Book Description

Summary: Tests were made in a seal test chamber to determine the hinge moments contributed by the fabric seal in an internal-balance arrangement employing a thin-plate over-hang. These tests were performed with various widths of fabric sealing various widths of flap-nose gap, with a horizontal, a vertical, and a circular type of wing structure forward of the balance, and with various heights of balance chamber. This investigation is an experimental verification and extension of a previous analytical investigation. The present investigation indicated that the moment of the seal may be a balancing or an unbalancing moment and may be an appreciable part of the total balancing moment of an internally balanced flap, depending on the overhang deflection and the configuration of the internal balance. Variation of the width of the fabric seal, the sealed gap, or the location of the seal attachment to the wing structure affected the seal moments through most of the over-hang deflection range. The shape and size of the balance chamber affected the seal-moment characteristics in the deflection range where the seals contacted and were constrained by the chamber walls; the values of the seal moments were usually reduced when the seals were constrained. The results indicated also that an optimum balance configuration would employ a seal width such that the seal would barely touch the chamber ceiling when maximum overhang deflection is attained.