21st Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Melbourne, Australia, 13-18 September, 1998
Paper ICAS-98-7.6.1

AIRCRAFT LOAD MODELS FOR A PILATUS PC-9 BASED ON WIND TUNNEL TESTING

Huang A.
Wackett Aerospace Centre, RMIT, Australia

Keywords: aircraft load models, pilatus pc-9, wind tunnel testing

Aircraft load models for a Pilatus PC-9 based on wind tunnel testing have been developed to determine flight loads including shear, bending, and torque on the lifting surfaces in both trimmed and untrimmed longitudinal flight. Experimental results generated by the load models represent realistic flight conditions in untrimmed longitudinal flight. However, load distributions obtained for trimmed level flight are inaccurate, as the models have not yet been capable of providing accurate predictions for the angle of attack and elevator deflection required in trimmed flight due to insufficient information on aircraft aerodynamic characteristics. An independent aerodynamic model based on lifting line theory has been developed to act as a tool for estimating flight loads. Results predicted by theory involve apparent errors, particularly for the tail, and the errors are mainly due to inadequate accuracy or detail of the geometry modelled. As there is still a room for improvement of results be made, further modifications on the load models should be necessary to obtain more accurate values for flight loads.

view full paper