Prediction of Unsteady Aerodynamic Loadings on Non-Planar Wings and Wing-Tail Configurations in Supersonic Flow. Part 1. Theoretical Development, Program Usage, and Application

Abstract : A three-dimensional extension of the Mach Box technique was developed for the unsteady aerodynamic analysis of non-planar wings and wing-tail configurations in supersonic flow. Various refinement procedures were included to improve the accuracy of the results. A general purpose computer program was written for the CDC 6600. The program is capable of treating wing-tail combinations with or without vertical separation, longitudinal separation and dihedral on either surface. If a wing alone is treated, perturbation velocity components in the flow field may be found. Correlations with experimental flutter results were performed for several models tested in the low supersonic Mach number range. The methods are intended to be used by airplane designers to calculate with improved accuracy, the unsteady aerodynamic loads that act on a lifting surface being propelled at supersonic speeds. The new feature of these calculations is that the aerodynamic interference between the wing and tail was taken into account. These calculations are an essential ingredient of flutter analyses and will improve the confidence level of such calculations in preventing wing-tail flutter.