Investigation at High Subsonic Speeds of the Static Longitudinal and Lateral Stability Characteristics of Two Canard Airplane Configurations

The present investigation was conducted in the Langley high-speed 7-by 10-foot tunnel to determine the static longitudinal and lateral stability characteristics at high subsonic speeds of two canard airplane configurations previously tested at supersonic speeds. The Mach number range of this investigation extended from 0.60 to 0.94 and a maximum angle-of-attack range of -2dewg to 24deg was obtained at the lowest test Mach number. Two wing plan forms of equal area were studied in the present tests; one was a 60deg delta wing and the other was a trapezoid wing having an aspect ratio of 3, taper ratio of 0.143, and an unswept 80-percent-chord line. The canard control had a trapezoidal plan form and its area was approximately 11.5 percent of the wing area. The model also had a low-aspect-ratio highly swept vertical tail and twin ventral fins. The longitudinal control characteristics of the models were consistent with past experience at low speed on canard configurations in that stalling of the canard surface occurred at moderate and high control deflections for moderate values of angle of attack. This stalling could impose appreciable limitations on the maximum trim-lift coefficient attainable. The control effectiveness and maximum value of trim-lift was significantly increased by addition of a body flap having a conical shape and located slightly behind the canard surface on the bottom of the body. Addition of the canard surface at 0deg deflection had relatively little effect on overall directional stability of the delta-wing configuration; however, deflection of the canard surface from 0deg to 10deg had a large favorable effect on directional stability at high angles of attack for both the trapezoid- and delta-wing configurations.