A low-speed wind-tunnel investigation of the tailplane effectiveness of a model representing the airbus type of aircraft

Abstract

Measurements of lift, drag and pitching moment have been made on a model having three tailplane heights and three wing configurations, with and without the tailplane in position. Wake and boundary-layer surveys at the tailplane heights and a separate force and moment test of the isolated tailplane were also made. The results have been analysed to find the tailplane efficiency, as measured by the effective lift-curve slope, for the three tailplane heights tested. The contribution of the mean dynamic pressure at the tailplane to the effective lift-curve slope was removed. The remaining difference in lift-curve slope from that obtained in the separate tailplane test was due to the interference involved in mounting the tailplane on the model. It was found that this interference was negligible for the tailplane mounted away from the body. With the tailplane mounted on the large body, typical of current airbus bodies, the interference was small and no evidence of extensive flow separation was found.