Authors
Rikin Gupta, Shardul Panwar, Taewoo Nam, Jitish Miglani, Siddhant Desai, Rakesh K Kapania
Publication date
2024
Book
AIAA SCITECH 2024 Forum
Pages
2099
Description
A large-scale, tethered inflatable flying wing known as the "Mothership" is a high-altitude aerial platform. However, its operation at higher altitudes is susceptible to strong winds, which can impose significant aerodynamic stress and dynamic instabilities like flutter. To understand such a complex tethered system, a small-scale Nylon fabric inflatable wing tethered system was designed and tested in Virginia Tech’s stability wind tunnel. The inflatable wing tethered system includes a swept cantilever inflated wing with a leading-edge tether connected to the wind tunnel’s starboard side. Experimental data was gathered by conducting wind tunnel tests at intervals of 2.5 m/s, covering tunnel speeds ranging from 15 m/s to 35 m/s. The data collection apparatus comprised a six-axis force and moment sensor positioned at the wing root, a load cell for measuring tether tension, accelerometers on the wing, and a 3D …
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R Gupta, S Panwar, T Nam, J Miglani, S Desai… - AIAA SCITECH 2024 Forum, 2024