The concept and methodical assumptions for the development of dynamically scaled aircraft model (passenger aircraft)

Military University of Technology - Faculty of Mechatronics and Aerospace, Warsaw, Poland

Abstract

The article describes the concept of scaled model and its application in the process of real aircraft prototyping. Computer simulations of aerodynamic flows are commonly used in the design of aircraft. Numerous data on the characteristics of an airplane can be obtained using tunnel tests of geometry scaled models. To get complete information in extreme or unstable conditions, dynamically scaled models are tested. The scaled model is reduced model of the real airplane which has specific qualities similar to real aircraft qualities and these relations are strictly defined with characteristic similarity numbers (factors). The paper presents methodology for determining scale factors in relation to geometric, aerodynamic and structural properties (mass, stiffness) of the aircraft. The methodology was presented on the example of passenger aircraft (Tu-154M) model developed in Faculty of Mechatronics and Aerospace of the Military University of Technology (FMA MUT Warsaw, PL).