WIND TUNNEL TESTS OF INNOVATIVE TAILPLANE CONFIGURATIONS

The article deals with an experimental wind tunnel test campaign developed on a scaled model representative of a commercial jet tailplane. The main goal of aerodynamic tests is the test of an innovative tailplane geometry with forward sweep and with the application of a Leading Edge Extension (LEX) as stall control device. Tests have been performed on different geometries with positive and negative (forward) sweep angle. For the negative swept case several LEX with different shapes have been tested. Many visualization with tufts have been performed in order to highlight the tailplane stall path and the effect of LEX as stall control device. Several tests have been also performed with a boundary layer fence.