General Potential Theory of Arbitrary Wing Sections (open access)

General Potential Theory of Arbitrary Wing Sections

The problem of determining the two dimensional potential flow around wing sections of any shape is examined. The problem is condensed into the compact form of an integral equation capable of yielding numerical solutions by a direct process. An attempt is made to analyze and coordinate the results of earlier studies relating to properties of wing sections. The existing approximate theory of thin wing sections and the Joukowski theory with its numerous generalizations are reduced to special cases of the general theory of arbitrary sections, permitting a clearer perspective of the entire field. The method which permits the determination of the velocity at any point of an arbitrary section and the associated lift and moments is described. The method is also discussed in terms for developing new shapes of preassigned aerodynamical properties.
Date: November 4, 1932
Creator: Theodorsen, T. & Garrick, I. E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Mechanical Properties of Flush-Riveted Joints (open access)

Mechanical Properties of Flush-Riveted Joints

"The strength of representative types of flush-riveted joints has been determined by testing 865 single-shearing, double-shearing, and tensile specimens representing 7 types of rivet and 18 types of joint. The results, presented in graphic form, show the stress at failure, type of failure, and d/t ratio. In general, dimpled joints were appreciably stronger than countersunk or protruding-head joints, but their strength was greatly influenced by constructional details" (p. 467).
Date: November 1939
Creator: Brueggeman, W. C. & Roop, Frederick C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Effect of fuel-air ratio, inlet temperature, and exhaust pressure on detonation (open access)

Effect of fuel-air ratio, inlet temperature, and exhaust pressure on detonation

From Summary: "An accurate determination of the end-gas condition was attempted by applying a refined method of analysis to experimental results. The results are compared with those obtained in Technical Report no. 655. The experimental technique employed afforded excellent control over the engine variables and unusual cyclic reproducibility. This, in conjunction with the new analysis, made possible the determination of the state of the end-gas at any instant to a fair degree of precision. Results showed that for any given maximum pressure the maximum permissible end-gas temperature increased as the fuel-air ratio was increased. The tendency to detonate was slightly reduced by an increase in residual gas content resulting from an increase in exhaust backpressure with inlet pressure constant."
Date: November 15, 1939
Creator: Taylor, E. S.; Leary, W. A. & Diver, J. R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Interference of Tail Surfaces and Wing and Fuselage from Tests of 17 Combinations in the N.A.C.A. Variable-Density Tunnel (open access)

Interference of Tail Surfaces and Wing and Fuselage from Tests of 17 Combinations in the N.A.C.A. Variable-Density Tunnel

"An investigation of the interference associated with tail surfaces added to wing-fuselage combinations was included in the interference program in progress in the NACA variable-density tunnel. The results indicate that, in aerodynamically clean combinations, the increment of the high-speed drag can be estimated from section characteristics within useful limits of accuracy. The interference appears mainly as effects on the downwash angle and as losses in the tail effectiveness and varies with the geometry of the combination" (p. 689).
Date: November 5, 1938
Creator: Sherman, Albert
System: The UNT Digital Library
Tensile Elastic Properties of 18:8 Chromium-Nickel Steel as Affected by Plastic Deformation (open access)

Tensile Elastic Properties of 18:8 Chromium-Nickel Steel as Affected by Plastic Deformation

"The relationship between stress and strain, and between stress and permanent set, for 18:8 alloy as affected by prior plastic deformation is discussed. Hysteresis and creep and their effects on the stress-strain and stress-set curves are also considered, as well as the influence of duration of the rest interval after cold work and the influence of plastic deformation on proof stresses, on the modulus of elasticity at zero stress, and on the curvature of the stress-strain line. A constant (c sub 1) is suggested to represent the variation of the modulus of elasticity with stress" (p. 539).
Date: November 22, 1938
Creator: McAdam, D. J., Jr. & Mebs, R. W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Pressure Distribution Over Airfoils With Fowler Flaps (open access)

Pressure Distribution Over Airfoils With Fowler Flaps

Report presents the results of tests made of a Clark y airfoil with a Clark y Fowler flap and of an NACA 23012 airfoil with NACA Fowler flaps. Some of the tests were made in the 7 by 10-foot wind tunnel and others in the 5-foot vertical wind tunnel. The pressures were measured on the upper and lower surfaces at one chord section both on the main airfoils and on the flaps for several angles of attack with the flaps located at the maximum-lift settings.
Date: November 24, 1937
Creator: Wenzinger, Carl J. & Anderson, Walter B.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Compressible Flow About Symmetrical Joukowski Profiles (open access)

Compressible Flow About Symmetrical Joukowski Profiles

"The method of Poggi is employed for the determination of the effects of compressibility upon the flow past an obstacle. A general expression for the velocity increment due to compressibility is obtained. The general result holds whatever the shape of the obstacle; but, in order to obtain the complete solution, it is necessary to know a certain Fourier expansion of the square of the velocity of flow past the obstacle. An application is made to the case flow of a symmetrical Joukowski profile with a sharp trailing edge, fixed in a stream of an arbitrary angle of attack and with the circulation determined by the Kutta condition" (p. 197).
Date: November 19, 1937
Creator: Kaplan, Carl
System: The UNT Digital Library
A discussion of certain problems connected with the design of hulls of flying boats and the use of general test data (open access)

A discussion of certain problems connected with the design of hulls of flying boats and the use of general test data

Report presents the results of a survey of problems encountered in applying general test data to the design of flying-boat hulls. It is shown how basic design features may be readily determined from special plots of test data. A study of the effect of the size of a flying boat on the probable limits to be covered by the general test data is included and recommendations for special tests and new methods of presenting test data for direct use in design are given.
Date: November 1937
Creator: Diehl, Walter S.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The experimental and calculated characteristics of 22 tapered wings (open access)

The experimental and calculated characteristics of 22 tapered wings

From Summary: "The experimental and calculated aerodynamic characteristics of 22 tapered wings are compared, using tests made in the variable-density wind tunnel. The wings had aspect ratios from 6 to 12 and taper ratios from 1:6:1 and 5:1. The compared characteristics are the pitching moment, the aerodynamic-center position, the lift-curve slope, the maximum lift coefficient, and the curves of drag. The method of obtaining the calculated values is based on the use of wing theory and experimentally determined airfoil section data. In general, the experimental and calculated characteristics are in sufficiently good agreement that the method may be applied to many problems of airplane design."
Date: November 17, 1937
Creator: Anderson, Raymond F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Span load distribution for tapered wings with partial-span flaps (open access)

Span load distribution for tapered wings with partial-span flaps

Tables are given for determining the load distribution of tapered wings with partial-span flaps placed either at the center or at the wing tips. Seventy-two wing-flap combinations, including two aspect ratios, four taper ratios, and nine flap lengths, are included. The distributions for the flapped wing are divided into two parts, one a zero lift distribution due primarily to the flaps and the other an additional lift distribution due to an angle of attack of the wing as a whole. Comparison between theoretical and experimental results for wings indicate that the theory may be used to predict the load distribution with sufficient accuracy for structural purposes.
Date: November 21, 1936
Creator: Pearson, H. A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Blower Cooling of Finned Cylinders (open access)

Blower Cooling of Finned Cylinders

"Several electrically heated finned steel cylinders enclosed in jackets were cooled by air from a blower. The effect of the air conditions and fin dimensions on the average surface heat-transfer coefficient q and the power required to force the air around the cylinders were determined. Tests were conducted at air velocities between the fins from 10 to 130 miles per hour and at specific weights of the air varying from 0.046 to 0.074 pound per cubic foot. The fin dimensions of the cylinders covered a range in pitches from 0.057 to 0.25 inch average fin thicknesses from 0.035 to 0.04 inch, and fin widths from 0.67 to 1.22 inches" (p. 269).
Date: November 14, 1936
Creator: Schey, Oscar W. & Ellerbrock, Herman H., Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fuel spray and flame formation in a compression-ignition engine employing air flow (open access)

Fuel spray and flame formation in a compression-ignition engine employing air flow

"The effects of air flow on fuel spray and flame formation in a high-speed compression-ignition engine have been investigated by means of the NACA combustion apparatus. The process was studied by examining high-speed motion pictures taken at the rate of 2,200 frames a second. The combustion chamber was of the flat-disk type used in previous experiments with this apparatus. The air flow was produced by a rectangular displacer mounted on top of the engine piston. Three fuel-injection nozzles were tested: a 0.020-inch single-orifice nozzle, a 6-orifice nozzle, and a slit nozzle" (p. 281).
Date: November 25, 1936
Creator: Rothrock, A. M. & Waldron, C. D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Tests of a Wing-Nacelle-Propeller Combination at Several Pitch Settings Up to 42 Degrees (open access)

Tests of a Wing-Nacelle-Propeller Combination at Several Pitch Settings Up to 42 Degrees

This report presents the results of tests of a 4-foot model of Navy propeller No. 4412 in conjunction with an NACA cowled nacelle mounted ahead of a thick wing in the 20-foot propeller-research tunnel. A range of propeller pitches from 17 degrees to 42 degrees at 0.75r was covered, and for this propeller the efficiency reached a maximum at a pitch setting of 27 degrees; at high pitches the efficiencies were slightly lower. The corrected propulsive efficiency is shown to be independent of the angle of attack for the high-speed and the climbing ranges of flight.
Date: November 12, 1935
Creator: Windler, Ray
System: The UNT Digital Library
Air flow around finned cylinders (open access)

Air flow around finned cylinders

Report presents the results of a study made to determine the air-flow characteristics around finned cylinders. Air-flow distribution is given for a smooth cylinder, for a finned cylinder having several fin spacings and fin widths, and for a cylinder with several types of baffle with various entrance and exit shapes. The results of these tests show: that flow characteristics around a cylinder are not so critical to changes in fin width as they are to fin spacing; that the entrance of the baffle has a marked influence on its efficiency; that properly designed baffles increase the air flow over the rear of the cylinder; and that these tests check those of heat-transfer tests in the choice of the best baffle.
Date: November 7, 1935
Creator: Brevoort, M. J. & Rollin, Vern G.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Potential Flow About Elongated Bodies of Revolution (open access)

Potential Flow About Elongated Bodies of Revolution

"This report presents a method of solving the problem of axial and transverse potential flows around arbitrary elongated bodies of revolution. The solutions of Laplace's equation for the velocity potentials of the axial and transverse flows, the system of coordinates being an elliptic one in a meridian plane, are given. The theory is applied to a body of revolution obtained from a symmetrical Joukowsky profile, a shape resembling an airship hull" (p. 189).
Date: November 12, 1934
Creator: Kaplan, Carl
System: The UNT Digital Library
Flight Investigation of Lateral Control Devices for Use With Full-Span Flaps (open access)

Flight Investigation of Lateral Control Devices for Use With Full-Span Flaps

This report presents the results of flight tests made on five different lateral control devices that appeared adaptable to wings fitted with full span flaps: controllable auxiliary airfoils (airfoils mounted above and forward of the leading edge of the wings), external ailerons (airfoils mounted above the wing and slightly forward of its maximum ordinate), upper-surface ailerons (similar to split trailing-edge flaps except that they constitute the upper surface of the wing), ailerons that retract into the wing when in neutral, and narrow-chord conventional ailerons in combination with a special type of split flap that retracts into the under surface of the wing forward of the ailerons.
Date: November 7, 1934
Creator: Soulé, H. A. & McAvoy, W. H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Spinning characteristics of wings 1: rectangular Clark Y monoplane wing (open access)

Spinning characteristics of wings 1: rectangular Clark Y monoplane wing

"A series of wind tunnel tests of a rectangular Clark Y wing was made with the NACA spinning balance as part of a general program of research on airplane spinning. All six components of the aerodynamic force and moment were measured throughout the range of angles of attack, angles of sideslip, and values omega b/2v likely to be attained by a spinning airplane; the results were reduced to coefficient form. It is concluded that a conventional monoplane with a rectangular Clark y wing can be made to attain spinning equilibrium throughout a wide range of angles of attack but that provision of a yawing moment coefficient of -0.02 (against the spin) by the tail, fuselage, and interferences will insure against attainment of equilibrium in a steady spin" (p. 231).
Date: November 21, 1934
Creator: Bamber, M. J. & Zimmerman, C. H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The drag of airplane wheels, wheel fairings, and landing gears - 3 (open access)

The drag of airplane wheels, wheel fairings, and landing gears - 3

The tests reported in this report conclude the investigation of landing-gear drag that has been carried out in the NACA 20-foot wind tunnel. They supplement earlier tests (reported in Technical Report No. 485) made with full-scale dummy wheels, wheel fairings, and landing gears intended for airplanes of 3,000 pounds gross weight and include tests of tail wheels and tail skids.
Date: November 21, 1934
Creator: Herrnstein, William H., Jr. & Biermann, David
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of Lateral Stability in Power-Off Flight With Charts for Use in Design (open access)

An Analysis of Lateral Stability in Power-Off Flight With Charts for Use in Design

"The aerodynamic and mass factors governing lateral stability are discussed and formulas are given for their estimation. Relatively simple relationships between the governing factors and the resulting stability characteristics are presented. A series of charts is included with which approximate stability characteristics may be rapidly estimated" (p. 1).
Date: November 17, 1936
Creator: Zimmerman, Charles H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The effect on airplane performance of the factors that must be considered in applying low-drag cowling to radial engines (open access)

The effect on airplane performance of the factors that must be considered in applying low-drag cowling to radial engines

From Summary: "This report presents the results of flight tests with three different airplanes using several types of low-drag cowling for radial air-cooled engines. The greater part of the tests were made with a Curtiss XF7Cc-1 (Sea Hawk) with a 410 horsepower. Wasp engine, using three fuselage nose shapes and six types of outer cowling. The six cowlings were: a narrow ring, a wide ring, a wide cowling similar in the original NACA cowling, a thick ring incorporating an exhaust collector, a single-surface cowling shaped like the outer surface of the exhaust-collector cowling, and polygon-ring cowling, of which the angle of the straight sections with the thrust line could be varied over a wide range."
Date: November 25, 1931
Creator: McAvoy, William H.; Schey, Oscar W. & Young, Alfred W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Tests of nacelle-propeller combinations in various positions with reference to wings. Part I : thick wing-N.A.C.A. cowled nacelle-tractor propeller (open access)

Tests of nacelle-propeller combinations in various positions with reference to wings. Part I : thick wing-N.A.C.A. cowled nacelle-tractor propeller

This report gives the results in the 20-foot propeller research tunnel of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics on the interference drag and propulsive efficiency of a nacelle-propeller combination located in 21 positions with reference to a thick wing. The lift, drag, and propulsive efficiency were obtained at several angles of attack for each of the 21 locations. A net efficiency was derived for determining the over-all effectiveness of each nacelle location. Best results were obtained with the propeller about 25 per cent of the chord directly ahead of the leading edge. A location immediately above or below the wing near the leading edge was very poor.
Date: November 18, 1931
Creator: Wood, Donald H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The NACA variable-density wind tunnel (open access)

The NACA variable-density wind tunnel

This report describes the redesigned variable-density wind tunnel of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics; it supersedes a previous report that described the original tunnel. The operation of the balance and the method of testing are explained and the method of correcting and presenting airfoil data is described. A summary of the formulas for predicting the characteristics of finite wings from the airfoil section data as they are usually presented is also given.
Date: November 23, 1933
Creator: Jacobs, Eastman N. & Abbott, Ira H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Full-scale tests of metal propellers at high tip speeds (open access)

Full-scale tests of metal propellers at high tip speeds

This report describes tests of 10 full-scale metal propellers of several thickness ratios at various tip speeds up to 1,350 feet per second. The results indicate no loss of efficiency up to tip speeds of approximately 1,000 feet per second. Above this tip speed the loss is at a rate of about 10 per cent per 100 feet per second increase relative to the efficiency at the lower speeds for propellers of pitch diameter ratios 0.3 to 0.4. Propellers having sections of small thickness ratio can be run at slightly higher speeds than thick ones before beginning to lose efficiency.
Date: November 5, 1930
Creator: Wood, Donald H.
System: The UNT Digital Library