ALBERT

Description: An investigation has been conducted on a full-scale model of the proposed XP-46 airplane in the N. A. C. A. full-scale wind tunnel pursuant to the request of the Amy Air Corps, Materiel Division. The primary purpose of the investigation was to determine the optimum arrangement of the various component parts to obtain the maximum high speed and to provide adequate engine cooling. Additional tests included a determination of the stalling characteristics and the effectiveness of ailerons and elevators. The profile drag of the wing was ascertained by the momentum method; the location of the transition point on the wing and the critical compressibility velocities of the various airplane components were determined from surface pressure surveys.

Description: Investigations of the pressure distribution, the profile drag, and the location of transition for a 30-inch-chord 25-percent-thick N.A,C.A. 45-125 airfoil were made in the N.A.C.A 8-foot high-speed wind tunnel for the purpose of aiding in the development of a thick wing for high-speed airplanes. The tests were made at a lift coefficient of 0.1 for Reynolds Numbers from 1,750,000 to 8,690,000, corresponding to speeds from 80 to 440 miles per hour at 59 F. The effect on the profile drag of fixing the transition point was also investigated. The effect of compressibility on the rate of increase of pressure coefficients was found to be greater than that predicted by a simplified theoretical expression for thin wings. The results indicated that, for a lift coefficient of 0.1, the critical speed of the N.A.C,A. 45-125 airfoil was about 460 miles per hour at 59 F,. The value of the profile-drag coefficient at a Reynolds Number of 4,500,000 was 0.0058, or about half as large as the value for the N.A,C,A. 0025 airfoil. The increase in the profile-drag coefficient for a given movement of the transition point was about three times as large as the corresponding increase for the N.A.C,A. 0012 airfoil. Transition determinations indicated that, for Reynolds Numbers up to ?,000,000, laminar boundary 1ayers were maintained over approximately 40 percent of the upper and the lower surfaces of the airfoil.

Description: An investigation has been made in the NACA 7- by 10-foot wind tunnel of a large chord NACA 27-212 airfoil with a 20% chord split flap and with two arrangements of a 25.66% chord slotted flap to determine the section lift characteristics as affected by flap deflection for the split flap and as affected by flap deflection, flap position, and slot shape for the slotted flap. For the two arrangements of the slotted flap, the flap positions for maximum section lift are given. Comparable data on the NACA 23012 airfoil equipped with similar flaps are also given. On the basis of maximum section lift coefficient, the slotted flap with an easy slot entry was slightly better than either the split flap or the slotted flap with a sharp slot entry. With both types of flap the decrease in the angle of attack, for maximum section lift coefficient, with flap deflection is large for the NACA 27-212 airfoil as compared with the NACA 23012 airfoil. Also with both flaps, the maximum section lift coefficient obtained with flaps is much lower for the NACA 27-212 airfoil than for the NACA 23012 airfoil.

Description: Adjustable cowling flaps, an adjustable-length cowling skirt, and a bottom opening with adjustable flap were tested as means of controlling the rate of cooling-air flow through an air-cooled radial-engine cowling. The devices were tested in the NACA 20-foot tunnel on a model wing-nacelle-propeller combination, through an airspeed range of 20 to 80 miles per hour, and with the propeller blade angle set 23 degrees at 0.75 of the tip radius. The resistance of the engine to air flow through the cowling was simulated by a perforated plate. The results indicated that the adjustable cowling flap and the bottom opening with adjustable flap were about equally effective on the basis of pressure drop obtainable and that both were more effective means of increasing the pressure drop through the cowling than the adjustable-length skirt. At conditions of equal cooling-air flow, the net efficiency obtained with the adjustable cowling flaps and the adjustable-length cowling skirt was about 1% greater than the net efficiency obtained with the bottom opening with adjustable flap.

Description: A preliminary investigation of a number of duct entrances of rectangular shape installed in the leading edge of a wing was conducted in the NACA 20-foot tunnel to determine the external drag, the available pressure, the critical Mach numbers, and the effect on the maximum lift. The results showed that the most satisfactory entrances, which had practically no effect on the wing characteristics, had their lips approximately in the vertical plane of the leading edge of the wing. This requirement necessitated extending the lips outside the wing contour for all except the small entrances. Full dynamic pressure was found to be available over a fairly wide range of angle of attack. The critical Mach number for a small entrance was calculated to be as high as that for the plain wing but was slightly lower for the larger entrances tested.

Description: Test of 10-foot diameter, 4- and 6-blade single- and dual-rotating propellers were conducted in the 20-foot propeller-research tunnel. The propellers were mounted at the front end of a streamline body incorporating spinners to house the hub portions. The effect of a symmetrical wing mounted in the slipstream was investigated. The blade angles investigated ranged from 20 degrees to 65 degrees; the latter setting corresponds to airplane speeds of over 500 miles per hour. The results indicate that dual-rotating propellers were from 0 to 6% more efficient than single-rotating ones; but when operating in the presence of a wing the gain was reduced about one-half. Other advantages of dual-rotating propellers were found to include greater power absorption and greater efficiency at the low V/nD operating range of high pitch propellers.

Description: Wind-tunnel tests of several propeller, cuff, and spinner combinations were conducted in the 20 foot propeller-research tunnel. Three propellers, which ranged in diameter from 8.4 to 11.25 feet, were tested at the front end of a streamline body incorporating spinners of two diameters. The tests covered a blade angle range from 20 deg to 65 deg. The effect of spinner diameter and propeller cuffs on the characteristics of one propeller was determined. Test were also conducted using a propeller which incorporated aerodynamically good shank sections and using one which incorporated the NACA 16 series sections for the outer 20 percent of the blades. Compressibility effects were not measured, owing to the low testing speeds. The results indicated that a conventional propeller was slightly more efficient when tested in conjunction with a 28 inch diameter spinner than with a 23 inch spinner, and that cuffs increased the efficiency as well as the power absorption characteristics. A propeller having good aerodynamic shanks was found to be definitely superior from the efficiency standpoint to a conventional round-shank propeller with or without cuffs; this propeller would probably be considered structurally impracticable, however. The propeller incorporating the NACA 16 series sections at the tims were found to have a slightly higher efficiency than a conventional propeller; the take-off characteristics appeared to be equally good. The effects noted above probably would be accentuated at helical speeds at which compressibility effects would enter.

Description: Determinations of boundary-layer transition on the NACA 0012 and 2301 airfoils were made in the 8-foot high-speed wind tunnel over a range of Reynolds Numbers from 1,600,000 to 16,800,000. The results are of particular significance as compared with flight tests and tests in wind tunnels of appreciable turbulence because of the extremely low turbulence in the high-speed tunnel. A comparison of the results obtained on NACA 0012 airfoils of 2-foot and 5-foot chord at the same Reynolds Number permitted an evaluation of the effect of compressibility on transition. The local skin friction along the surface of the NACA 0012 airfoil was measured at a Reynolds Number of 10,000,000. For all the lift coefficient at which tests were made, transition occurred in the region of estimated laminar separation at the low Reynolds Numbers and approach the point of minimum static pressure as a forward limit at the high Reynolds Numbers. The effect of compressibility on transition was slight. None of the usual parameters describing the local conditions in the boundary layer near the transition point served as an index for locating the transition point. As a consequence of the lower turbulence in the 8-foot high-speed tunnel, the transition points occurred consistently farther back along the chord than those measured in the NACA full-scale tunnel. An empirical relation for estimating the location of the transition point for conventional airfoils on the basis of static-pressure distribution and Reynolds Number is presented.

Description: An investigation has been made of the effect of aerodynamic heating on propeller-blade temperatures. The blade temperature rise resulting from aerodynamic heating was measured and the relation between the resulting blade temperatures and the outer limit of the iced-over region was examined. It was found that the outermost station at which ice formed on a propeller blade was determined by the blade temperature rise resulting from the aerodynamic heating at that point.

Description: Force tests were made of a 1/8-scale model of a twin-engine low-wing transport airplane in the NACA 8-foot high-speed wind tunnel to investigate compressibility and interference effects at speeds up to 450 miles per hour. In addition to tests of the standard arrangement of the model tests were made with several modifications designed to reduce the drag and to increase the critical speed. The results show serious increases in drag at critical speeds below 450 miles per hour due to the occurrence of compressibility burbles on the standard radial-engine cowlings, on sections of the wing as a result of wing-nacelle interference, and on the semi-retracted main landing wheels. The critical speed at which the shock occurred on the standard cowlings was 20 miles per hour lower in the presence of the fuselage than in the presence of the wing only. The drag of the complete model was reduced 25% at 300 miles per hour by completely retracting the landing gear, fairing the windshield irregularities, and substituting streamline nacelles (with allowance made for the proper amount of cooling-air flow) for the standard nacelle arrangement. The values of the critical Mach number were extended from 0.47 to 0.60 as a result of the aforementioned improvements. The principal purpose of the reported tests was to investigate the effect of compressibility on the drag of the component parts of a representative large airplane and on the overall drag of such an airplane. The influence of interference on compressibility effects was also studied. In addition, it was proposed to test several modifications of the standard component parts that gave promise of an improvement in aerodynamic characteristics.