Publications Details

Force and moment measurements of a transonic fin-wake interaction

Smith, Justin; Henfling, John F.; Beresh, Steven J.; Grasser, Thomas; Spillers, Russell

Force and moment measurements have been made on an instrumented subscale fin model at transonic speeds in Sandia's Trisonic Wind Tunnel to ascertain the effects of Mach number and angle of attack on the interaction of a trailing vortex with a downstream control surface. Components of normal force, bending moment, and hinge moment were measured on an instrumented fin downstream of an identical fin at Mach numbers between 0.85 and 1.24, and combinations of angles of attack between -5° and 10° for both fins. The primary influence of upstream fin deflection is to shift the downstream fin's forces in a direction consistent with the vortex-induced angle of attack on the downstream fin. Secondary non-linear effects of vortex lift were found to increase the slopes of normal force and bending moment coefficients when plotted versus fin deflection angle. This phenomenon was dependent upon Mach number and the angles of attack of both fins. The hinge moment coefficient was also influenced by the vortex lift as the center of pressure was pushed aft with increased Mach number and total angle of attack.