Flight Test Results of Riblets at Supersonic Speeds

Zuniga, Fanny A. and Anderson, Bianca T. and Bertelrud, Arild (1992) Flight Test Results of Riblets at Supersonic Speeds. Technical Report NASA TM-4387, Research Engineering, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.

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Abstract

A flight experiment to test and evaluate the skin-friction drag characteristics of a riblet surface in turbulent flow at supersonic speeds was conducted at NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility. Riblets of groove sizes 0.0030 and 0.0013 in. were mounted on the F-104G flight test fixture. The test surfaces were surveyed with boundary-layer rakes and pressure orifices to examine the boundary-layer profiles and pressure distributions of the flow. Skin-friction reductions caused by the riblet surface were reported based on measured differences of momentum thickness between the smooth and riblet surfaces obtained from the boundary-layer data. Flight-test results for the 0.0030-in. riblets show skin-friction reductions of 4 to 8 percent for Mach numbers ranging from 1.2 to 1.6 and Reynolds numbers ranging from 2 to 3.4 million per unit foot. The results from the 0.0013-in. riblets show skin-friction reductions of 4 to 15 percent for Mach 1.2 to 1.4 and Reynolds numbers ranging from 3.6 to 6 million per unit foot.

EPrint Type:	NASA Technical Memorandum
Keywords:	Boundary layer, Pressure distributions, Riblets, Skin-friction drag, Skin-friction reduction, supersonic turbulent boundary layers
Subjects:	(01 - 09) Aeronautics: (05) Aircraft Design, Testing And Performance (01 - 09) Aeronautics: (02) Aerodynamics Aircraft/Project: F-104
ID Code:	276
Deposited On:	26 July 2004
Additional Information:	37 pages. Fanny A. Zuniga and Bianca T. Anderson: NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, California. Arild Bertelrud: High Technology Corporation, Hampton, Virginia.