A flight test technique for precise angle-of-attack measurements with application to laminar flow control flight research

2014, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc. All rights reserved. Flight data collected on a wing glove testbed are very sensitive to flight conditions (e.g., Mach number, Reynolds number, aircraft weight). Previous laminar flow control flight research has typically been narrowly focused on single point designs such as the cruise condition. The objectives for the present experiment are to collect these data across a range of flight conditions and provide stabilized flow data suitable for computational validation. To accomplish this, a flight test technique was developed to set and hold the angle of attack of a wing glove. This is accomplished via lateral-directional flight control inputs which are not susceptible to pilot-induced oscillations like pitch inputs. When applied to laminar flow control, this flight test technique is shown to be able to reasonably hold angle of attack to 0.1. Further, a combination of flight control inputs can compensate for asymmetric wing glove installation and position flight control surfaces for optimal data collection and comparison to computational models. Finally, a research pilot display was developed to display flow conditions at the wing glove and enable efficient flight data collection.

A flight test technique for precise angle-of-attack measurements with application to laminar flow control flight research Conference Paper