Book Description

A series of force tests was conducted on unpowered, high-speed ground-vehicle model configurations to provide information on shapes of this type very near the ground. Of particular interest were the crosswind effects on the aerodynamic forces and moments of the six models tested. These tests were conducted over the moving-belt ground plane in the 17-foot (5.18-m) test section of the Langley 300-MPH 7-by 10-foot tunnel at free-stream dynamic pressure values of 10 lb/ft2 (478.8 N/m2). The results indicate that the half-circle configuration is desirable because of the low rolling moments it experienced; however, it did have higher lift values than the other configurations and, from a utility standpoint, could be impractical. The half-circle configurations with extended sides may make good compromise configurations. All the ground-simulation techniques employed -moving ground belt, fixed ground belt, and image model -gave reasonable representations of the overall aerodynamic trends.