Wind tunnel and computational stability derivatives for a propeller-driven airplane

Abstract

A comparison of wind tunnel test data with those obtained from vortex lattice-based AVL program was made for a power-off and stick-fixed model of a propeller-driven cargo airplane. For the airplane model, longitudinal and lateral-directional aerodynamics were investigated in stability-axis system. Also, experimental and computational static stability derivatives were compared. Their results agree reasonably well within the linear portion of force and moment characteristics. The comparative study should provide a benchmark for using the fast turn out computations to further improve the design of airplane.