LONGITUDINAL AERODYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF SEVERAL HYPERSONIC AIRCRAFT CONFIGURATIONS AT A MACH NUMBER OF 6.26

Abstract : Wind-tunnel tests were conducted at a Mach number of 6.26 to determine the longitudinal aerodynamic characteristics of several conceptual hypersonic aircraft configurations, consisting of various half-cone-cylinder bodies and double-delta wings. Effects of body volume, vehicle orientation, wing planform, and wing-tip dihedral were determined. In general, the lift-to- drag ratios of all high-wing configurations varied slightly over an angle-of- attack range of 0 degrees to 12 degrees reaching maximum values of roughly 3.2 near 6 degrees. On the other hand, the lift-to-drag ratios of all low-wing configurations increased continuously with increasing angle of attack, eventually reaching maximum values of roughly 3.6 near 10 degrees. In all cases, fuselage base drag accounted for less than 10 percent of the total drag. For the arbitrarily chosen center-of-gravity location, all low-wing configurations were stable but unbalanced; whereas several high-wing configurations were both stable and balanced.