Experimental investigation of stability and stall flutter of a free-floating wing V/STOL model

An experimental investigation was made of the static and dynamic stability characteristics of a one-fourth scale model of a tilt-propeller free-wing V/STOL aircraft. The effects of wing pivot location, wing chord, trailing-edge angle, propeller tilt angle, and thrust were studied, and a limited evaluation was made of high-lift devices. A dynamically similar wing was used to measure frequency and damping ratio from transient response data in the linear aerodynamic regime and the results were compared to quasi-steady and unsteady aerodynamic theory. It was found that at high trim angles of attack, in the nonlinear aerodynamic regime, stall flutter oscillations occurred with typical amplitudes ranging from 15 to 20 deg. Wing control tab deflection was effective in initiating and terminating stall flutter but variations in configuration or operating conditions did not greatly influence the occurrence of characteristics of the oscillations.