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F-16XL ship #1 - CAWAP boundary layer hot film, left wing F-16XL ship #1 - CAWAP boundary layer hot film, left wing
Photo Number: EC96-43422-5
Photo Date: Feb 1996
Formats: 558x480 JPEG Image (78 KBytes)
1190x1024 JPEG Image (543 KBytes)
3030x2606 JPEG Image (2,148 KBytes)
Description: This photo shows the boundary layer hot film on the left wing of NASA's single-seat F-16XL (ship #1) used for the Cranked-Arrow Wing Aerodynamic Project (CAWAP) at Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Hot film is used to measure temperature changes on a surface. The modified airplane features a delta "cranked-arrow" wing with strips of tubing along the leading edge to the trailing edge to obtain pressure distribution data.

The right wing receives data on pressure distribution and the left wing has three types of instrumentation - preston tubes to measure local skin friction, boundary layer rakes to measure boundary layer profiles (the layer where the air interacts with the surfaces of a moving aircraft), and hot films to determine boundary layer transition locations.

The program also gathered aero data on two wing planforms for NASA's High Speed Research Program. The first flight of CAWAP occurred on November 21, 1995, and the test program ended in April 1996.
Keywords: F-16XL Ship #1; CAWAP; Cranked-Arrow Wing Aerodynamic Project; pressure distribution; preston tubes; boundary layer

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