Numerical and Experimental Research on Flight Control of a V-Tail Configuration for the Wind Tunnel Model of Aircraft

Abstract

The V-tail configuration has excellent stealth performance and has been using widely in the aerodynamic shape design of advanced aircraft. Many recent studies have focused on numerical simulation about V-tail configuration flight performance. The relative wind tunnel tests still need to be developed. This challenge is a focused aspect in such research. In the present experimental study, the role of flight control law was investigated in order to keep the test model in the target attitude and height. An effective design method of a full model of the aircraft with twin V-tails is proposed based on CFD evaluation. This model was manufactured based on the design of a two degrees of freedom support system via a Chinese wind tunnel. A longitudinal flight control law was proposed and simulated. Wind tunnel tests were employed to find the effectiveness of the model design and the control law. It is seen from the results that the proposed experimental method via a full model of the aircraft with twin V-tails and a novel longitudinal flight control law is effective. These test results can provide appliable contributions on the development of the support system for wind tunnel experiments. The proposed model design and test methods can be useful for applications in the aeroelastic wind tunnel tests of the full model aircrafts.

Keywords

• full model aircraft
• V-tail
• wind tunnel test
• flight control
• pitch and plunge freedom