High-speed aerodynamic characteristics of elastic wind-tunnel models based on rapid prototyping

An elastic lightweight AGARD-B model is fabricated by internal metal frames and outer photopolymer resin based on rapid prototyping. Through combination of aerodynamic & structural analysis and wind tunnel test, transonic aerodynamic characteristics of the model are presented. The results indicate that the aerodynamic characteristics of the elastic model are in good agreement with a metal AGARD-B model at angle of attack less than 4°C, and disagreement at the angle of attack more than 4°C occurs because of shortage in stiffness for the elastic model. The aerodynamic characteristics of elastic models need to be modified because of the different stiffness and deformation between elastic and metal models when aerodynamic loads influence greatly test results. Furthermore, it is concluded the design and manufacturing techniques of elastic models are feasible being applied to transonic wind tunnel tests for aerodynamic configuration design and preliminary studies on aerodynamic characteristics of aircrafts at basal attitude. The shortage in stiffness of elastic models is a key problem which should be taken into account in the future.