AN EXAMINATION OF METHODS OF BUFFETING ANALYSIS BASED ON EXPERIMENTS WITH WINGS OF VARYING STIFFNESS

摘要

An examination of the validity of some of the assumptions used in the analysis of buffeting loads has been made by means of wind-tunnel tests of models differing in stiffness. A linear analysis predicts buffeting loads which are high by about 25 percent. This difference may be associated with a relieving effect which causes flexible wings to generate smaller buffeting forces than a more rigid wing. A prediction based on aerodynamic damping only, which apparently contained compensating inaccuracies, provided values of buffeting loads which were closer to the measured values than those predicted by the more complete analysis including both structural and aerodynamic damping.