Quality Assessment for Wind Tunnel Testing (L'Appreciation de la Qualite Pour les Essais en Soufflerie)
Abstract
Wind tunnel data are often presented without reference to the quality of the results. When data uncertainty is considered, it is normally in the form of repeatability from a few supposedly identical tests. Only rarely are estimates of uncertainty based on professional calibrations of facilities and instrumentation, a thorough review of the process producing the data, and comprehensive accounting of significant biases inherent in the experiment. The development of new and modified aircraft is frequently compromised by inadequate consideration of experimental error. References 1.1 through 1.4 are some of the AGARD publications that have reported important problems over the past 20 years. An AGARD Symposium in 1987 (Ref. 1.5) entitled 'Aerodynamic Data Accuracy and Quality: Requirements and Capabilities in Wind Tunnel Testing' highlighted continuing problems. Two important improvements in data quality assessment practices are clearly needed. The first is to adopt a consistent approach for integrating uncertainty analyses into all phases of a test. The second is to provide a complete professional analysis and documentation of uncertainty for each test. This report describes an engineering approach to wind tunnel data quality assessment that can alleviate many of the problems documented in Ref. 1. 5. The method developed in this report is general. Aircraft aerodynamic testing was selected as a specific example application to provide a focus for describing and applying the method.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1994
- Accession Number
- ADA286331
Entities
Organizations
- AGARD