INVESTIGATION OF CONTROL SURFACE INSTABILITIES OF LIFTING BODY CONFIGURATIONS.
Abstract
Based on aircraft experience, the possibility of the occurrence of unanticipated aeroelastic instabilities of advanced orbital and superorbital lifting body configurations is an appropriate consideration for the vehicle designer. Although oscillatory motions may involve any one of a number of aeroelastic mechanisms, most of them can be categorized as either self-sustained, driven by flow disturbances, or a combination of both forms. In the present investigation, such mechanisms are studied both analytically and experimentally. The investigation is actually the outgrowth of recent hypersonic wind tunnel tests in which control surface oscillations were observed on a re-entry vehicle model. It has been found that the oscillations that do occur are not self-sustained but instead involve a complex interaction between flow separation, free stream disturbances and vehicle geometry. In general, the response can be characterized as a low level, random, nondivergent oscillation with peak hinge moments that may be of the same order of magnitude as the static hinge moments. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1965
- Accession Number
- AD0368185
Entities
People
- Robert L. Goldman
Organizations
- Glenn L. Martin Company