Sting effects on store captive loads

An articulated sting is a key device used at the Institute for Aerospace Research 1.5m Trisonic Blowdown Wind Tunnel for store loads measurements in an aircraft flowfield. The effects of the articulated sting on the captive loads of the MK83-BSU mounted on a 6% scale CF-18 model were investigated at different transonic Mach numbers, aircraft angles of attack, and aircraft/stores configurations. The sting-induced increments in store captive loads at Mach numbers 0.6, 0.85, and 0.95 are discussed and qualitatively verified by the computational solutions from an Euler code. The influence of Mach number on sting-induced increments is complicated at transonic speeds, and the induced increment may not monotonically decrease with increasing Mach number. A detailed analysis is needed for each individual case if the accurate sting effects are required. The sting effects on the store trajectories released from the CF-18 are also studied