NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Statistical Wind-Tunnel Experimentation Advancements for eVTOL Aircraft Aero-Propulsive Model DevelopmentCompared to many conventional aircraft, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle designs present greater aero-propulsive complexity and many interacting factors requiring development of novel testing and model development strategies. This paper describes several advances in statistically-rigorous experiment design methods for wind-tunnel testing of eVTOL aircraft enabling accurate aero-propulsive model development. The techniques are applied to a subscale tilt-rotor eVTOL aircraft configuration built at NASA Langley Research Center that has 24 independent control effectors. The general testing approach, leveraging design of experiments and response surface methodology, is outlined and followed by a detailed description of the experiment design and modeling approach employed for different phases of the wind-tunnel testing. A new approach for gravitational tare modeling is developed and validated, which reduces the required wind-tunnel test time by nearly 50%. A mostly automated trim envelope determination approach is formulated to rapidly determine the aircraft flight envelope to inform transition testing for aero-propulsive model development. Efficient powered-airframe characterization tests are conducted using a nested I-optimal design approach formulated in previous simulation-based testing. The collective wind-tunnel testing approach facilitates rapid characterization of eVTOL aircraft configurations and produces accurate aero-propulsive models that can be used in flight dynamics simulations.
Document ID
20230016927
Acquisition Source
Langley Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Benjamin Mason Simmons
(Langley Research Center Hampton, Virginia, United States)
Ronald C Busan
(Langley Research Center Hampton, Virginia, United States)
Date Acquired
November 20, 2023
Subject Category
Aircraft Stability and Control
Aircraft Design, Testing and Performance
Statistics and Probability
Meeting Information
Meeting: AIAA SciTech 2024 Forum
Location: Orlando, FL
Country: US
Start Date: January 8, 2024
End Date: January 12, 2024
Sponsors: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Funding Number(s)
WBS: 109492.02.07.07.05
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
Technical Review
NASA Peer Committee
Keywords
design of experiments
response surface methodology
system identification
wind tunnel testing
aerodynamic modeling
Urban Air Mobility
Advanced Air Mobility
vertical takeoff and landing
distributed electric propulsion
eVTOL
VTOL
UAM
AAM
DOE
RSM
RAVEN
No Preview Available