Regulation and mechanism of aerodynamic drag reduction by horizontal tail contraction

Abstract:

By wind tunnel test and numerical simulation, the regulation of horizontal tail contraction on aerodynamic drag reduction was studied. The results indicate that tail contraction raises pressure level of tail surface and reduces aerodynamic drag. Base on result of reliable numerical simulation, the changes of wake structure were studied. The research indicates that tail contraction provides additional kinetic energy for tail dead zone, suppresses formation and development of trailing vortex pair, reduces flow energy loss of wake and aerodynamic drag.