Experimental Studies on Aerodynamic Characteristics of SSTO Vehicle at Low Subsonic

Speeds
Author(s): Yoshito Miyamoto, Toshimi Fujita, Akihito Iwasaki and Hirotoshi Fujieda
Source: SAE Transactions, Vol. 100, Section 1: JOURNAL OF AEROSPACE, Part 2 (1991), pp.
2026-2033
Published by: SAE International
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44548062
Accessed: 23-09-2020 19:00 UTC

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 911981

Experimental Studies on Aerodynamic

Characteristics of SSTO Vehicle at Low
Subsonic Speeds
Yoshito Miyamoto, Toshimi Fujita, Akihito Iwasaki, and Hirotoshi Fujieda
National Aerospace Lab.

ABSTRACT Xref axial location of moment reference

point (0.7L)
As for a fully reusable space transportation Zref height of moment reference point above
system of a single stage to orbit (SSTO) of hori- body axis (0.0)
zontal take-off and landing type, experimental a angle of attack
studies on low-speed aerodynamic characteristics ß angle of sideslip
have been done. The wind tunnel tests were Ö c canard deflection angle
conducted using NAL' s gust wind tunnel. Ô « wing elevon deflection angle
Six-compoment force and moment data were
obtained over an angle of attack range from -14° INTRODUCTION

to 44 ° . In this paper, the aerodynamic test

results are presented for the low-speed aero- The fully reusable aerospace plane of a
dynamics of a generic SSTO configuration. horizontal take-off and landing type has been
studied at National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL)
Nomenclature of Japan. Experimental studies on aerodynamic
characteristics of SSTO vehicle have been done.

All data have been reduced to standard The wind tunnel tests were conducted using NAL' s
coefficient form, and data are presented in the four wind tunnels of low speed, transonic speed,
stability axis system. supersonic speed and hypersonic speed (1)*.
In the present paper, we attempt to summarize
b wing span (0.538 m) the principal results on the low-speed aero-
c mean geometric chord of wing (0.3171m) dynamic characteristics of SSTO model.
CD drag coefficient
CL lift coefficient MODEL DESCRIPTION AND TEST CONDITIONS

Ci rolling moment coefficient

Cm pitching moment coefficient The basic configuration of the model used
for wind tunnel tests is shown in Figure 1.
Cn yawing moment coefficient
CY side force coefficient The configuration consist of a 1.155 m long by

L reference body length (1.155 m) 0.21 m wide fuselage with elliptical cross

L/D lift-drag ratio sections. The wing has the aspect ratio 1.7,

S wing planform reference area (0.1706 m2)

• Numbers in parentheses designate references
XCB longitudinal position of e.g.
at end of paper.

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uniform incidence 1 ° , inner section leading- characteristics are seen for ß >20 ° .
edge sweptback 78.7° , outboad section leading- The rolling moment Ci is negative for the
edge sweptback 60.8° and wing section is side-slip angle ß >2° and angle of attack
NACA 0005. 0° <a<30° . The derivative of the rolling

The airfoil section of canard and vertical-tail moment C, with ß , C , ß , is negative for
was NACA 0005. -5° <ct<25° (figure 10).
Concerning the canard-wing combination The yawing moment Cn is positive for the
some variations in vertical and horizontal side-slip angle ß >0 ° and angle of attack
position as well as in setting angle of the 0° <a<30° . The derivative of the yawing moment
canard were possible. The model was supported C„ with ß , Cnß , is positive for a <35 °
by two struts on the center line of the body (figure 10). As seen in the figure, this model
lower surface. is in lateral directional static stability.
The wind-tunnel investigation was conducted CANARD - The canard is useful for subsonic

in the NAL* s 2-by 2-m gust wind tunnel over an flight and is especially important for take-off
angle of attack range from -14° to 44° , and and landing with the use of hight lift devices.
over a free-stream velocity range 30 m/s to 50 The nose-down moment induced by such high lift

m/s. The majority of the testing was conducted device must be eliminated. The addition of the
at a free-stream velocity of 40 m/s. canard to the wing-fuselage configuration
The moment reference center of the configu- changes a formerly nose-down pitching moment to
ration was located at a distance back from the a nose-up pitching moment.

nose equal to 70 percent of the overall length The results of the six-component measurements

of the model. for the canard-on and canard-off configuration

shows both configurations have nearly the same
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS lift and drag. Effects of canards are shown in
Figure 4 where the nose-up moment induced by
ELEVON - The effect of elevon angle <7 e is canards is clearly shown in the positive angle
shown in Figure 2. This presents the longi- of attack region. Cm can be increased by about
tudinal characteristics in the wide range of 0.03 for canard angle deflections of <7 c=5 ° .
angle of attack and elevon angle for the basic As shown in Figure 4, the derivative of
configuration. The test results show that the the pitching moment Cm with a , Cract.» is negative
aerodynamic characteristics of this model in the for 6° < a < 20 ° and the model is stable in the
low speed range are good in general. longitudinal direction. If the canards were
The required CL value is roughly estimated used , however, Cm a become positive for the small
as 0.8 under the conditions of the wing loading angle of attack and it becomes unstable.
0.57 ton/m2 and horizontal take-off speed 390 This result indicates that the installation
km/h . That CL value can be given at the angle angle of canard should be controlled actively to
of attack of a =15 ° and the elevon angle of take the stable trim at a small angle of attack.
<7 6=12° . The maximum value of L/D=4.8 for Figure 5 expresses the trim angle and the
<7 e=0° occures at about a =8° . longitudinal stability against the location of
Cm can be increased by about 0.15 for gravitational center measured from the top of
elevon angle deflections of <7 e = 10° . the model for the canard deflection angle

If a larger wing loading were required <7C=2° . This figure indicate that the model
in order to decrease a wing area, another high has trim stability in 4° š OL Ú 17 ° for CG
lift device like a vector control of the engine location Xcg/L=0.7. In order to keep the enough
exhaust must be utilized.
design margin of CG location for trim stability,
SIDESLIP - Figure 3 presents sideslip effects.
slight modification of model configuration will
be necessary.
For the range of angle of sideslip -5° < ß <20° ,
Figure 6 shows effects of canard deflection
six-component force and moment varies linearly
angle. As seen in the figure, a canard does not
with ß . The drastic changes of aerodynamic

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cause the enough nose-up moment for canard SUMMARY OF RESULTS
deflection angle â c>10° .
Figure 7 shows effects of canard location. The experimental studies on aerodynamic
There is little difference for the canard characteristics of SSTO vehicle model at low
location.
speed have been done by using NAL* s gust win
Figure 8 shows effects of canard span length tunnel. Through this investigation , the
where the F2 canard has a double canard area of
following conclusions are introduced.
the basic configuration Fl. (1) The CL value required to take off a typical
These pitcing moment data show a very signifi- SSTO can be given by using elevons, and
cant sensitivity to variation in canard span actively controlled canards may be required
length. The shorter the canard span is, the to take trim stability.
lower the pitching moment becomes, approaching (2) The use of canard produced increased
to the result of the canard-off configuration. lateral-directional stability for high angle
VERTICAL TAILES - Figure 9 shows effects of of attack.
vertical tail location where a V2 tail has a (3) The maximum lift coefficients were seriously
double wing area of a double-vertical tail. sensitive to vertical tail configurations.
The deleterious effect of the outer vertical
tail location on the maximum lift is evident. REFERENCES

Figure 10 shows effects of vertical tail

cant angle. When the cant angle is increased, 1) Nomura, S., Hozumi,K., Kawamoto, I., and
the maximum lift reduces because of the Miyamoto, Y . : Experimental Studies on
interference. Aerodynamic Characteristics of SSTO Vehicle
For high angle of attack ( a >30 ° ) , a ver- at Subsonic to Hypersonic Speeds, Proc. 16th.
tical tail is not effective for the directional Intl.Symp.on Space Tech. and Science( 1988) .
stability. The use of canard produced increased
lateral-directional stability for high angle of
attack.

1/1 os
* so 60
> g - >i
581.. 5

JÍAlT JZ-SZ1- - --- f

5

w 195
O

K- 182

1155

_
I
_ , 846
Figure 1. Sketch of the SSTO wind tunnel model. _ ,
All linear dimensions are given in mm. 778.8 1028

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; 10 20 30 ^

Figure 2. Effects of elevon angle.

ô c=2 °

X «0

Figure 3. Effects of sideslip angle.

dc = 2°

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 canard 6 « „ J

02 + ooos S j| A/ j'
* 0005 0 h j [7 J
♦ 0005 ~S Jit if I

zfj ' ' 40

^ Ir FLWR (d«g)

Figure 4. Pitching moment at Xref.=70%.

Effects of canard.

6 .
PLFHR - ~-

ł<ł,ł ^ ° . ^
' 5 ' ' ' ' i ' ' GO ' ' ' ^¿r : ■-*
Xc 9 A, ( X )

Figure 5. Trim angle and longitudinal st

Õ c=2 °

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 ALPHA (d«o)

Figure 6. Effects of canard deflection angle.

*:
r»

vj

A f ^ ~ ~T ( 195,19.7 )t J f
l' f ^ ~ (143,7.7)"" } /
j ' * - <345'15-7> J f
S3- o., È j
»-f>' S3- o><'_y
Î ' 1 ' -10 ' ' *^"i ' ' '10 ' ' 20 3d 40
ļ ' ' / fl-PHR (J,t)

w w _

li
• r«

H*
'o

li Figure 7. Effects of canard location.

6 c=2 °

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 Pm canard span f ■ a o d

0 Pm -i #y= canard span /ř/^ f ■ a o d

50""
^r-^J -030 ^vjo '/' 10 . ' ' "N* S, ' '*>/'" 1 /
1°

Figure 8. Effects of canard span length,

ď c=2°

cl «»"li^ssgSsa c 1 '
1 JT 0.005 •

■ o v.o/o

-1 L A v.'30/0 -o.oi -
+ V 1 60/0

- C n ß *ß * 0.01 ■

v, o/o "
|_¿® I

i
v , io/o v.so/o

Figure 9. Effects of vertical tail location.

õ c=2 °

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 CL r

Cl/d«o)

JP 0.005 »

-10 10 20 30 40 "Tc^lSh"^ ' iç ' 20 ' 3] f '1

QQ + V»30/<» . ģhf Ò
0.5 . tifo** -0.01 ■

Jr Cn ß
J? (1/dog)

-10 10 20 30 40

i_~~' < r~~' "' ' "

i i_~~' i i V . r? < fy
-Jsk- i i i V . r? -à&L fy/ -¿Il pv > -...
V,30/0 V'30/" V.30/« V.30/Í0

Figure 10. Effects of vertical tail cant angle.

<5 c=2 °

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