Introduction to Flight Testing

Introduction to Flight Testing

Introduction to Flight Testing

Provides an introduction to the basic flight testing methods employed on general aviation aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles

Introduction to Flight Testing provides a concise introduction to the basic flight testing methods employed on general aviation aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles for courses in aeronautical engineering. There is particular emphasis on the use of modern on-board instruments and inexpensive, off-the-shelf portable devices that make flight testing accessible to nearly any student.

This text presents a clear articulation of standard methods for measuring aircraft performance characteristics. Topics covered include aircraft and instruments, digital data acquisition techniques, flight test planning, the standard atmosphere, uncertainty analysis, level flight performance, airspeed calibration, stall, climb and glide, take-off and landing, level turn, static and dynamic longitudinal stability, lateral-directional stability, and flight testing of unmanned aircraft systems.

Unique to this book is a detailed discussion of digital data acquisition (DAQ) techniques, which are an integral part of modern flight test programs. This treatment includes discussion of the analog-to-digital conversion, sample rate, aliasing, and filtering. These critical details provide the flight test engineer with the insight needed to understand the capabilities and limitations of digital DAQ.

Key features:

• Provides an introduction to the basic flight testing methods and instrumentation employed on general aviation aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles.

• Includes examples of flight testing on general aviation aircraft such as Cirrus, Diamond, and Cessna aircraft, along with unmanned aircraft vehicles.

• Suitable for courses on Aircraft Flight Test Engineering.

Introduction to Flight Testing provides resources and guidance for practitioners in the rapidly-developing field of drone performance flight test and the general aviation flight test community.

Auteur

James W. Gregory is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Associate Director for UAS of the Aerospace Research Center at The Ohio State University. He received his Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech, and masters and doctorate degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University. His research interests focus on development of pressure-sensitive paint as an advanced measurement technique, drag reduction of bluff body wakes via aerodynamic flow control, and flight testing of unmanned aircraft systems. His work experience includes stints at the US Air Force Research Laboratory Air Vehicles Directorate, the US Air Force Academy, Delta Air Lines, NASA Glenn Research Center, Tohoku University in Japan, and as a Fulbright Scholar at the Technion in Israel. He is an instrument-rated private pilot.

Tianshu Liu is a professor and the director of Applied Aerodynamics Laboratory at Western Michigan University. He received a Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from Purdue University in 1996. He was a research scientist at NASA Langley Research Center in 1999-2004. His research areas are experimental and applied aerodynamics and fluid mechanics. In particular, he has contributed to image-based measurement techniques for various physical quantities such as surface pressure, temperature/heat-transfer, skin friction, velocity fields, aeroelastic deformation, and distributed and integrated forces. His topics also include videogrammetry and vision for aerospace applications, flow control, flapping flight, flight vehicle design, turbulence and transition, and flight tests.

Résumé
Introduction to Flight Testing Introduction to Flight Testing Provides an introduction to the basic flight testing methods employed on general aviation aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles Introduction to Flight Testing provides a concise introduction to the basic flight testing methods employed on general aviation aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles for courses in aeronautical engineering. There is particular emphasis on the use of modern on-board instruments and inexpensive, off-the-shelf portable devices that make flight testing accessible to nearly any student. This text presents a clear articulation of standard methods for measuring aircraft performance characteristics. Topics covered include aircraft and instruments, digital data acquisition techniques, flight test planning, the standard atmosphere, uncertainty analysis, level flight performance, airspeed calibration, stall, climb and glide, take-off and landing, level turn, static and dynamic longitudinal stability, lateral-directional stability, and flight testing of unmanned aircraft systems. Unique to this book is a detailed discussion of digital data acquisition (DAQ) techniques, which are an integral part of modern flight test programs. This treatment includes discussion of the analog-to-digital conversion, sample rate, aliasing, and filtering. These critical details provide the flight test engineer with the insight needed to understand the capabilities and limitations of digital DAQ. Key features:

• Provides an introduction to the basic flight testing methods and instrumentation employed on general aviation aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles.
• Includes examples of flight testing on general aviation aircraft such as Cirrus, Diamond, and Cessna aircraft, along with unmanned aircraft vehicles.
• Suitable for courses on Aircraft Flight Test Engineering. Introduction to Flight Testing provides resources and guidance for practitioners in the rapidly-developing field of drone performance flight test and the general aviation flight test community.

Contenu
About the Authors xiii

Series Preface xv

Preface xvii

Acknowledgements xxi

About the Companion Website xxiii

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Case Study: Supersonic Flight in the Bell XS-1 3

1.2 Types of Flight Testing 9

1.2.1 Scientific Research 9

1.2.2 Experimental Flight Test 12

1.2.3 Developmental Test and Evaluation 14

1.2.4 Operational Test and Evaluation 14

1.2.5 Airworthiness Certification 15

1.3 Objectives and Organization of this Book 17

Nomenclature 18

Acronyms and Abbreviations 19

References 19

2 The Flight Environment: Standard Atmosphere 22

2.1 Earth's Atmosphere 23

2.2 Standard Atmosphere Model 24

2.2.1 Hydrostatics 24

2.2.2 Gravitational Acceleration and Altitude Definitions 25

2.2.3 Temperature 26

2.2.4 Viscosity 27

2.2.5 Pressure and Density 28

2.2.6 Operationalizing the Standard Atmosphere 29

2.2.7 Comparison with Experimental Data 30

2.3 Altitudes Used in Aviation 32

Nomenclature 34

Subscripts 34

Acronyms and Abbreviations 35

References 35

3 Aircraft and Flight Test Instrumentation 36

3.1 Traditional Cockpit Instruments 36

3.1.1 Gyroscopic-Based Instruments 38

3.1.2 Pressure-Based Instruments 38

3.1.3 Outside Air Temperature 41

3.1.4 Other Instrumentation 42

3.2 Glass Cockpit Instruments 42

3.3 Flight Test Instrumentation 45

3.3.1 Global Navigation Satellite System 46

3.3.2 Accelerometers 49

3.3.3 Gyroscopes 49

3.3.4 Magnetometers 50

3.3.5 Barometer 51

3.3.6 Fusion of Sensor Data Streams 51

3.4 Summary 52

Nomenclature 54

Subscripts 54

Acronyms and Abbreviations 54

References 55

4 Data Acquisition and Analysis 56

4.1 Temporal and Spectral Analysis 56

4.2 Filtering 61

4.3 Digital Sampling: Bit Depth Resolution and Sample Rate 63

4.4 Aliasing 66

4.5 Flight Testing Example 69

4.6 Summary 69

Nomenclature 70

Subscripts 70

Acronyms and Abbreviations 70

References 71

5 Uncertainty Analysis 72

5.1 Error Theory 73

5.1.1 Types o…