Supersonic Configurations at Low Speeds (SCALOS): Wind Tunnel Progress

What is it about?

This paper highlights extensive wind tunnel testing conducted at the University of Washington’s KirstenWind Tunnel during 2023 to support the continuing NASA-sponsored SCALOS studies. A total of 456 test runs were carried out over a 4-week test campaign, expanding the configuration design space from past year studies including wing planforms, tail designs, engine nacelle integration, and alternative leading edge concepts. Tests included tare and interference studies of the support system. The paper provides updates of tested configurations, model components, component geometries, and dimensions. The work presents results of several selected configurations, focusing on the incremental effects of planform variations and control surfaces on aerodynamics. These results indicate key configuration shape parameters that significantly influence the performance and stability characteristics of the SCALOS models at low speeds.

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Photo by Hermeus on Unsplash

Photo by Hermeus on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The current supersonic aircraft designs are more slender than the supersonic configurations designed, developed, and studied earlier. And while significant work has been dedicated for quite some time to the supersonic phases of commercial supersonic flight of the emerging quiet configurations, not enough has been done to study their low speed flight characteristics and to create, for designers, reference information and guidelines that would contribute to configuration design regarding the trade-offs between supersonic and low-speed design drivers. There are few readily available public examples of the low-speed characteristics of a number of key configuration features currently proposed for quiet/efficient supersonic airliners and business jets. A major goal of the NASA Supersonic Configurations at Low Speeds (SCALOS) project is to generate data, build experience, and provide insights regarding the performance, handling qualities, and S&C low-speed behavior of variants of the emerging quiet supersonic configurations and of commercial supersonic configurations in general.