Wind Tunnel Tests of a New Commuter Aircraft

Tecnam Aircraft Industries and the Department of Industrial Engineering (DII) of the University of Naples "Federico II" are deeply involved in the design of a new commuter aircraft. The wind tunnel tests campaign of the so called "P2012 Traveller" aircraft has been performed in the wind tunnel facility of the DII. Tests of a 1:8.75 scaled model have been performed on different configurations through a 3-component longitudinal and lateral directional internal strain gage balance, in order to estimate both longitudinal and lateral directional stability and control derivatives of the aircraft under investigation. Reynolds number during tests was about 0.55 million. Tests have been performed with transition strip placed on the all lifting surfaces(wing and tail-planes) at about 5% of the local chord. Many tests have been performed for different aircraft configurations with the aim to estimate the effects of the different components on the aerodynamic characteristics of the aircraft, (i.e. flaps rudder deflection, fuselage, nacelles, landing gear and winglets). Have been tested also 3 different positions of the horizontal plane, in order to evaluate its right positioning respect to the wing and ensure a good value of longitudinal static margin. Finally the complete aircraft lateraldirectional stability and control derivatives have been evaluated, and the winglets effect on aircraft lateral stability has been highlighted.