A new criterion for transonic buffeting onset estimation

Resumo

© 2017, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA. All rights reserved.A new criterion, based on the chordwise movement of the aerodynamic center, is proposed to estimate the transonic buffeting onset of transport aircraft. Wind tunnel results obtained on four different aircraft are used to evaluate three existing traditional criteria that are based on CL x α and CM x α curves. The wind tunnel tests were performed at a chord Reynolds number of 3 million and the results were extrapolated to flight Reynolds number using cryogenic wind tunnel data for two similar aircraft. The proposed criterion presents the best predictions when compared to flight test data.