Experimental investigation of the aerodynamic characteristics of a "K" tandem configuration

This project was initiated after the design produced by students during the Aircraft Design course resulted in the non-conventional "K" aeroplane. The main objectives of this work are to introduce practical testing procedures to the students, to experimentally verify the aerodynamic characteristics and get a better aerodynamic representation, to gain a better understanding of the flowfield around the aircraft, to build a database for future designs and to perform a CFD analysis using a commercial software package. This paper has an introduction where the context of the design is presented followed by a summary of the aircraft characteristics. Then, the objectives of this investigation are fully stated as a consequence of the design and the wind tunnel model is briefly discribed. The tests carried out on the wind tunnel for Re 500,000 are then presented with a short discussion on the main results obtained. A CFD analysis is introduced as a tool for extrapolating results for other Re and for pressure distribution and streamlines visualisation. The paper ends with a brief conclusion on the work done and a few items proposed for further work. The experience gained has been very useful to understand the overall characteristics of the "K" model resulting from its components' contributions and also to collect information to be used in the education of forthcoming students.