AoC number
Primary domain
Secondary domain
Description
Sweeping jet technologies are being evaluated to increase the sideforce (lift coefficient) of vertical fins on airliners to enable reduction in size and drag of these components. This would allow the vertical tail to be reduced in size sufficiently to reduce the fuel burn of the aircraft by 1 to 2%. The technology would likely be employed on the shorter version of a family of aircraft that have a small tail volume. It may not be needed on larger, longer variants of the same aircraft type.
The technical challenge is to incorporate existing civil aircraft safety margins into systems that have their origins in the neutral or unstable characteristics of fighter aircraft.
A full-scale 757 tail, equipped with active flow control, has demonstrated increased rudder effectiveness
in 2013 wind-tunnel tests by Boeing and NASA that could lead to smaller, lower-drag vertical tails. (see notes)
Potential hazard
- Failure of the air supply system during critical flight regimes
- Degradation of the flow characteristics of the small channels along the hinge line due to weather and other contaminants
- Resulting loss of lateral control
Corroborating sources and comments
April 22, 2013: Trick of the Tail: On-demand flow control could mean fuel-saving smaller vertical tails, Aviation Week and Space Technology, p. 14
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report (ASCII) — November 15, 2013
A full-scale 757 tail, equipped with active flow control, has demonstrated increased rudder effectiveness in wind-tunnel tests by Boeing and NASA that could lead to smaller, lower-drag vertical tails. The four weeks of tests in the National Full-Scale Aerodynamic Facility at NASA Ames Research Center, Calif., evaluated the use of active flow control (AFC) to increase rudder sideforce on demand by delaying airflow separation over the deflected control surface.
Airliner vertical tails have their size dictated by one rare, worst-case scenario–loss of an engine on takeoff–when the rudder must generate enough sideforce to counteract the asymmetric thrust from a high-bypass engine slung under the wing.
In a family of aircraft, the tail is sized by the smallest member, where the rudder moment arm is at
its shortest, and is oversized for stretched versions.
NASA’s goal for the AFC project is to increase sideforce 20% on demand, and shrink the vertical tail by 17% to reduce aircraft fuel burn by 1-2%.
With funding from NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) program, Boeing took a tail from a 757 in the boneyard and refurbished and modified it for use as a wind-tunnel model, says Ed Whalen, Boeing’s research & technology program manager.
“Sweeping jet” AFC actuators were mounted on one side of the fixed stabilizer, just upstream of the rudder hinge line to blow on to the leading edge of the deflected surface. The 37 actuators were supplied with variable mass-flow pressurized air from an external source and were individually addressable so that different spacings and zones could be tested.
A key goal of the full-scale wind-tunnel test was to determine an optimum actuator distribution and mass flow for the next phase of the program, flying the AFC tail on a 757 in 2015 under Boeing’s Eco
Demonstrator program, Whalen says.
Focused on the takeoff and landing phases–when generating sideforce is critical–the tests were run at 100-130 kt. Measurements included airflow tufting, surface pressures and the tunnel’s force-and-moment balance.
After baseline aerodynamic data were collected, the AFC tests were conducted.
Sub-scale tests had indicated that sideforce could by increased by up to 50%. The full-scale tests showed
20-30%, “which is in the realm of what we need,” Whalen says.
Boeing previously evaluated synthetic-jet actuators, but selected sweeping jets because they scale up uniformly, Whalen says. Originally developed as logic devices for fluidic computers, and now used in windshield washers for cars, they are solid-state actuators in which an internal feedback loop causes the air jet to sweep across an arc. This increases their effectiveness in re-energizing and re-attaching separated flow over the deflected rudder.
In a practical application, there would be actuators on both sides of the tail. They would be on-demand,
on/off devices that would activate on the appropriate side of the tail when the rudder deflects beyond a certain angle, to increase sideforce.
Corroborating sources and comments
April 22, 2013: Trick of the Tail: On-demand flow control could mean fuel-saving smaller vertical tails, Aviation Week and Space Technology, p. 14
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report (ASCII) — November 15, 2013
A full-scale 757 tail, equipped with active flow control, has demonstrated increased rudder effectiveness in wind-tunnel tests by Boeing and NASA that could lead to smaller, lower-drag vertical tails. The four weeks of tests in the National Full-Scale Aerodynamic Facility at NASA Ames Research Center, Calif., evaluated the use of active flow control (AFC) to increase rudder sideforce on demand by delaying airflow separation over the deflected control surface.
Airliner vertical tails have their size dictated by one rare, worst-case scenario–loss of an engine on takeoff–when the rudder must generate enough sideforce to counteract the asymmetric thrust from a high-bypass engine slung under the wing.
In a family of aircraft, the tail is sized by the smallest member, where the rudder moment arm is at
its shortest, and is oversized for stretched versions.
NASA’s goal for the AFC project is to increase sideforce 20% on demand, and shrink the vertical tail by 17% to reduce aircraft fuel burn by 1-2%.
With funding from NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) program, Boeing took a tail from a 757 in the boneyard and refurbished and modified it for use as a wind-tunnel model, says Ed Whalen, Boeing’s research & technology program manager.
“Sweeping jet” AFC actuators were mounted on one side of the fixed stabilizer, just upstream of the rudder hinge line to blow on to the leading edge of the deflected surface. The 37 actuators were supplied with variable mass-flow pressurized air from an external source and were individually addressable so that different spacings and zones could be tested.
A key goal of the full-scale wind-tunnel test was to determine an optimum actuator distribution and mass flow for the next phase of the program, flying the AFC tail on a 757 in 2015 under Boeing’s Eco
Demonstrator program, Whalen says.
Focused on the takeoff and landing phases–when generating sideforce is critical–the tests were run at 100-130 kt. Measurements included airflow tufting, surface pressures and the tunnel’s force-and-moment balance.
After baseline aerodynamic data were collected, the AFC tests were conducted.
Sub-scale tests had indicated that sideforce could by increased by up to 50%. The full-scale tests showed
20-30%, “which is in the realm of what we need,” Whalen says.
Boeing previously evaluated synthetic-jet actuators, but selected sweeping jets because they scale up uniformly, Whalen says. Originally developed as logic devices for fluidic computers, and now used in windshield washers for cars, they are solid-state actuators in which an internal feedback loop causes the air jet to sweep across an arc. This increases their effectiveness in re-energizing and re-attaching separated flow over the deflected rudder.
In a practical application, there would be actuators on both sides of the tail. They would be on-demand,
on/off devices that would activate on the appropriate side of the tail when the rudder deflects beyond a certain angle, to increase sideforce.