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Results of a recent low-speed wind-tunnel investigation conducted to define the forebody flow on a 16% scale model of the NASA High Angle-of-Attack Research Vehicle (HARV), an F-18 configuration, are presented with analysis. Measurements include force and moment data, oil-flow visualizations, and surface pressure data taken at angles of attack near and above maximum lift (36° to 52°) at a Reynolds number of one million based on mean aerodynamic chord. The results presented identify the key flow-field features on the forebody including the wing-body strake.

Market growth and technological advances are expected to lead to a new generation of long-range transports that cruise at supersonic or even hypersonic speeds. Current NASA/industry studies will define the market windows in terms of time frame, Mach number, and technology requirements for these aircraft. Initial results indicate that, for the years 2000 to 2020, economically attractive vehicles could have a cruise speed up to Mach 6. The resulting research challenges are unique. They must be met with new technologies that will produce commercially successful and environmentally compatible vehicles where none have existed. Several important areas of research have been identified for the high-speed civil transports. Among these are sonic boom, takeoff noise, thermal management, lightweight structures with long life, unique propulsion concepts, unconventional fuels, and supersonic laminar flow.

Supersonic wind tunnels with much lower stream disturbance levels than in conventional tunnels are required to advance transition research. The ultimate objectives of this research are to provide reliable predictions of transition from laminar to turbulent flow on supersonic flight vehicles and to develop techniques for the control and reduction of viscous drag and heat transfer. The experimental and theoretical methods used at NASA Langley to develop a low-disturbance pilot tunnel are described. Typical transition data obtained in this tunnel are compared with flight and previous wind-tunnel data and with predictions from linear stability theory,

The ability of modern airplane surfaces to achieve laminar flow over a wide range of subsonic and transonic cruise flight conditions has been well-documented in recent years. Current laminar flow flight research conducted by NASA explores the limits of practical applications of laminar flow drag reduction technology. Past laminar flow flight research focused on measurements of transition location, without exploring the dominant instability(ies) responsible for initiating the transition process. Today, it is important to understand the specific causes(s) of laminar to turbulent boundary layer transition. This paper presents results of research on advanced devices for measuring the phenomenon of viscous Tollmien-Schlichting (T-S) instability in the flight environment. In previous flight tests, T-S instability could only be inferred from theoretical calculations based on measured pressure distributions.

The LIDAR In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE) will employ LIDAR techniques to study the atmosphere from space. The LITE instrument will be flown in the Space Shuttle Payload Bay with an earth directed orientation. The experiment thermal control incorporates both active and passive techniques. The Laser Transmitter Module (LTM) and the System Electronics will be actively cooled through the shuttle pallet coolant loop. The Receiver System and Experiment Platform will be passively controlled through the use of insulation and component surface properties. This paper explains the thermal control techniques used and the analysis results, with primary focus on the Receiver System.

This paper describes the analysis and performance testing of a uniquely designed external heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is attached externally to an aircraft and is used to cool a laser system within the fuselage. Estimates showed insufficient cooling capacity with a conventional staggered tube array in the limited space available. Thus, a non-conventional design was developed with larger tube and fin area exposed to the ram air to increase the heat transfer performance. The basic design consists of 28 circular finned aluminum tubes arranged in two parallel banks. Wind tunnel tests were performed to simulate air and liquid flight conditions for the non-conventional parallel bank arrangement and the conventional staggered tube arrangement. Performance comparisons of each of the two designs are presented. Test results are used in a computer model of the heat exchanger to predict the operating performance for the entire flight profile.

The results of a design study of a Hybrid Laminar Flow Control (HLFC) wing at transonic speed and correlative studies for finite, swept supersonic wings are discussed in this paper. Transonic HLFC wing was designed such as to obtain laminar laminar flow on the the wing upper surface for X/C of 0.6 and with suction applied from the leading edge to 60% of the chord and with suction applied from just aft of the leading edge to twenty-five percent of the chord. New theoretical methods have been recently developed for predicting pressure distributions, supersonic wave drag and transition location for finite swept wings at transonic and supersonic Mach number conditions and are illustrative computations are given. Results for laminar and turbulent boundary-layer parameters consisting of the displacement effects and skin friction drag are also presented.

Wind tunnel investigations were conducted as part of an effort to develop a stability and control database for an aerospace plane concept across a broad range of Mach numbers. The generic conical design used in these studies represents one of a number of concepts being studied for this class of vehicle. The baseline configuration incorporated a 5° cone forebody, a 75.96° delta wing, a 16°leading-edge sweep deployable canard and a centerline vertical tail. Tests were conducted in the following NASA-Langley facilities spanning a Mach range of 0.1 to 6:30- by 60-Foot Tunnel,14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel, Low Turbulence Pressure Tunnel, National Transonic Facility, Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel, and the 20 Inch Mach 6 Tunnel. Data were collected for a number of model geometry variations and test conditions in each facility. This paper highlights some of the key results of these investigations pertinent to stability considerations about all three axes.

One of the factors needed to describe the wear behavior of the Space Shuttle Orbiter main gear tires is their behavior during the spin-up process. An experimental investigation of tire spin-up processes was conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center's Aircraft Landing Dynamics Facility (ALDF). During the investigation, the influence of various parameters such as forward speed and sink speed on tire spin-up forces were evaluated. A mathematical model was developed to estimate drag forces and spin-up times and is presented. The effect of prerotation was explored and is discussed. Also included is a means of determining the sink speed of the orbiter at touchdown based upon the appearance of the rubber deposits left on the runway during spinup.

Joining advanced composite materials is one of the greatest obstacles to proliferating their use in aerospace structures. Another hindrance is the high cost of manufacturing advanced composite structures using conventional methods. The present trend in both the automotive and aerospace industries is lighter weight, energy efficient structures. In the aerospace community, the use of advanced composite structures has the potential for weight reductions of 35 to 40 percent as compared with the use of conventional aluminum alloys. However, this advantage is offset by the higher cost of manufacturing in using conventional composite technology. This paper identifies pultrusion and induction bonding as potential methods for manufacturing lightweight high-strength advanced composite structures.

The effectiveness of a proposed concept for shielding a manned Mars vehicle using a confined magnetic field configuration is evaluated by computing estimated crew radiation exposures resulting from galactic cosmic rays and a large solar flare event. In the study the incident radiation spectra are transported through the spacecraft structure/magnetic shield using the deterministic space radiation transport computer codes developed at Langley Research Center. The calculated exposures unequivocally demonstrate that magnetic shielding could provide an effective barrier against solar flare protons but is virtually transparent to the more energetic galactic cosmic rays. It is then demonstrated that through proper selection of materials and shield configuration, adequate and reliable bulk material shielding can be provided for the same total mass as needed to generate and support the more risky magnetic field configuration.

This paper represents a first step in developing the criteria for pilot interaction with advanced controls and displays in a single pilot IFR (SPIFR) environment. The research program presented herein is comprised of an analytical phase and an experimental phase. The analytical phase consisted of a review of fundamental considerations for pilot workload taking into account existing data, and using that data to develop a SPIFR pilot workload model. The rationale behind developing such a model was based on the concept that it is necessary to identify and quantify the most important components of pilot workload to guide the experimental phase of the research which consisted of an abbreviated flight test program. The purpose of the flight tests was to evaluate the workload associated with certain combinations of controls and displays in a flight environment. This was accomplished as a first step in building a data base for single pilot IFR controls and displays.

A future requirements and advanced market evaluation study indicates derivatives of current wide-body aircraft, using 1980 advanced technology, would be economically attractive through 2008, but new dedicated airfreighters incorporating 1990 technology, would offer little or no economic incentive. They would be economically attractive for all payload sizes, however, if RD and T costs could be shared in a joint civil/military arrangement. For the 1994-2008 cargo market, option studies indicate Mach 0.7 propfans would be economically attractive in trip cost, aircraft price and airline ROI. Spanloaders would have an even lower price and higher ROI but would have a relatively high trip cost because of aerodynamic inefficiencies. Dedicated airfreighters using propfans at Mach 0.8 cruise, laminar flow control, or cryofuels, would not provide any great economic benefits.

A description is given of a computer program developed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) for the assessment of manned space station environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) technology. The program methodology along with the data base and mission model variables are given for 17 candidate technologies that show potential for supplying metabolic oxygen and water on manned space missions. The data base includes metabolic design loads associated with crew activity, engineering design parameters for each technology option, and cost data required for candidate life cycle cost comparisons. The method for ranking the candidate options in order to provide recommendations for space station application or subsequent development is presented.

An experiment was conducted to measure the surface pressures and sectional side forces on a 5° cone with three nose tips. The nose tips included a sharp, an 8.7% blunt, and a 17.5% blunt nose tip. Rings of pressure orifices were located at 40% and 80% of the model length and the model was rolled from ±180° in 9° increments to determine roll dependence. The sectional side force data for the sharp cone showed a strong dependence on the roll orientation of the model. The blunt nose cone configurations also showed a dependence on roll orientation. The blunt nose configurations were effective in reducing the sectional side force for angles of attack up to 25°. However, at angles of attack greater than 35°, the reduction was no longer significant. Pressure distributions for three angles of attack are presented to highlight details of the flow when: vortex asymmetries are just beginning; the vortices are in a steady asymmetric state; a vortex has shed between the 40% and 80% stations.

An investigation was conducted in the Langley 14- By 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel to determine the low-speed aerodynamic characteristics of a powered generic NASP-like configuration in ground effect. The model was a simplified configuration consisting of a triangular wedge forebody, a rectangular mid-section which housed the propulsion simulation system, and a rectangular wedge aftbody. Additional model components included a delta wing, exhaust flow deflectors, and aftbody fences. Six-component force and moment data were obtained over an angle of attack range from −4° to 18° while model height above the tunnel floor was varied from 1/4 inch to 6 feet. Variations in freestream dynamic pressure, from 10 psf to 80 psf, and engine ejector pressure yielded a range of thrust coefficients from 0 to 0.8. Flow visualization was obtained by injecting water into the engine simulator inlets and using a laser light sheet to illuminate the resulting exhaust flow.

Discontinuous wing leading-edge droop designs have been evaluated as a means of modifying wing autorotative characteristics and thus improving airplane spin resistance. Addition of a discontinuous outboard wing leading-edge droop to three typical light airplanes having NACA 6-series wing sections produced significant improvements in stall characteristics and spin resistance. Wind tunnel tests of two wings having advanced natural laminar flow airfoil sections indicated that a discontinuous leading-edge droop can delay the onset of autorotation at high angles of attack without adversely affecting the development of laminar flow at cruise angles of attack.

A two-component LV system was used to make detailed measurements of the flowfield around both a single-rotation and a counter-rotation propeller/nacelle. The conditions measured for the single-rotation tractor configuration include two different blade angles and two propeller advance ratios, and for the counter-rotation propeller configuration include both pusher and tractor mounts. The measurements show the increasing slipstream velocities and contraction with increasing blade angle and with decreasing advance ratio. Data for the counter-rotation system show that the aft propeller turns the flow in the opposite direction from the front propeller. Additionally, the LV system was used as a diagnostic tool to provide data to explain the large side force measured on the propeller/nacelle at angle-of-attack.

Large space structures will be a key element of our future space activities. They will include spacecraft such as the planned Space Station and large antenna/reflector structures for communications and observations. These large structures will exceed 100 m in length or 30 m in diameter. Concepts for construction of these spacecraft on orbit and their materials of construction provide some unique research challenges. This paper will provide an overview of our research in space construction of large structures including erectable and deployable concepts. Also, an approach to automated, on-orbit construction will be presented. Materials research for space applications focuses on high stiffness, low expansion composite materials that provide adequate durability in the space environment. The status of these materials research activities will be discussed.

Airplane flight tests have been conducted to determine the effects of wing leading-edge modifications and a ventral fin addition on the spin resistance of a typical high-wing, single-engine, general aviation airplane. Drooped wing leading-edge modifications which improve lateral stability at high angles of attack were tested in combination with a ventral fin that improves directional stability. Each modification was evaluated using spin resistance criteria which have been proposed for incorporation into the Federal Aviation Regulations for certification of light aircraft. The best configuration tested, a combination of outboard wing leading-edge droop and a ventral fin, provided a very significant increase in overall airplane spin resistance, but was not sufficient to satisfy all requirements of the spin resistance criteria.