STABILITY AND CONTROL CHARACTERISTICS OF A MODEL OF AN AERIAL VEHICLE SUPPORTED BY FOUR DUCTED FANS

Abstract

Tests were made in both hovering and forward flight with a model having four ducted fans which provided the sole source of lift and propulsion. The ducts were arranged in a rectangular pattern and were fixed with respect to the airframe so that their axes of revolution were vertical for hovering flight. In hovering flight the model had unstable oscillations in pitch and roll which could be completely stabilized by the use of artificial damping. In forward flight, the tilt angle and pitching moment required for trim were undesirably large. Both of these quantities were reduced when a cascade of turning vanes was used beneath the forward ducts, but the power penalty imposed by the vanes was large. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1961
Accession Number
AD0262310

Entities

People

  • Lysle P. Parlett

Organizations

  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Ducted Fans
  • Fans
  • Flight
  • Hovering
  • Oscillation
  • Revolutions
  • Vehicles

Readers

  • Aerodynamics.
  • Aerodynamics/Aeronautics.