft have a high lift to drag ratio, the drag of a rocket is
usually much greater than the lift.
We can think of drag as aerodynamic friction, and one of the sources of drag is the
skin friction between the molecules of the air and the solid surface of the moving
rocket. Because the skin friction is an interaction between a solid and a gas, the
magnitude of the skin friction depends on properties of both solid and gas. For the
solid, a smooth, waxed surface produces less skin friction than a roughened surface.
For the gas, the magnitude depends on the viscosity of the air and the relative
magnitude of the viscous forces to the motion of the flow, expressed as the Reynolds
number. Along the surface, a boundary layer of low energy flow is generated and the
magnitude of the skin friction depends on the state of this flow. We can also think of
drag as aerodynamic resistance to the motion of the object through the fluid. This
source of drag depends on the shape of the rocket and is called form drag. As air
flows around a body, the local velocity and pressure are changed. Since pressure is a
measure of the momentum of the gas molecules and a change in momentum produces
a force, a varying pressure distribution will produce a force on the body. We can
determine the magnitude of the force by integrating or adding up the local pressure
times the surface area around the entire body. The base area of a model rocket
produces form drag.
Lift occurs when a flow of gas is turned by a solid object. The flow is turned in one
direction, and the lift is generated in the opposite direction, according to Newton's
third law of action and reaction. For a model rocket, the nose cone, body tube, and
fins can turn the flow and become a source of lift if the rocket is inclined to the flight
direction.
Factors Affecting the Aerodynamic behaviour:
The Object -
Geometry has a large effect on the aerodynamic forces generated by an object. Lift
and drag depend linearly on the size of the object moving through the air. The cross-
sectional shape of an object determines the form drag created by the pressure
variation around the object. If we think of drag as aerodynamic friction, the amount of
drag depends on the surface roughness of the object; a smooth, waxed surface
produces less drag than a roughened surface. This effect is called skin friction and is
usually included in the measured drag coefficient of the object.
Motion of the Air -
Lift and drag are associated with the movement of the rocket through the air, so lift
and drag depend on the velocity of the air. Lift and drag actually vary with the square
of the relative velocity between the object and the air. The inclination of the object to
the flow also affects the amount of lift and drag generated by a given shaped object. If
the object moves through the air at speeds near the speed of sound, shock waves are
formed on the object which create an additional drag component called wave drag.
The motion of the object through the air also causes boundary layers to form on the
object. A boundary layer is a region of very low speed flow near the surface which
contributes to the skin friction.
Properties of the Air -
Lift and drag depend directly on the mass of the flow going past the rocket. The drag
also depends in a complex way on two other properties of the air: its viscosity and its
compressibility. These factors affect the wave drag and skin frictions which are
described above. We can gather all of this information on the factors that affect lift
and drag into two mathematical equations called the Lift Equation and the Drag
Equation. With these equations we can predict how much aerodynamic force is
generated by a given body moving at a given speed through a given fluid.
CALCULATION
Most of the calculations for the experiment were carried out in Excel Spread-sheet, using the
equation below. However there are some calculation solved, which are shown below.
Dynamic Pressure in Working Section
q = 100 K
1
x Betz (mbar) N/m
2

= 1.175 x Betz (N/m
2
)
Force and Moment Coefficient
Coefficient of Lift C
L
:

whereby: L = Lift
q = Dynamic pressure
S = Wing Span
Coefficient of Drag C
D
:

Coefficient of Pitching Moment CM:

Whereby: C
mac
= 0.2996m (Mean Aerodynamic Chord)
C
pivot
= 0.14475m (pivot point for pitching moment)
Wind Tunnel Wall Corrections
The incidence angle and the drag coefficient need to be corrected since the downstream of the
wing trailing vortex system occurred due to the wind tunnel walls. The following equation
rectifies any error caused during the operation of the tunnel.

;
corrected
=
measured
+ ; C
Dcorrected
= C
Duncorrected
+ C
L

Whereby: S = Wing area
C
R
= 0.9348m
2
(Cross Section Area of the wind tunnel working section)
Air Density and Viscosity
In order to determine the average free-stream velocity and Reynolds number, average air
density and viscosity is required by using the following equation
3
) (
/
288
760
2256 . 1
) ( ), (
m Kg
T
P
P
c T mmHg P
t tunnel
atm
tunnel atm
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
.
|

\
|
=

] [

ms Kg
T
t tunnel
/
288
10 783 . 1
) ( 5
|
|
.
|

\
|
=

Average Velocity and Reynolds Number
[

] [

] = 1071.36m/s

Polhamus Leading-Edge Suction Analogy
Polhamus is a simple way of estimating Vortex lift named after Edward C. Polhamus in
1971. The Polhamus suction analogy states that the extra normal force that is produced by a
highly swept wing at high angles of attack is equal to the loss of leading edge suction
associated with the separated flow. The figure below shows how, according to this idea, the
leading edge suction force present in attached flow (upper figure) is transformed to a lifting
force when the flow separates and forms a leading edge vortex (lower figure).

o o o o cos sin cos sin
2 2
KV K C
p L
+ =
2
o o KV K
p
+ ~ o In radians
o o o
3 2
sin cos sin KV K C C
p D D
o
+ + =
3 2
o o KV K C
p D
o
+ + ~


Whereby: ,
o d
dC
K
L
p
=
2
2
L
Di
i
C
C
K
c
c
= ,
LE
i p p
V
K K K
K
O

=
cos
) (
2