Wind Over Its Wing: NASA’s X-66 Model Tests Airflow ...Middle East

2 min read

NASA’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator (SFD) project recently concluded wind tunnel tests of its X-66 semi-span model in partnership with Boeing. The model, designed to represent half the aircraft, allows the research team to generate high-quality data about the aerodynamic forces that would affect the actual X-66.

Test results will help researchers identify areas where they can refine the X-66 design – potentially reducing drag, enhancing fuel efficiency, or adjusting the vehicle shape for better flying qualities.

Tests on the Boeing-built X-66 semi-span model were completed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley in its 11-Foot Transonic Unitary Plan Facility. The model underwent tests representing expected flight conditions so the team could obtain engineering information to influence the design of the aircraft’s wing and provide data for flight simulators.

Semi-span tests take advantage of symmetry. The forces and behaviors on a model of half an aircraft mirror those on the other half. By using a larger half of the model, engineers increase the number of surface pressure measurements. Various sensors were placed on the wing to measure forces and movements to calculate lift, drag, stability, and other important characteristics.

The semi-span tests follow earlier wind tunnel work at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, using a smaller model of the entire aircraft. Engineers will study the data from all of the X-66 wind tunnel tests to determine any design changes that should be made before fabrication begins on the wing that will be used on the X-66 itself.

The SFD project is NASA’s effort to develop more efficient aircraft configurations as the nation moves toward aviation that’s more economically, societally, and environmentally sustainable. The project seeks to provide information to inform the next generation of single-aisle airliners, the most common aircraft in commercial aviation fleets around the world.  Boeing and NASA are partnering to develop the X-66 experimental demonstrator aircraft.

Share

Details

Related Terms

Explore More

NASA Demonstrates Software ‘Brains’ Shared Across Satellite Swarms  

NASA Awards Contract for Airborne Science Flight Services Support

NASA Radar Imagery Reveals Details About Los Angeles-Area Landslides

Discover More Topics From NASA

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Aeronautics

Green Aviation Tech

Aircraft Flown at Armstrong

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Wind Over Its Wing: NASA’s X-66 Model Tests Airflow )

Also on site :

• Trump cuts tariffs on U.K. cars, steel and aluminum but keeps 10% base duty while Britain trims its taxes on 2,500 U.S. products
• Little Big Town Singer Dares To Bare in Sheer Dress at 2025 ACM Awards
• Lainey Wilson and Fiancé Step Out in Matching Looks at the ACMs