The investigation of pitot-static tubes accuracy characteristics by means of airflow pattern mathematical modeling

Аuthors

Eskin V. I.^1*, Poluektov S. P.^2**, Rubinov V. I.^2***, Kin K. L.^2****, Afanasev A. S.^2*****

1. ,
2. Air force academy named after professor N.E. Zhukovskii and Y.A. Gagarin, Voronezh, Russia

*e-mail: kaf302@mai.ru
**e-mail: poluektov.sp@mail.ru
***e-mail: rubinov777@.mail.ru
****e-mail: kin_kirill_90@mail.ru
*****e-mail: afanasev_andrey_90@mail.ru

Abstract

The presented research is focused on the mathematical models of instruments, which are used to measure the altitude and speed parameters of modern aircraft.

The paper aims to investigate the possibility of increasing the accuracy of altitude and speed measurement during the highly maneuverable aircraft flight while solving the problem of perception of the total incoming air pressure.

The presented research is relevant due to the constant increase of the requirements for the accuracy of the altitude and speed parameter measurement during the flight. This increase arises from the necessity of ensuring the high level of flight safety and effective fulfillment of combat aircraft system missions. The matter point of the problem of accurate in-flight altitude and speed measurement consists in the following: various factors influence the initial parameters (pitot and static pressure, angle of attack and sideslip), which are measured directly with the appropriate on-board aircraft sensors. Multiple factors contribute to the total error of the primary airflow data perception. Among these the aerodynamic measurement error contributes the most. Therefore, the task of aerodynamic error reduction is relevant. The paper contains the solution of the abovementioned task for the pitot pressure instrumentation channel.

The SolidWorks and ANSYS software systems were used for simulation modeling. As a result the accuracy characteristics of the pitot pressure instrumentation channels of various pitot-static tubes were obtained. The characteristics were obtained at airflow Mach values ranging from 0,2 up to 2,2 for the angles of attack from 0 up to 30 degrees. The simulation was conducted for a standard pitot-static tube and several examples of various developed configurations. The paper adduces the results of the comparative analysis of standard and developed pitot-static tubes. After that the design modifications of the nose part of the developed pitot-static tube are substantiated.

The obtained results allow the authors to recommend conducting further research and tests of the proposed pitot-static tube model, which is equipped with a pitot pressure instrumentation channel that provides enhanced measurement accuracy. The implementation of the proposed design modifications of the on-board pitot- static tube would allow to determine the aircraft altitude and speed parameters with high accuracy for a wide range of speed and angle of attack values. This ability is especially important for highly maneuverable aircraft.

Keywords:

simulation, altitude and speed parameters, pitot pressure, pitot pressure recovery factor

References

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