Subscale flight testing used in conceptual design

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the latest subscale demonstrator aircraft developed at Linköping University. It has been built as part of a study initiated by the Swedish Material Board (FMV) on a Generic Future Fighter aircraft. The paper will cover different aspects of the performed work: from paper study realised by SAAB to the first flight of the scaled demonstrator. The intention of the paper is to describe what has been realised and explain how the work is may be used to fit within aircraft conceptual design.Design/methodology/approachThe approach has been to address the challenges proposed by the customer of the demonstrator, how to design, manufacture and operate a scaled demonstrator of an aircraft study in conceptual design within five months. Similar research projects have been reviewed in order to perform the current work.FindingsThe results obtained so far have led to new questions. In particular, the project indicated that more research is needed within the area of subscale flight testing for usage in aircraft conceptual design, since a scaled demonstrator is likely to answer some questions but will probably open up new ones.Research limitations/implicationsThe current research is just in its infancy and does not bring any final conclusion but does, however, offer several guidelines for future works. Since the aircraft study was an early phase concept study, not much data are available for validation or comparison. Therefore, the paper is not presenting new methods or general conclusions.Practical implicationsResults from a conceptual aircraft study and a realisation of a scaled prototype are presented, which show that scaled flight testing may be used with some restriction in conceptual design.Originality/valueThe value of this paper is to show that universities can be involved in prototype development and can work in close collaboration with industries to address issues and solutions within aircraft conceptual design.

On Subscale Flight Testing : Applications in Aircraft Conceptual Design

“…The methods proposed here were practically tested in various experiments performed mainly with the GFF subscale demonstrator. This platform, shown in Figures 5.11 and 5.11, is a 2-meter jet-powered model that is extensively described in [42]. It represents a challenging case of SFT due to the size of the model and the relatively high flight speed.…”

“…The production of a 14%-scale remotely piloted demonstrator was awarded to Linköping University. The development of this jet-powered model, shown in Figure 1.6, is described in detail in references [41,42].…”

On Knowledge Creation and Learning at the Intersection of Product Development and Engineering Education

“…In this context, the term demonstrator refers to the kind of prototypes usually found in the aerospace industry. A typical example and often referred to in a Swedish context is the Saab 210, a scaled-down testbed that preceded the Saab 35 Draken, which was built to explore the double delta-wing concept and made its maiden flight in 1952 (Jouannet, 2012). A more recent example is the Dassault Systemes nEUROn project, a platform for development of engineering and cooperation skills among the participating companies (nEUROn, 2020).…”

Hands-On Assessment During Computer Aided Engineering Education

“…As described by Holmberg, the term demonstrator traditionally refers to a method used with the intention to clarify a concept or to reduce the risks with a certain technology [11] In Sweden, an example of an early aerospace demonstrator was the Saab 210, a scaled-down testbed that preceded the Saab 35 Draken, which was built for exploration of the double deltawing concept in 1952 [12]. Another more recent example is the Dassault nEUROn project, whose purpose is to act as a platform for development of engineering and cooperation skills among the participating companies [13].…”