Subsonic High-Lift Flight Research on the NASA Transport System Research Vehicle (TSRV)

Flight tests are being conducted on the Transport Systems Research Vehicle (B737-100 aircraft) at the NASA Langley Research Center as part of a multi-phased research program to obtain detailed flow characteristics on a multi-element, high-lift flap system. Recent test results obtained for a full-chord wing section including the slat, main-wing, and flap elements are presented. In addition, program status and future plans are discussed.

Pressure distributions were obtained using pressure belts over the slat, main-wing, and flap elements at one spanwise station. Test conditions included a range of flap deflections, chord Reynolds numbers (10 to 21 million), and Mach numbers (0.16 to 0.40). In addition to the pressure distributions, Preston-tube measurements on the slat upper surface indicated relaminarization of turbulent flows which were introduced by the pressure belt on the slat leading-edge surface. Comparisons of the in-flight pressure measurements with predictions from a two-dimensional, viscous multi-element method modified by simple-sweep theory showed reasonable agreement; however, the overprediction of pressures on the flap elements shows a need for better modeling of confluent boundary layers and inclusion of three-dimensional effects.