AE39001 AERODYNAMICS LABORATORY II

Prof. Sandeep Saha

Determination of Lift, Drag and Pitching moment

over a Delta wing

GROUP-2
15AE30009
VINAY REDDY MALLU
Aim:

To obtain lift, drag and pitching moment over a delta wing, at various
angles of attack.

Apparatus:

 Wind tunnel.
 Models (Slender delta wing).
 Six component strain gauge sting balance.
 Multimeter.

Introduction:
The delta wing was first used by Alexander Lippisch, a German engineer.
The delta wing advances the swept wing (swept wing needs more forward
speed to produce lift than the rectangular wing, but produces much less
drag in the process, meaning that the aircraft can fly faster. The downside
to this however is that the aircraft must fly extremely fast for this wing to
be effective. Therefore, it’s only found on supersonic aircraft such as
fighter jets (F-15, F-16, MiG-21 etc.) and the Space Shuttle orbiter. There
were also two commercial passenger jets that used this wing design, the
Russian TU-144 and BOAC’s Concorde, both of which could cruise at
supersonic speeds.

Theory:
In wind tunnel testing, aerodynamic forces and moments acting on a
model can be accurately measured using balances. There are two types
of balances:
 Internal balance or sting balance
 External balance.

Internal balance resides inside the test model while the external balance
resides outside the test section. Sting balance is universally used in
supersonic and transonic tunnels. However, they are used in subsonic
tunnel also. To completely describe the condition of a model we must have
to measure all six components, three forces (lift, drag, slip) and three
moments (pitch, yaw, roll).
In the present experiment, strain gage based six component sting balance
would be used. A six component strain gauge sting balance consists of
two Normal and two Side forces, one axial force and one rolling moment.
The strain gages are connected initially in a balanced Wheatstone bridge
arrangement. Each gauge measures the force by the stretching of an
electrical element in the gage. The stretching changes the resistance
which changes the measured current through the gauge using ohm’s law.
Thus, results an unbalanced Wheatstone-bridge. Wires carry the
electricity to the gauges through the hollow sting and carry the resulting
signal back to the recording devices which give us the resulting change in
voltage. This change in voltage is the measure of the forces or moment
acting on the model. In general, a Wheatstone-bridge differential circuit is
used for measurement of force and a summing circuit is used for
measurement of moment

Differential Circuit

For a slender delta wing, the theoretical lift coefficient is given by:
𝐶𝐿 = 𝜋𝐴𝑅 sin 2𝛼
𝐶𝐷 = 2𝜋𝐴𝑅 sin 2𝛼
Where 𝐴𝑅 is the aspect ratio of the wing and 𝛼 is the angle of attack.
The lift is given by
Drag is given by D= 𝐶𝐷
Moment is given by M= C Cm
Procedure:
 The sting balance is calibrated using weights.
 The delta wing is mounted onto the sting balance in the wind tunnel
at an angle of -5°.
 The flow is started and the readings from the strain gauges are
noted.
 The angle of attack is increased in steps of 10° until 𝛼=40° and
readings are noted.

Experimental Results:

Observations:
1. Distance between normal components = 65 mm

2. Excitation voltage = 2.5 V

3. 𝜌 = 1.225 kg/m3

4. 𝐴𝑅 =151/700=0.2157

5. Planform area(s)= 0.5*0.151*0.350=0.026425m2

L = (N1 + N2) cos 𝛼 − Af sin 𝛼

D = (N1 + N2) sin 𝛼 + Af cos 𝛼
M = (M1-M2) × 0.065
 At velocity=17.84892 m/s

o-mv F(newtons) Aerodynamic forces

velocity AOA Af N1 N2 Af N1 N2 L(N) D(N) M(N-m)
17.84892 -5 0.0044 -0.0092 -0.006 0.0974027 -1.25298 -0.79242 -2.02913 0.2753 -0.02994
17.84892 0 0.008 0.004 0.00328 0.1766057 0.518031 0.457831 0.975862 0.176606 0.003913
17.84892 10 0.0124 0.0288 0.0168 0.2731764 3.85497 2.278911 5.993257 1.334163 0.102444
17.84892 20 0.0152 0.0676 0.0408 0.3340834 9.084015 5.498065 13.58841 5.301301 0.233087
17.84892 30 0.0212 0.09932 0.0596 0.4658336 13.3498 8.029247 18.28188 11.09295 0.345836
17.84892 40 0.0236 0.1116 0.068 0.5185521 15.00008 9.158976 18.17359 15.92638 0.379672
17.84892 43 0.028 0.1116 0.0672 0.6157291 14.98915 9.062818 17.17057 16.85372 0.385211

velocity AOA L(N) D(N) M(N-m) Cl Cd Cm

17.84892 -5 -2.02913 0.2753 -0.02994 -0.39352 0.05339 -0.03318
17.84892 0 0.975862 0.176606 0.003913 0.189253 0.03425 0.004336
17.84892 10 5.993257 1.334163 0.102444 1.162299 0.25874 0.113528
17.84892 20 13.58841 5.301301 0.233087 2.63526 1.028105 0.258306
17.84892 30 18.28188 11.09295 0.345836 3.545485 2.151304 0.383254
17.84892 40 18.17359 15.92638 0.379672 3.524485 3.088672 0.420751
17.84892 43 17.17057 16.85372 0.385211 3.329964 3.268516 0.42689

Cd,Cm vs Cl
Cl,Cd,Cm vs AoA Cd
Cm
3.5
4

3.5 3

3
2.5
2.5
2
2

1.5 1.5

1 1
0.5
0.5
0
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 0
-0.5
-1 0 1 2 3 4
-1 -0.5
C
Plots:

Cl vs AoA for diff. Re

4.5

3.5

2.5
Re=188550
2
Re=206733
Cl

1.5
Re=218894
1 Re=229665

0.5

0
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50
-0.5

-1
Angle of attack

Cdvs AoA for diff. Re

4

3.5

2.5

Re=188550
Cd

2
Re=206733

1.5 Re=218894
Re=229665
1

0.5

0
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50
Angle of attack
 Cm vs AoA for diff. Re
1.4

1.2

0.8
Re=188550
Cm

0.6 Re=206733
Re=218894
0.4 Re=229665

0.2

0
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50

-0.2
Angle of attack

4.5 Cl vs Re at diff
4

3.5

2.5

2
Cl

1.5

0.5

0
188000 193000 198000 203000 208000 213000 218000 223000 228000
-0.5

-1
Renolds Number
Aoa=-5 Aoa=0 Aoa=10 Aoa=20 Aoa=30 Aoa=43 Aoa=40
 4 Cd vs Re at diff

3.5

2.5
Cd

1.5

0.5

0
188000 193000 198000 203000 208000 213000 218000 223000 228000
Aoa=-5 Aoa=0 Aoa=10Renolds Aoa=20
Number Aoa=30 Aoa=43 Aoa=40

1.4 Cm vs Re at diff

1.2

0.8
Cm

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
188000 193000 198000 203000 208000 213000 218000 223000 228000

-0.2
Renolds Number

Aoa=-5 Aoa=0 Aoa=10 Aoa=20 Aoa=30 Aoa=43 Aoa=40

DISCUSSION:

1. Several types of force measuring instruments are:

 Force balance: A one component force balance consists of a rod
mounted on a fulcrum. The model is attached to one end of the
fulcrum and weights are suspended from the other end to balance
the aerodynamic force acting on the model.
 Sting balance: It consists of a long shaft called sting on which the
model is mounted. The sting contains strain gauges which are
calibrated to measure the force components.
 Load cell: A load cell is a transducer that is used to create an
electrical signal whose magnitude is directly proportional to the force
being measured.
 Piezo-electric transducer: A piezo-electric transducer uses piezo-
electric effect to measure changes in force by converting them to an
electrical charge.
2. The six component internal strain gage balance is basically a floating-
frame type. The primary frames consist of an inner rod, which fastens
to the model support sting, and a cylindrical outer case, which is
inserted into and attaches to the model. Forces and moments are
resisted by individually removable elements, employing flexure pivots,
connected between the inner rod and outer case of the balance.
The six force and moment sensing components of the balance consist
of two normal force elements for determination of normal force and
pitching moment, two side force elements for determination if side force
and yawing moment, a dual chord [axial] force element and a dual roll
moment.
The normal and side force elements are equipped with relaxation
members at either end and are arranged to act in roll as a set of crossed
flexures. Similar relaxation members provide compliance in the chord
force direction. The rolling moment elements are provided with flexure
pivots at either end which are designed to transmit pure rolling moment to
the gage section. The dual chord element is located inside the dual roll
element and transmits axial force from the outer case to the inner rod.

3. By the sharp leading edge, primary separation is forced to occur at the

leading edge, and for the slender wing, this separation rolls up to form
the primary leading-edge vortex. The primary vortex induces significant
span wise flow on the wing upper surface, resulting in the negative
suction peak. After the primary suction peak, the adverse span wise
pressure gradient induces separation of the span wise boundary layer
flow, resulting in a secondary separation and secondary vortex. The
 secondary vortex induces suction outboard of the primary vortex
suction peak. The primary vortex can have a diameter around 30% of
the local semi span. The primary vortex trajectory for a given sweep
angle is relatively insensitive to angle of attack (AOA) α, and is
essentially proportional to the wing leading edge angle.

The vertical flow structure over a sharp edge non-slender delta wing
differs substantially from that over a slender delta wing. At upstream
locations near the apex, the long and thin shear layer that emanates from
the leading edge of the delta wing terminates in the formation of the
primary vortex. Further downstream, a second vortex, with vorticity of the
same sign of the primary vortex, emerges in the separated shear layer,
outboard of the primary vortex, creating a dual vortex structure. This
second vortex, which is slightly weaker and smaller than the original one,
arises from the interaction of the secondary flow with the primary shear
layer.
4. The flow field is characterized by two counterrotating stream wise
leading-edge vortices which energize the flow and provide nonlinear
vortex lift, thereby rendering a high static-stall angle.
5. At sufficiently high angles of attack, the leading-edge vortices (LEVs)
can, however, undergo vortex breakdown, leading to lift deterioration
and an increased pitch-up moment. The unsteady nature of flow
downstream of the LEV breakdown, which is sensitive to the exact
nature of the vortex structure and to the flow field in which the vortex is
embedded, may also affect the stability of the aircraft and cause
buffeting.
6. 6. Delta wings are particularly happy even at a high angle of attack
because of the reaction lift generated by the wing, and the vortex
created at the leading edge of the wing. Hence, airplanes with delta
wings have a much higher tolerance to stalling. This makes it easier to
attain higher vertical speed, also known as "rate of climb" safely. They
are naturally stable in pitch. The large root chord gives the delta wing
a high internal fuel volume even at a low relative thickness. All these
are characteristics of a supersonic plane So delta wings are used in
military and supersonic aircrafts. They are used as fighters and
bombers of various countries. Eg: The Dassault Rafale and Mirage
series of France. HAL Tejas of India Chengdu J series of china
European typhoon.
7. At low speeds, a delta wing requires a high angle of attack to maintain
lift. A slender delta creates a characteristic vortex pattern over the
upper surface which enhances lift. Some types with intermediate
sweep have been given retractable "moustaches" or fixed leading-
edge root extensions (LERX) to encourage vortex formation.
8. The difference between a finite wing and an infinite wing is in that a
finite wing has tips. As a result, the higher-pressure air from beneath
the wing tries to move around the tips towards the lower pressure
above the wing. This motion creates a swirling vortex of air from each
tip that trails behind the wing. For that reason, we call these vortices
trailing vortices. We call a finite wing "3D" because the air can travel
up and around the wingtip to produce trailing vortices. The flow around
a 2D wing is not able to move in this third dimension. This situation is
not possible on a real aircraft since one cannot build an infinite wing.
So, ours is a 2D wing being tested in a wind tunnel is shown below. In
our case, the wing is mounted vertically so that the floor and ceiling
prevent the air from being able to flow around the tips.
Aerodynamically, the effect of trailing vortices reduces the slope of the
coefficient of lift vs. angle of attack curve. The lower the aspect ratio of
the wing, the more the lift-curve slope is reduced. This behavior results
from the fact that the trailing vortices can influence a larger portion of
the wing the smaller the wingspan becomes.