scholarly journals Vehicle Technologies Office Research and Development Program, Prospective Benefits Assessment Report for FY 2020

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Stephens ◽  
Alicia Birky ◽  
Michael Dwyer
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Assessment Report ◽  
Vehicle Technologies

scholarly journals A Review of Current Research in Subscale Flight Testing and Analysis of Its Main Practical Challenges

Aerospace ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 74
Author(s):  
Alejandro Sobron ◽  
David Lundström ◽  
Petter Krus
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Rapid Prototyping ◽  
Experimental Method ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
Interesting Application ◽  
Flight Testing ◽  
Scale Characteristics ◽  
Vehicle Technologies

Testing of untethered subscale models, often referred to as subscale flight testing, has traditionally had a relatively minor, yet relevant use in aeronautical research and development. As recent advances in electronics, rapid prototyping and unmanned-vehicle technologies expand its capabilities and lower its cost, this experimental method is seeing growing interest across academia and the industry. However, subscale models cannot meet all similarity conditions required for simulating full-scale flight. This leads to a variety of approaches to scaling and to other alternative applications. Through a literature review and analysis of different scaling strategies, this study presents an overall picture of how subscale flight testing has been used in recent years and synthesises its main issues and practical limitations. Results show that, while the estimation of full-scale characteristics is still an interesting application within certain flight conditions, subscale models are progressively taking a broader role as low-cost technology-testing platforms with relaxed similarity constraints. Different approaches to tackle the identified practical challenges, implemented both by the authors and by other organisations, are discussed and evaluated through flight experiments.

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