Measurements of the Buffeting Loads on the Wing and Horizontal Tail of a 1/4-scale Model of the X-1E Airplane

Abstract

The buffeting loads acting on the wing and horizontal tail of a 1/4-scale model of the X-1E airplane have been measured in the Langley 16-foot transonic tunnel in the Mach number range from 0.40 to 0.90. When the buffeting loads were reduced to a nondimensional aerodynamic coefficient of buffeting intensity, it was found that the maximum buffeting intensity of the horizontal tail was about twice as large as that of the wing. Comparison of power spectra of buffeting loads acting on the horizontal tail of the airplaneand of the model indicated that the model horizontal tail, which was of conventional force-test-model design, responded in an entirely different mode than did the airplane.This result implied that if quantitative extrapolation of model data to flight conditions were desired a dynamically scaled model of the rearward portion of the fuselage and empennage would be required. A study of the sources of horizontal-tail buffeting of the model indicated that the wing wake contributed a large part of the total buffeting load. At one condition it was found that removal of the wing wake would reduce the buffeting loads on the horizontal tail to about one-third of the original value