Evaluation and Flight Assessment of a Scale Glider
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Dissertations and Theses 8-2014 Evaluation and Flight Assessment of a Scale Glider Alvydas Anthony Civinskas Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Daytona Beach Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.erau.edu/edt Part of the Aerospace Engineering Commons Scholarly Commons Citation Civinskas, Alvydas Anthony, "Evaluation and Flight Assessment of a Scale Glider" (2014). Dissertations and Theses. 41. https://commons.erau.edu/edt/41 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Evaluation and Flight Assessment of a Scale Glider by Alvydas Anthony Civinskas A Thesis Submitted to the College of Engineering Department of Aerospace Engineering in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Daytona Beach, Florida August 2014 Acknowledgements The first person I would like to thank is my committee chair Dr. William Engblom for all the help, guidance, energy, and time he put into helping me. I would also like to thank Dr. Hever Moncayo for giving up his time, patience, and knowledge about flight dynamics and testing. Without them, this project would not have materialized nor survived the many bumps in the road. Secondly, I would like to thank the RC pilot Daniel Harrison for his time and effort in taking up the risky and stressful work of piloting. Individuals like Jordan Beckwith and Travis Billette cannot be forgotten for their numerous contributions in getting the motor test stand made and helping in creating the air data boom pod so that test data. Thirdly, I cannot forget the help from Jade McClanahan, Israel Mogul, Andres Perez, and Dr. Glenn Greiner for their input and insight. Lastly, I cannot forget the people who supported me throughout this project: my family, Michael Carkin, Aliraza Rattansi, Tsewang Shrestha, Killian Marie, and Mohannad Mahdi. iii “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.” ― Yogi Berra iv Abstract Researcher: Alvydas Anthony Civinskas Title: Evaluation and Flight Assessment of a Scale Glider. Institution: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Degree: Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering Year: 2014 The objective of this project is to do a flight assessment of a Phoenix K8B radio controlled glider to see what process is needed to verify its glide slope and stability characteristics. The flight test analysis, plus a computational fluid dynamics analysis, and an industry-like component build-up aerodynamic analysis were done to provide comparable estimates for the aircraft glide slope. A stability and control derivative analysis was also completed and compared using SURFACES, USAF Datcom, and MIT AVL software. The glide slope estimate and stability and control derivatives obtained from flight test data showed considerable range and uncertainty. Potential sources of noisy test data and model flaws are discussed in detail. Improvements to the flight test capability are suggested. v Table of Contents Page Thesis Review Committee .................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ......................................................................................................................x Nomenclature .....................................................................................................................xv List of Acronyms and Abbreviations .............................................................................. xvii Chapter 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................1 2 Methodology ................................................................................................2 2.1 Airframe Analysis ............................................................................2 2.2 Center of Gravity Calculation ..........................................................4 2.3 Electronics Arrangement .................................................................7 2.4 Instrumentation ..............................................................................11 2.4.1 APM 2.5 .............................................................................11 2.4.2 Air Data Boom ...................................................................14 2.4.3 Pitot Tube ...........................................................................16 2.4.4 Angle of Attack and Angle of Yaw Vane ..........................17 2.4.5 Air Data Boom Pod ............................................................19 2.4.6 GPS ....................................................................................26 2.5 Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Model ..............................26 vi 2.6 3D Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Analysis ......................30 2.7 Component Build-up (Industry) Approach ....................................31 2.8 Aero and Stability Characteristics from Computer Models ...........34 2.8.1 SURFACES .......................................................................34 2.8.2 AVL ...................................................................................37 2.8.3 USAF Digital Datcom........................................................39 2.8.4 MATLAB/Simulink Model ...............................................42 2.9 Motor Testing.................................................................................48 2.10 Flight Test ......................................................................................50 2.10.1 Takeoff ...............................................................................50 2.10.2 Maneuvers ..........................................................................53 2.10.3 Data ....................................................................................55 3. Results ........................................................................................................56 3.1 Stability Results Comparison .........................................................56 3.2 Glide Slope Comparison ................................................................56 4. Conclusions ................................................................................................73 5. Future Work ...............................................................................................74 References ..........................................................................................................................76 Appendices A Flight Test Data..........................................................................................79 a. April 30th 2014 ...............................................................................79 b. May 8th 2014 – 1 ............................................................................86 c. May 8th 2014 – 2 ............................................................................93 vii B Datcom Graphs ........................................................................................101 C Pilot Inputs ...............................................................................................106 a. Flight test on April 30th 2014 .......................................................106 b. Flight test on May 8th 2014 - 1 .....................................................107 c. Flight test on May 8th 2014 – 2 ....................................................109 D Graphs for Simulink Model .....................................................................111 a. Stability Derivatives.....................................................................111 b. Trimmed Model Graphs ...............................................................112 c. Doublet Graphs ............................................................................113 E Optimization ............................................................................................115 F Stability Derivatives Comparison ............................................................116 G Scripts ......................................................................................................118 viii List of Tables Page Table 1 Basic Dimensions of K8b RC Glider [6] ...................................................................................... 3 2 Electronic item list ................................................................................................................................ 8 3 Electronic item list for autopilot and tethered configuration ............................................. 10 4 Experimental data for airspeed calibration ............................................................................... 16 5 Experimental data for AoA calibration ...................................................................................... 19 6 Experimental data for AoY calibration ...................................................................................... 19