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NASA Meatball NASA Dryden F-16XL Ship #1 banner
F-16XL ship #1 wing close-up showing boundary layer detection Preston tubes F-16XL ship #1 wing close-up showing boundary layer detection Preston tubes

Photo Number: EC95-43350-6
Photo Date: 27 Nov 1995

Formats: 558x480 JPEG Image (64 KBytes)
1191x1024 JPEG Image (495 KBytes)
2000x1720 JPEG Image (673 KBytes)

Description:

This photo shows the boundary layer Preston tubes mounted 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. The modified airplane features a delta "cranked-arrow" wing with strips of tubing along the leading edge to the trailing edge to sense static on the wing and 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 first flight of CAWAP occurred on November 21, 1995, and the test program ended in April 1996.


Keywords: F-16XL Ship #1; F-16XL; CAWAP; Cranked-Arrow Wing Aerodynamic Project; boundary layer; preston tubes; pressure distribution


Last Modified: February 6, 2002
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