A Method for Obtaining the Nonlinear Aerodynamic Stability Characteristics of Bodies of Revolution from Free-Flight Tests

A method is presented for obtaining the nonlinear aerodynamic stability characteristics of bodies of revolution from free-flight test.s The necessary conditions for the application of this method are: (1) that the roll rate and damping encountered in a single cycle of oscillation be small, and (2) that the resulting motion be reasonably planar. Four approximations to the nonlinear restoring moment are considered and solutions are obtained in closed form: 1. A single-term polynomial in an arbitrary power of the angle of attack. 2. A two-term polynomial having linear and cubic terms. 3. A three-term polynomial having linear, quadratic, and cubic terms. 4. A three-term polynomial having linear, quadratic, and cubic terms. An iteration procedure is formulated to allow the use of each of these approximations for obtaining the aerodynamic coefficients of bodies of revolution from free-flight test data. It is found that although the equations that are solved pertain strictly to planar motion, the solutions are applicable to motions that deviate to a fairly large degree from planar motion.