Incompressible Boundary Layer Transition Flight Experiments Over a Nonaxisymmetric Fuselage Forebody and Comparisons with Laminar Boundary Layer Stability Theory.

Analyses of previous boundary-layer transition experiments over axisymmetric bodies indicates a potential for achieving substantial amounts of laminar flow over such shapes. Achievement of natural laminar flow over portions of nonlifting aircraft geometries, such as fuselage forebodies, tip tanks or engine nacelles, could significantly contribute to the reduction of total aircraft viscous drag. A modern surface-panel method, a streamwise boundary-layer analysis method and streamwise linear stability theory (e^{rm n}-method) are used to correlate several previous transition measurements along axisymmetric geometries. To study the transition characteristics of a nonaxisymmetric body geometry, a flight investigation was conducted to measure the transition location and analyze the mode of transition over the nonaxisymmetric forebody of an existing light twin-engine propeller-driven airplane. A summary of the inviscid flow field over the forebody of the aircraft at various body angles is presented, indicating the relatively small magnitude of inviscid crossflow along the forebody at typical cruising attitudes. The transition instrumentation installed in the airplane fuselage is described, together with relative surface-waviness measurements along the forebody. Comparison of predicted and measured longitudinal and circumferential surface-pressure distributions along the forebody show good agreement in regions not affected by surface waviness and the propeller flow field. The macroscopic location of the transition front, obtained from arrayed hot-film sensors, is presented for a matrix of flight conditions with various unit-Reynolds numbers, angles of attack and sideslip, and engine power settings. The measured axial extent of laminar flow (maximum of 4.9 ft along the side) demonstrates the achievability of laminar flow on the smoothed nonaxisymmetric fuselage forebody of a typical twin-engine light airplane in the presence of engine acoustic disturbances and surface waviness. Spectral analysis of measured hot-film signals revealed amplified disturbances in the range of predicted Tollmien-Schlichting (T-S) instabilities. The computed logarithmic T-S amplitude ratios ("n-factors") using the axisymmetric-analogue e^{rm n }-method are found to be generally lower than from the axisymmetric transition correlations. The relatively low "n-factors" on both the side and the top of the forebody may result from the waviness of the test surface. The proximity of the propeller-propulsion system appears to have affected the location of transition onset along the side of the fuselage forebody in some flight conditions. The flow visualization did not reveal evidence of transition caused by crossflow-vorticity instability on the forebody side; however, neither the axisymmetric-analogue method predicts possible crossflow-instability growth along the forebody.