Inlet Distortion for an F/A-18A Aircraft During Steady Aerodynamic Conditions up to 60° Angle of Attack
Walsh, Kevin R. and Yuhas, Andrew J. and Williams, John G. and Steenken, William G. (1997) Inlet Distortion for an F/A-18A Aircraft During Steady Aerodynamic Conditions up to 60° Angle of Attack. Technical Report NASA TM-104329, Research Engineering, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.
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Abstract
The effects of high-angle-of-attack flight on aircraft inlet aerodynamic characteristics were investigated at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, as part of NASA’s High Alpha Technology Program. The highly instrumented F/A-18A High Alpha Research Vehicle was used for this research. A newly designed inlet total-pressure rake was installed in front of the starboard F404-GE-400 engine to measure inlet recovery and distortion characteristics. One objective was to determine inlet total-pressure characteristics at steady high-angle-of-attack conditions. Other objectives include assessing whether significant differences exist in inlet distortion between rapid angle-of-attack maneuvers and corresponding steady aerodynamic conditions, assessing inlet characteristics during aircraft departures, providing data for developing and verifying computational fluid dynamic codes, and calculating engine airflow using five methods. This paper addresses the first objective by summarizing results of 79 flight maneuvers at steady aerodynamic conditions, ranging from –10° to 60° angle of attack and from –8° to 11° angle of sideslip at Mach 0.3 and 0.4. These data and the associated database have been rigorously validated to establish a foundation for understanding inlet characteristics at high angle of attack.
| EPrint Type: | NASA Technical Memorandum |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | FA-18A aircraft, High angle of attack, Inlet distortion, Pressure distributions, Steady aerodynamic conditions |
| Subjects: | Aircraft/Project: F-18 HARV (01 - 09) Aeronautics: (07) Aircraft Propulsion And Power |
| ID Code: | 135 |
| Deposited On: | 07 June 2004 |
| Additional Information: | 49 pages. Presented at the High-Angle-of-Attack Technology Conference, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, Sept. 17–19, 1996. NASA Contract NAS 3-26617 |
