A Model of Turbulence in the Langley Transonic Dynamics Tunnel for Aeroservoelastic Analysis

A general formulation to generate a model of the turbulence field is proposed which is suitable for integration into aeroservoelastic (ASE) models. The proposed formulation uses the more accurate von Kármán spectra, is valid for small turbulence length scales, such as inside of a wind tunnel, and does not require assumptions about the configuration. The method generates the appropriate turbulence velocity components and frequency spectra that can be integrated into an ASE model. Measurements of turbulence in the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel (TDT) at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA were used to define the parameters of the von Kármán spectrum. The formulation was applied to the Integrated Adaptive Wing Technology Maturation (IAWTM) test article in the TDT. The turbulence model in the TDT shows significant differences from a typical uniform turbulence. The proposed formulation was shown to replicate the existing standard turbulence models with assumptions such as large turbulence length scales.