Laminar Flow Control Flight Experiment Design and Execution

The expense and hazard of flight research necessitates careful planning to ensure effective and efficient data collection. This work examines the problem of measuring the effectiveness of spanwise-periodic, discrete roughness elements (DRE) on laminar flow control (LFC) on a swept wing glove. A test plan is described which progresses through distinct phases of data collection each of which informs subsequent phases while producing valuable flight data. First, the science envelope definition phase characterizes the flow environment of the laminar flow control testbed. Second, the natural laminar flow characteristics are defined. Finally, various DRE LFC configurations are installed on the testbed, and the effects are demonstrated. Several planning tools are exercised for test planning, and the experimental implementation is described. From this effort, valuable flight data are produced, and DRE LFC technology is demonstrated in an operationally relevant environment. The progression of the test plan can be applied to any experiment which gathers data on a prior-uncharacterized test apparatus.

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