A wind tunnel investigation was conducted in the Propulsion Wind Tunnel, Transonic (16T) to obtain steady and fluctuating pressures to assess the aerodynamic effects on the local and downstream flow fields caused by large protuberances on the Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) vehicle. Pressure data were recorded at Mach numbers 0.80, 0.90, 1.10, 1.20, 1.40, and 1.55 for angles of attack of -7.5, 0, and 4 deg and angles of sideslip of -6 and 6 deg. Test results revealed that the left- and right-side auxiliary-equipment fairings and their afterbodies do not impose a significant interference effect on each other, whereas the horizon-sensor-fairing and auxiliary-equipment-fairing flow interaction attributes up to 50 percent of the pressure fluctuations at selected microphone locations. Of the four base configurations on the auxiliary-equipment fairings, the 10-deg conical afterbody exhibited the lowest overall dynamic-pressure level at all test conditions. (Author)
Steady and Fluctuating Pressures around Flow Protuberances on the MOL Vehicle at Transonic Speeds
1968
46 pages
Report
No indication
English
Manned Spacecraft , Fluid Mechanics , Manned spacecraft , Aircraft protuberances , Scientific satellites , Wind tunnel models , Model tests , Angle of attack , Sideslip , Pressure , Transonic characteristics , Aerodynamic configurations , Fairings , Turbulent boundary layer , Flow separation , Vibration , Turbulence , Schlieren photography , Flow visualization , Roll , Transonic flow , Spacecraft components , Afterbodies , Mol(Manned orbiting laboratories) , Gemini , Strakes