Free-flight measurements of the transonic roll-damping characteristics of three related wings of aspect ratio 2.83

Abstract

Measurements of the roll-damping derivative of three wing planforms were made by the free-flight roll-balance technique over the Mach number range 0.7 to 1.4. The wings were all of RAE 102 section, 7.5 per cent t/c and aspect ratio 2.83 but varied in sweep and taper ratio. The two wings of taper ratio 0.33 showed little loss of damping in the transonic region but the 50 deg delta wing suffered a 50 per cent loss of damping at M = 0.96. The results have been compared with simple theoretical estimates and the effects of aero-elasticity have been computed.