Dynamic response of a hammerhead launch vehicle wind-tunnel model

NASA-Langley has wind tunnel-tested an aeroelastically-scaled (1/10th-scale) Atlas-Centaur I Large Payload Fairing launch-vehicle model capable of simulating either of the first two bending vibration modes of the full-scale vehicle, on the basis of a partial-mode technique. While the primary emphasis was on the vehicle's buffet response, angle-of-attack studies were conducted for several payload fairing configurations with a view to both the buffet response and the dynamic stability of off-design conditions. No dynamic instabilities were discovered among the range of configurations, and payload fairing L/D variations were found to have only small buffet effects except for the smallest such value, in the second bending mode configuration.