High-Speed Tests of a Model Twin-Engine Low-Wing Transport Airplane (open access)

High-Speed Tests of a Model Twin-Engine Low-Wing Transport Airplane

Report presents the results of force tests made of a 1/8-scale model of a twin-engine low-wing transport airplane in the NACA 8-foot high-speed tunnel to investigate compressibility and interference effects of 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.
Date: 1942
Creator: Becker, John V. & Leonard, Lloyd H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The mean aerodynamic chord and the aerodynamic center of a tapered wing (open access)

The mean aerodynamic chord and the aerodynamic center of a tapered wing

A preliminary study of pitching-moment data on tapered wings indicated that excellent agreement with test data was obtained by locating the quarter-chord point of the average chord on the average quarter-chord point of the semispan. The study was therefore extended to include most of the available data on tapered-wing models tested by the NACA.
Date: June 16, 1942
Creator: Diehl, Walter S.
System: The UNT Digital Library
On a New Method for Calculating the Potential Flow Past a Body of Revolution (open access)

On a New Method for Calculating the Potential Flow Past a Body of Revolution

"A new method is presented for obtaining the velocity potential of the flow about a body of revolution moving uniformly in the direction of its axis of symmetry in a fluid otherwise at rest. This method is based essentially on the fact that the form of the differential equation for the velocity potential is invariant with regard to conformal transformation of the meridian plane. By means of the conformal transformation of the meridian profile into a circle a system of orthogonal curvilinear coordinates is obtained, the main feature of which is that one of the coordinate lines is the meridian profile itself" (p. 7).
Date: May 18, 1942
Creator: Kaplan, Carl
System: The UNT Digital Library
Derivation of charts for determining the horizontal tail load variation with any elevator motion (open access)

Derivation of charts for determining the horizontal tail load variation with any elevator motion

From Summary: "The equations relating the wing and tail loads are derived for a unit elevator displacement. These equations are then converted into a nondimensional form and charts are given by which the wing- and tail-load-increment variation may be determined under dynamic conditions for any type of elevator motion and for various degrees of airplane stability. In order to illustrate the use of the charts, several examples are included in which the wing and tail loads are evaluated for a number of types of elevator motion. Methods are given for determining the necessary derivatives from results of wind-tunnel tests when such tests are available."
Date: November 23, 1942
Creator: Pearson, Henry A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Identification of knock in NACA high-speed photographs of combustion in a spark-ignition engine (open access)

Identification of knock in NACA high-speed photographs of combustion in a spark-ignition engine

Report presents the results of a study of combustion in a spark-ignition engine given in NACA Technical Reports 704 and 727. The present investigation was made with the NACA high-speed motion-picture camera, operating at 40,000 photographs a second, and with a cathode-ray oscillograph operating on a piezoelectric pick-up in the combustion chamber. Photographs are presented showing that the origin of knock is not necessarily in the end gas. The data obtained indicates that knock takes place only in a part of the cylinder charge which has been previously ignited either by autoignition or by the passage of the flame fronts but which has not burned to completion. Mottled regions in the high-speed Schlieren photographs are demonstrated to represent combustion regions.
Date: November 14, 1942
Creator: Miller, Cearcy D. & Olsen, H. Lowell
System: The UNT Digital Library
Drag and Propulsive Characteristics of Air-Cooled Engine-Nacelle Installations for Large Airplane (open access)

Drag and Propulsive Characteristics of Air-Cooled Engine-Nacelle Installations for Large Airplane

"An investigation was conducted in the NACA full-scale wind tunnel to determine the drag and the propulsive efficiency of nacelle-propeller arrangements for a large range of nacelle sizes. In contrast with usual tests with a single nacelle, these tests were conducted with nacelle-propeller installations on a large model of a four-engine airplane. Data are presented on the first part of the investigation, covering seven nacelle arrangements with nacelle diameters from 0.53 to 1.5 times the wing thickness" (p. 301).
Date: 1942
Creator: Silverstein, Abe & Wilson, Herbert A., Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Wind-Tunnel Tests of Four- and Six-Blade Single- and Dual-Rotating Tractor Propellers (open access)

Wind-Tunnel Tests of Four- and Six-Blade Single- and Dual-Rotating Tractor Propellers

"Test of 10-foot diameter, four and six blade single-rotating and dual-rotating propellers were conducted in the NACA 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 ranged from 20 degrees to 65 degrees setting corresponds to airplane speeds greater than 500 miles per hour. The results indicate that dual-rotating propellers were from 0 to 6 percent more efficient than single-rotating ones; but, when the propellers operated in the presence of a wing, the gain was reduced by about one-half" (p. 319).
Date: July 13, 1942
Creator: Biermann, David & Hartman, Edwin P.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Normal-pressure tests of rectangular plates (open access)

Normal-pressure tests of rectangular plates

Report presents the results of normal-pressure tests made of 56 rectangular plates with clamped edges and of 5 plates with freely supported edges. Pressure was applied and the center deflection and the permanent set at the center were measured. For some of the plates, in addition, strains and contours were measured.
Date: 1942
Creator: Ramberg, Walter; McPherson, Albert E. & Levy, Samuel
System: The UNT Digital Library
Exhaust-stack nozzle area and shape for individual cylinder exhaust-gas jet-propulsion system (open access)

Exhaust-stack nozzle area and shape for individual cylinder exhaust-gas jet-propulsion system

This report presents the results of an investigation conducted on the effect of exhaust-stack nozzle area, shape, and length on engine power, jet thrust, and gain in net thrust (engine propeller plus jet). Single-cylinder engine data were obtained using three straight stacks 25, 44, and 108 inches in length; an S-shaped stack, a 90 degree bend, a 180 degree bend, and a short straight stack having a closed branch faired into it. Each stack was fitted with nozzles varying in exit area from 0.91 square inch to the unrestricted area of the stack of 4.20 square inches. The engine was generally operated over a range of engine speeds from 1300 to 2100 r.p.m, inlet-manifold pressures from 22 to 30 inches of mercury absolute, and a fuel-air ratio of 0.08. The loss in engine power, the jet thrust, and the gain in net thrust are correlated in terms of several simple parameters. An example is given for determining the optimum nozzle area and the overall net thrust.
Date: August 11, 1942
Creator: Pinkel, Benjamin; Turner, L. Richard; Voss, Fred & Humble, Leroy V.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Analysis of Heat and Compressibility Effects in Internal Flow Systems and High-Speed Tests of a Ram-Jet System (open access)

Analysis of Heat and Compressibility Effects in Internal Flow Systems and High-Speed Tests of a Ram-Jet System

Report discussing an analysis has been made by the NACA of the effects of heat and compressibility in the flow through the internal systems of aircraft along with equations and charts are developed whereby the flow characteristics at key stations in a typical internal system may be readily obtained.
Date: July 21, 1942
Creator: Becker, John V. & Baals, Donald D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Method for Determining the Camber and Twist of a Surface to Support a Given Distribution of Lift, With Applications to the Load Over a Sweptback Wing (open access)

A Method for Determining the Camber and Twist of a Surface to Support a Given Distribution of Lift, With Applications to the Load Over a Sweptback Wing

"A graphical method is described for finding the shape (camber and twist) of an airfoil having an arbitrary distribution of lift. The method consists in replacing the lifting surface and its wake with an equivalent arrangement of vortices and in finding the associated vertical velocities. By division of the vortex pattern into circular strips concentric about the downwash point instead of into the usual rectangular strips, the lifting surface is reduced for each downwash point to an equivalent loaded line for which the induced velocity is readily computed" (p. 543).
Date: May 16, 1942
Creator: Cohen, Doris
System: The UNT Digital Library
Methods used in the NACA tank for the investigation of the longitudinal-stability characteristics of models of flying boats (open access)

Methods used in the NACA tank for the investigation of the longitudinal-stability characteristics of models of flying boats

Report presents the results of tests of longitudinal stability characteristics of models of several flying boats conducted in the NACA Tank No. 1. These investigations were made for the purpose of (1) determining suitable methods for evaluating the stability characteristics of models of flying boats, and (2) determining the design parameters which have an important effect on the porpoising. This report is mainly concerned with the construction of suitable models, the apparatus, and methods used in the tests. The effect of changes in some design parameters is discussed.
Date: September 9, 1942
Creator: Olson, Roland E. & Land, Norman S.
System: The UNT Digital Library