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Luiz Otávio Furtado Ferreira Experimental Investigations of Stability and Aerodynamic Interference Effects of an X-Tail Convent

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Luiz Otávio Furtado Ferreira Experimental Investigations of Stability and Aerodynamic Interference Effects of an X-Tail Convent University of São Paulo São Carlos School of Engineering Mechanical Engineering Department Mechanical Engineering Graduate Program – Aircraft Luiz Otávio Furtado Ferreira Experimental investigations of stability and aerodynamic interference effects of an x-tail conventional airship São Carlos 2018 Universidade de São Paulo Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Mecânica – Aeronaves Luiz Otávio Furtado Ferreira Investigações experimentais de estabilidade e efeitos de interferência aerodinâmica de um dirigível convencional com cauda em x Versão Corrigida (Versão original encontra-se na unidade que aloja o Programa de Pós-Graduação) Dissertação apresentada à Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, como requisito parcial para a obtenção do título de Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica. Área de Concentração: Aeronaves Orientador: Prof. Tit. Fernando Martini Catalano São Carlos 2018 I AUTHORIZE TOTAL OR PARTIAL REPRODUCTION OF THIS WORK BY ANY CONVENTIONAL OR ELECTRONIC MEANS, FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES, SO LONG AS THE SOURCE IS CITED. Ferreira, Luiz Otávio Furtado F383e Experimental investigations of stability and Aerodynamic interference effects of an x-tail conventional airship / Luiz Otávio Furtado Ferreira; advisor Fernando Martini Catalano. São Carlos, 2018. Master (Thesis) - Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering and Subject area in Aircraft -- São Carlos School of Engineering, at University of São Paulo, 2018. Corrected version. 1. Airship. 2. Aerodynamic interference effects. 3. Airship stability. 4. Wind tunnel testing. I. Title. Fondly, to my family: Luiz Carlos, Marilde and Rodolfo. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to register my sincere “thank you” to the following people, ones that I admire for the knowledge and the human beings they are: Luiz Carlos Ferreira and Marilde Furtado Ferreira, my parents, and Rodolfo, my brother, indescribably essential and important in my life, to whom I owe all knowledge and achievements I will ever have, and incentivized me to complete and give my best to this work. Fernando Martini Catalano, more than my professor and supervisor, an outstanding friend, who taught me a lot, and supported me during the most difficult phases of this work, guiding me throughout this challenging step in life. Leandro Falcão Loureiro Rego, a very good friend I regret getting closer so late, to whom I owe memorable and funny moments, a remarkable engineer and researcher, who advised and helped me along this work. Osnan Faria, the LAE technician, an artist, responsible for the high quality model used in this work, despite the geometrical complexity and tools limitations. Lourenço Tércio Lima Pereira, a great friend, with whom I shared a lot of memorable moments at the Aerodesign Team, and to whom I specially thank for patience and contribution on the data acquisition systems. Isaac Heras Cebolla, someone that I did not meet personally, but worked at AdB before me, and helped me a lot by providing his model for modifications, and also guided me through the very early literature review. Caroline Camatari, André Nascimento and Guilherme Sinoara, college and work colleagues, but mainly great friends, with whom I shared the most part of my life time while at AdB, and to whom I owe laughs and unforgettable moments. Elena Luzia Palloni Gonçalves, the EESC-USP librarian, who helped formatting and properly (formally) providing the information in this work. Gisele Poppi Lavadeci, the secretary of the aeronautical engineering department and a friend, who always supported me on the university procedures. I would also like to thank Airship do Brasil for all support and time provided to conduct and complete this work, without what I would not have had conditions of reconciling work and studies. “[…] since airship design draws on the whole domain of aerodynamics and since special airship aerodynamics should contain as its most notable problem the full analysis of airship drag, it seems quite possible that from airship theory may some day come forward such fundamental progress as shall revolutionize our technique of air travel.” (Max M. Munk in Durand, 1936, p. 32). ABSTRACT FERREIRA, Luiz Otávio Furtado. Experimental investigations of stability and aerodynamic interference effects of an x-tail conventional airship. 2018. 383 p. Dissertation (Master of Science) – São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, 2018. Supporting the rising LTA industry, this works focus on investigating the general aerodynamics of a conventional X-tail airship, identifying the most relevant aerodynamic interference effects, besides developing a new method for initial tail design with simple but objective parameters (Tail Volume Coefficient – TVC). A 1:116 scale wind tunnel model of ADB-3-30 airship, under development at Airship do Brasil, was used. Firstly, through a similitude analysis, model and tunnel parameters were adjusted so the aerodynamics could be considered valid for full scale. The test campaigns were divided in two phases; Phase I comprised the steady investigations, obtaining standard aerodynamic polars and trimming curves, besides visualizing and explaining interference effects. During Phase II, oscillation damping tests were conducted in order to evaluate the proposed TVC, assessing the damping of yawing oscillations for different tail arrangements. The flow is strongly three-dimensional, with main interference effects of hull on tail, dominated by longitudinal eddy structures. The behavior at small and large incidences is very different regarding interferences, compromising the X-tail efficiency. The oscillation tests demonstrated a preferential sequence for tail arrangement efficiency, where X-tail figures at the last place; ADB-3-30 was found static and dynamically unstable. Unfortunately, no simple direct law, like TVC, which measures with confidence the degree of stability, was found. Nevertheless, a lower threshold law was determined for directional stability (TVCY-ARb). As a whole, despite all the complexity involved on testing airship models in wind tunnels (geometric scale, flow similitude, manufacturing, positioning, etc.), the objectives were fulfilled, enriching the study field with new aerodynamic and stability information, also showing that properly predicting airship stability is no simple task. The results are useful for academy and industry, and may help detailing and support further researches by presenting new information on a specific configuration. Keywords: Airship, Aerodynamic interference effects, Airship stability, Wind tunnel testing RESUMO FERREIRA, Luiz Otávio Furtado. Investigações experimentais de estabilidade e efeitos de interferência aerodinâmica de um dirigível convencional com cauda em x. 2018. 383 p. Dissertação (Mestrado em Ciências) – Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos, 2018. Apoiando a crescente indústria LTA, este trabalho foca na investigação da aerodinâmica de um dirigível convencional com cauda em X, e seus principais efeitos de interferência, além de desenvolver um novo método para projeto inicial de cauda por parâmetros simples e objetivos (Coeficiente de Volume de Cauda – TVC). Um modelo de túnel de vento em escala 1:116 do dirigível ADB-3-30 (Airship do Brasil) foi utilizado. Inicialmente, através de análises de similaridade, modelo e túnel foram ajustados para que sua aerodinâmica refletisse a escala real. As campanhas foram divididas em duas fases. A Fase I compreendeu testes estáticos, obtendo polares e curvas de trimagem, além de visualizações do escoamento. Na Fase II, testes dinâmicos avaliaram a teoria de estabilidade proposta, através do amortecimento de oscilações para diferentes arranjos de cauda. O escoamento é extremamente tridimensional, com efeitos principais do envelope na cauda, dominado por vórtices longitudinais, havendo grandes diferenças entre baixas e elevadas incidências, e comprometimento da eficiência da cauda em X. Os testes dinâmicos demonstraram a existência de uma sequência preferencial quanto ao arranjo de cauda, sendo X o pior; o ADB-3-30 mostrou-se estática e dinamicamente instável. Infelizmente nenhuma regra simples como o TVC, que meça com confiança o grau de estabilidade, foi encontrada. No entanto, um limite mínimo foi identificado para estabilidade direcional (TVCY-ARb). Apesar da complexidade do ensaio de dirigíveis em túnel de vento (escala geométrica, similaridade, fabricação, posicionamento e etc.), os objetivos como um todo foram alcançados. Novas informações de aerodinâmica e estabilidade enriqueceram o campo de estudo, e mostraram que determinar a estabilidade de dirigíveis não é simples. Os resultados são úteis à academia e indústria, ajudando no detalhamento e suporte de pesquisas futuras, trazendo também novas informações sobre uma configuração específica. Palavras-chave: Dirigível, Interferências aerodinâmicas, Estabilidade de dirigíveis, Ensaios em túnel de vento. LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 - Classification of aircraft. ............................................................................ 50 Figure 2 - Santos=Dumont Nr.06, winner of the Deutsch Prize. ................................ 51 Figure 3 - Pressure distributions over the R33 Airship hull (left) and the hull of typical conventional airship with AR ≈ 5 (right). ............................................................. 79 Figure 4 - Pressure distribution variation related to the gondola for Sentinel 5000 airship. ...............................................................................................................
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