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As pesquisas modernas em aeronáutica envolvem a expansão dos envelopes de vôo, como resultado do desejo de melhorar a manobrabilidade e controlabilidade em operações táticas, e melhorar a segurança do vôo. Esses objetivos podem ser alcançados através do desenvolvimento de sistemas automáticos de controle de vôo. Os sistemas de controle aplicados a aeronaves podem ser desenvolvidos e simulados através de métodos computacionais. No entanto, existem imperfeições na simulação computacional por não se conseguir reproduzir algumas características do vôo real ou devido a simplificações no modelo matemático da aeronave. Desta forma, a construção de um modelo físico de uma aeronave em escala reduzida e a implementação de um controlador a este modelo, torna-se uma ferramenta bastante importante para validar resultados teóricos e métodos computacionais. Os custos associados a estes testes são geralmente muito menores que aqueles dos ensaios em vôo e com maior flexibilidade de instrumentação. Este trabalho descreve a construção de um modelo de aeronave, baseado no X-29, o desenvolvimento de um mecanismo de fixação do modelo ao túnel de vento, tipo rótula, e a implementação de um sistema de aumento de estabilidade longitudinal, através de um sistema de controle automático. O modelo físico possui uma configuração de asa com enflechamento negativo e canard, e que tende a ser inerentemente instável, sendo necessário o auxílio de um sistema de aumento de estabilidade. Testes de estabilidade dinâmica em arfagem foram realizados no túnel de vento em diferentes posições do centro de gravidade. Os parâmetros de estabilidade foram registrados e analisados através de uma curva de ajuste exponencial. / Modern aeronautical research involves flight envelope expansion as the result of a desire for improvement in tactical operation handling qualities and improvement in flight safety. These objectives can be achieved through the development of automatic flight control systems. Aircraft flight control systems can be developed and simulated through computational methods. However, there are imperfections in the computational simulation of flight dynamics due to the difficulty in reproducing real flight conditions or due simplifications in the aircraft mathematical model. The construction of a reduced scale physical aircraft model and the implementation of a controller is a very valuable tool to validate theoretical results and computational methods. The costs associated with these tests are usually much smaller than those associated with full scale flight testing and may offer greater flexibility for instrumentation. The present work describes the construction of an airplane model, based on the X-29, the development of a wind tunnel gimbal type support and the implementation of a longitudinal stability augmentation system using automatic flight control. The model configuration has forward swept wings and canard with a tendency to be inherently unstable and, thus, requiring a stability augmentation system. Pitching dynamic stability tests where conducted in a wind tunnel in different center of gravity positions. Stability parameters were acquired and analyzed by exponential fit curve.

Skin friction drag reduction is one of the most promising paths in the investigation of the reduction of aircraft fuel burn. 40 – 50% of overall drag comes from the surfaces of the wings and stabilizers. Natural laminar flow airfoils can extend the region of laminar flow and reduce skin friction drag. However, real-world aircraft wings do not have perfectly smooth surfaces, and therefore the tolerances for step and gap excrescences on these airfoils must be investigated. Previous work has focused on excrescences on flat plates, and only recently included pressure gradient effects. A new three-dimensional swept wing airfoil with an actuated leading edge (SWIFTER) has been constructed, and will extend the body of knowledge of step and gap excrescences to a more real-world configuration and higher Reynolds numbers. An integrated control system for the leading edge actuation system is proposed, including both interface hardware and control code. A heating system for the test surface is also discussed, and the controller hardware, sensors, and code specified. For wind tunnel testing, a proposed set of wall liners are developed from zero-lift condition streamlines and divided into parts suitable for manufacturing, assembly, and installation. Finally, preliminary wind tunnel step excrescence tests using an existing swept-wing model and applique step material were conducted, and the results are discussed with relevance to testing on the new model.

As pesquisas modernas em aeronáutica envolvem a expansão dos envelopes de vôo, como resultado do desejo de melhorar a manobrabilidade e controlabilidade em operações táticas, e melhorar a segurança do vôo. Esses objetivos podem ser alcançados através do desenvolvimento de sistemas automáticos de controle de vôo. Os sistemas de controle aplicados a aeronaves podem ser desenvolvidos e simulados através de métodos computacionais. No entanto, existem imperfeições na simulação computacional por não se conseguir reproduzir algumas características do vôo real ou devido a simplificações no modelo matemático da aeronave. Desta forma, a construção de um modelo físico de uma aeronave em escala reduzida e a implementação de um controlador a este modelo, torna-se uma ferramenta bastante importante para validar resultados teóricos e métodos computacionais. Os custos associados a estes testes são geralmente muito menores que aqueles dos ensaios em vôo e com maior flexibilidade de instrumentação. Este trabalho descreve a construção de um modelo de aeronave, baseado no X-29, o desenvolvimento de um mecanismo de fixação do modelo ao túnel de vento, tipo rótula, e a implementação de um sistema de aumento de estabilidade longitudinal, através de um sistema de controle automático. O modelo físico possui uma configuração de asa com enflechamento negativo e canard, e que tende a ser inerentemente instável, sendo necessário o auxílio de um sistema de aumento de estabilidade. Testes de estabilidade dinâmica em arfagem foram realizados no túnel de vento em diferentes posições do centro de gravidade. Os parâmetros de estabilidade foram registrados e analisados através de uma curva de ajuste exponencial. / Modern aeronautical research involves flight envelope expansion as the result of a desire for improvement in tactical operation handling qualities and improvement in flight safety. These objectives can be achieved through the development of automatic flight control systems. Aircraft flight control systems can be developed and simulated through computational methods. However, there are imperfections in the computational simulation of flight dynamics due to the difficulty in reproducing real flight conditions or due simplifications in the aircraft mathematical model. The construction of a reduced scale physical aircraft model and the implementation of a controller is a very valuable tool to validate theoretical results and computational methods. The costs associated with these tests are usually much smaller than those associated with full scale flight testing and may offer greater flexibility for instrumentation. The present work describes the construction of an airplane model, based on the X-29, the development of a wind tunnel gimbal type support and the implementation of a longitudinal stability augmentation system using automatic flight control. The model configuration has forward swept wings and canard with a tendency to be inherently unstable and, thus, requiring a stability augmentation system. Pitching dynamic stability tests where conducted in a wind tunnel in different center of gravity positions. Stability parameters were acquired and analyzed by exponential fit curve.

Direct numerical simulations of the receptivity and instability of boundary layers on flat and curved surfaces are herein reported. Various flow models are considered with the aim to capture aspects of flows over straight and swept wings such as wall curvature, pressure variations, leading-edge effects, streamline curvature and crossflow. The first model problem presented, the flow over a swept flat plate, features a crossflow inside the boundary layer. The layer is unstable to steady and traveling crossflow vortices which are nearly aligned with the free stream. Wall roughness and free-stream vortical modes efficiently excite these crossflow modes, and the associated receptivity mechanisms are linear in an environment of low-amplitude perturbations. Receptivity coefficients for roughness elements with various length scales and for free-stream vortical modes with different wavenumbers and frequencies are reported. Key to the receptivity to free-stream vorticity is the upstream excitation of streamwise streaks evolving into crossflow modes. This mechanism is also active in the presence of free-stream turbulence. The second flow model is that of a Görtler boundary layer. This flow type forms on surfaces with concave curvature, e.g. the lower side of a turbine blade. The dominant instability, driven by a vertically varying centrifugal force, appears as pairs of steady, streamwise counter-rotating vortical rolls and streamwise streaks. The Görtler boundary layer is in particular receptive to free-stream vortical modes with zero and low frequencies. The associated mechanism builds on the excitation of upstream disturbance streaks from which the Görtler modes emerge, similar to the mechanism in swept-plate flows. The receptivity to free-stream vorticity can both be linear and nonlinear. In the presence of free-stream turbulence, nonlinear receptivity is more likely to trigger steady Görtler vortices than linear receptivity unless the frequencies of the free-stream fluctuations are very low. The third set of simulations considers the boundary layer on a flat plate with an elliptic leading edge. This study aims to identify the effect of the leading edge on the boundary-layer receptivity to impinging free-stream vortical modes. Three types of modes with streamwise, vertical and spanwise vorticity are considered. The two former types trigger streamwise disturbance streaks while the latter type excites Tollmien-Schlichting wave packets in the shear layer. Simulations with two leading edges of different bluntness demonstrate that the leading-edge shape hardly influences the receptivity to streamwise vortices, whereas it significantly enhances the receptivity to vertical and spanwise vortices. It is shown that the receptivity mechanism to vertical free-stream vorticity involves vortex stretching and tilting - physical processes which are clearly enhanced by blunt leading edges. The last flow configuration studied models an infinite wing at 45 degrees sweep. This model is the least idealized with respect to applications in aerospace engineering. The set-up mimics the wind-tunnel experiments carried out by Saric and coworkers at the Arizona State University in the 1990s. The numerical method is verified by simulating the excitation of steady crossflow vortices through micron-sized roughness as realized in the experiments. Moreover, the receptivity to free-stream vortical disturbances is investigated and it is shown that the boundary layer is most receptive, if the free-stream modes are closely aligned with the most unstable crossflow mode / QC 20101025

This thesis deals with computing the pressure distribution around a swimming slender fish and the thrust generated by its flapping motion. The body of the fish is modeled as a missile like slender body to which a tail is attached that is modeled as a swept wing. The tail is attached to the tip of the slender body and maintains its slope with it. The motion for the swimming fish is prescribed. The fluid flow is modeled as an unsteady potential flow problem with the flow around the slender body modeled as flow over an array of cylinders of varying radii and the flow over the swept wing modeled using the vortex panel method. The pressure distribution is computed using the unsteady Bernoulli equation. The overall thrust & drag for different parameters are studied and compared