Design of a Deployable Wing Glider

Abstract

An unpowered, unguided vehicle to be deployed from a 4.75 inch flare tube was designed. The design criteria were: six cubic inch, two pound payload, minimum glide speed of 50 knots, and stable with particular emphasis on heading stability. Two basic configurations were considered in the analysis: the first was a tailless vehicle, and the second was a conventionally tailed vehicle. It was found that the tailless vehicle could not meet the stability requirements and thus the tailed vehicle was chosen to meet the design criteria. The analysis procedure consisted of a computer model to analyze vehicle stability, wind tunnel tests to calculate aerodynamic derivatives, and flight tests to demonstrate performance. The finalized vehicle had a folding wing and flexible tail-boom to meet the packaging requirement. The resulting vehicle had a glide ratio of 25 and was very stable in heading, while meeting all other design requirements.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1974
Accession Number
ADA004800

Entities

People

  • Phillip L. Abold

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerodynamic Characteristics
  • Aerodynamic Configurations
  • Aeronautical Engineering
  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Airfoils
  • Center Of Gravity
  • Dynamics
  • Equations Of Motion
  • Flow
  • Stabilization Systems
  • Surfaces
  • Test Methods
  • Vertical Stabilizers
  • Wind Tunnel Tests
  • Wind Tunnels
  • Wing Body Configurations

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Fluid Dynamics.
  • Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Autonomous Capabilities and Mission Reconnaissance.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy