Vectored Propulsion, Supermaneuverability and Robot Aircraft

277 Pages·1990·8.09 MB·English

by  Professor Benjamin Gal-Or (auth.)

Benjamin Gal-Or
Vectored Propulsion,
Supermaneuverability
and
Robot Aircraft
With 190 Figures
Springer-Verlag
New York Berlin Heidelberg
London Paris Tokyo Hong Kong
Professor Benjamin Gal-Or
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
Department of Aeronautical Engineering
32000 Haifa
Israel
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gal-Or, Benjamin.
Vectored propulsion, supermaneuverability, and robot aircraft / by Benjamin Gal-Or.
P. em.
I. Airplanes - Jet propulsion.
2. Drone aircraft.
3. Jet planes, Military.
4. stealth aircraft. I. Title.
TL685.3.G23 1989
629. I 34'353-dc20 89-21797
© 1990 by Benjamin Gal-Or
All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the
written permission of the copyright holder, except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews
or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, elec
tronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or
hereafter developed is forbidden.
The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, etc. in this publication, even if
the former are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names, as under
stood by the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used freely by
anyone.
Typeset, Printed, and Bound by Keterpress, Jerusalem, Israel
ISBN-13: 978-0-387-97161-2 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4613-8961-3
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4613-8961-3
Dedicated to my family;
Leah, Amir and Gillad,
who, by their respective professions,
and by their encouragement,
have given me invaluable help
in preparing this volume,
and to the members of the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory Team,
Azar, B.;
Cohen, Z.;
Dekel, E.;
Friedman, E.;
Golijow, E.;
Mashiach, E.;
Rasputnis, A.;
Soreq, I.;
Turgemann M.;
and
Vorobeichik, S.,
to whom I am greatly indebted.
Mistakes!, Who may pretend to comprehend them? And for
the unknown ones, please forgive me."
Based on Psalms 19:12
"Our whole problem is to make the mistakes as fast as
possible ..."
John Archibald Wheeler
"All our knowledge grows only through the correcting of our
mistakes."
The Philosopher of Science
Sir Karl R. Popper
(Conjectures and Refutations; The Growth of Scientific
Knowledge, K.R. Popper, Routledge and Kegan Paul, Lon
don, 1972).
Foreword
With the advent of digital flight control and digital engine control technologies,
airframe and propulsion systems designers can now consider a much higher degree of
coupling between the aircraft and its engine than ever before to achieve revolutionary
new capabilities for high performance aircraft.
Professor Gal-Or's landmark book is, in my opinion, the most complete and
definitive treatment to date of the complex aerodynamic and control integration
associated with vectored-thrust propulsion, aircraft agility enhanced by multi-axis
thrust vectoring and reaction control systems, and provides valuable insight into
applications for piloted and robotic aircraft.
Although the military utility of enhanced agility using vectored propulsion is not
fully understood, it is clear that a better experimental and analytical technology base is
necessary to evaluate the concepts in realistic air combat scenarios. Professor Gal-Or's
book is a valuable reference in this regard, although the reader should be cautioned
that a text on such a rapidly-developing field may need to be updated as new
information becomes available. Professor Gal~Or addresses the key questions in the
Introduction, which are the subject of active research and development programs in
all major aerospace establishments.
The above comments should not be interpreted as an endorsement ofthis book, or
its contents, by the United States Air Force.
Dr. G. KEITH RICHEY
Technical Director of the Wright Research and Development Center,
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,
Ohio, USA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
G. Keith Richey: Foreword ............................................. 5
Preface ............................................................... 9
Acknowledgements ..................................................... 15
Glossary and Notation.................................................. 17
Introduction ........................................................... 21
The main problems of thrust-vectored maneuverability • Vectored Aircraft:
Breaking the "Stall Barrier" • The New Standard Technology • Civil Appli-
cations............................................................. 25
Soviet and Western Concepts • Research tools • Cold propulsion • The
Fundamental Definitions of Pure Vectored Aircraft (PVA) .............. 29
Pure Sideslip Maneuvers (PSM) • Combat Applications • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Partially-Vectored Aircraft ........................................... 33
Agility, Supermaneuverability and Supercontrollability ................. 34
Load factors ........................................................ 38
"Energy" Vs. "Angles" Fights • Time Lags • ........................... 40
The Overall Combat Picture ......................................... 43
Minimum Time Turns • Low Observability • Stealth RPVs ............ 49
The Time Gaps ..................................................... 50
New Educational Shifts.............................................. 52
Concluding Remarks 53
Lecture I:
Fundamental Concepts Revisited and Redefined ......................... 56
New Missions and Modified Design Trends ........................... 57
Early Conceptual Design Limitations ................................. 58
Internal Thrust Vectoring ............................................ 59
Engine Nozzle Redefined ............................................ 62
Performance Comparisons ........................................... 69
Subsonic Yaw-Pitch-Roll Thrust Vectoring ............................ 71
vii
Lecture II:
Vectored Aircraft and Supermaneuverability 78
Yaw-Pitch Vectoring and Supercirculation ............... ... ........... 78
Pure Je tborne Flight Control ......................................... 81
STOL or V/STOL Vectored Aircraft .................................. 82
Dimensionless Numbers for Pure Vectored Aircraft .................... 83
Emergency Landing ................................................. 88
Air-to-Air Operations ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Air-to-Ground Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Propulsion and Supermaneuverability ................................. 92
Maneuver Analysis..... ..... ....................... ... ... ........ ... 95
Controllability Limits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
High-Alpha Flight Envelopes ......................................... 102
The Non-Availability of a "Vectored Inlet" ............................ 104
Lecture III:
The Matrix of Unknown Variables of Vectored Aircraft 105
Reservations and Precautions ........................................ 106
Technology Limits .................................................. 107
Cooling Limits .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 109
Nozzle Aspect Ratio Limits .......................................... 114
Aerodynamic Effects ................................................ 115
Nozzle Coefficients Revisited ........................................ 125
Thrust Vectoring Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 128
Induced drag and Supercirculaton .................................... 130
Lecture IV:
Vectored Aircraft as R&D Tools, or as Super-Agile Robotic Flying Systems 133
Cruise Missiles, RPV s, etc. ........................................... 134
Expanded Missions Vs. R&D tools ................................... 136
Cost-Effectiveness of Flying Vectored RPV s ........................... 139
Synergetic Studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 145
Master Plan and New Programs ...................................... 151
Scaling Consideratons ............................................... 153
Lecture V:
Partially Vectored Aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 155
Canard-Configured Vectored Aircraft ................................. 156
Upgrading extant Aircraft to Become Vectored Fighters - The Vectored F-15
Fighter ........................................................... 163
viii
Upgrading F-18 and F-16 Fighters.................................... 167
The Search for Design Philosophy in the Post-A TF Era .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 168
Lecture VI:
The Pros and Cons of Internal Thrust Vectoring ........................ 177
Is ETV Effective in the RaNPAS-PST Domain? ....................... 178
The Propulsion System of the Vectored X-31, X-29, etc. ................ 181
Stability and Flight Control .......................................... 184
Power-Lift Aircraft .................................................. 186
Appendix A:
A Brief Historical Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 188
Appendix B:
Powerplant Technology Limits ........................................ 194
Beyond the Year 2000/RCC/STOVL .................................. 194
Current-Technology Limits and Trends................................ 203
Whole-System Engineering Approach ................................. 209
European Fighter Engines ............................................ 209
New Fighter Engines: The ATF and Other New Engines ................ 210
The MiG-29 and Su-27 Propulsion Systems ........................... 211
Variable Cycle, Turbine Bypass, and Supersonic-Fan Engines ........... 212
Appendix C:
Nozzle Performance (Data-Base-l]
Appendix D
Nozzle Synergetic Effects (Data-Base-2]
Appendix E:
Temperature Distribution Test Facility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 236
Appendix F:
Limiting Engine-Inlet Envelopes and IFPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 240
PST Inlet Design.................................................... 243
IFPC Transient Definitions 244
Appendix G:
On Some Other Vectored/Stealth Aircraft Consideratons ................ 251
Appendix H:
Thought-Provoking and Thought-Depressing Quotations ................. 251
References ............................................................ 259
Index................................................................. 271
PREFACE
The hypotheses with which (a new development) starts,
become steadily more abstract and remote from experi
ence ... Meanwhile the train of thought leading from the axi
oms to the empirical facts of verifiable consequences gets
longer and more subtle.
Albert Einstein
This book is designed to fill a professional vacuum in the new field of advanced,
high-a, vectored-stealth aircraft. It contains a core of unclassified knowledge that,
according to the latest trends in military aviation, should be mastered by all aeronauti
cal engineers and students, as well as by advanced pilots and various R&D people.
The subject matter of this book has never before been investigated, or presented, as
a unified field of study, partially because it covers an entirely new field of study, and
partially because specialized fragments of this unified field are scattered throughout
the literature on specific problems.
As a result, different engineers have approached the new integrated systems from
widely varying, and sometimes misleading viewpoints, employing disjointed concepts
to what should be a unified R&D-design methodology.
Consequently, this book departs from traditional, isolated texts on aerodynamics,
thermodynamics, propulsion, electrodynamics, radar, control, materials, flight
mechanics and design, in its emphasis on the interconnectedness of up-dated informa
tion in vectored, agile, STOL, or V/STOL, manned or unmanned aircraft.
Thus, in trying to develop a new, integrated methodology, we refrain from repeating
various, well-known, isolated, mathematical-computational analyses, and, instead,
stress the physical and performance consequences from the end-user point-ofview.
For the sake of unification and simplicity, the physico-performance options are first
introduced in as simple a manner as possible, using many illustrated graphs and
diagrams.
Part of the text is an expanded version of three university courses on "Jet-Engine
Design", "Fluid Dynamics, Heat Transfer and the Performance of Jet Engines", and
"Technology of Jet Engines", given at this institute over a period of years. The other
part, and perhaps the major part of the text, is the exposition of the new technology
with every argument that can lead to testable consequences in the laboratory and in
flight testing.
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