Analytical and experimental study of the effects of wing-body aerodynamic interaction on space shuttle subsonic flutter

The effects on flutter of the aerodynamic interaction between the space shuttle bodies and wing, 1/80th-scale semispan models of the orbiter wing, the complete shuttle and intermediate component combinations were tested in the NASA Langley Research Center 26-inch Transonic Blowdown Wind Tunnel. Using the double lattice method combined with slender body theory to calculate unsteady aerodynamic forces, subsonic flutter speeds were computed for comparison. Using calculated complete vehicle modes, flutter speed trends were computed for the full scale vehicle at an altitude of 15,200 meters and a Mach number of 0.6. Consistent with findings of the model studies, analysis shows the shuttle to have the same flutter speed as an isolated cantilevered wing.