Integration effects of pylon geometry on a high-wing transport airplane

An investigation was conducted in the Langley 16-Foot Transonic Tunnel to determine the installation effects of a series of pylons that had differing cross-sectional shapes on the pressure distributions and aerodynamic characteristics of a 1/24-scale high wing transport. The tests were conducted at Mach numbers at 0.70 and 0.80 at angles of attack from -3 degrees to 4 degrees with the pylons tested at various toe angles between 5 degrees inboard and 5 degrees outboard. Results of this study indicate that the installed drag was lowest for the pylons with a compression pylon type design which kept the flow under the wing in the pylon/wing junction comparable to the clean wing velocities.