Reynolds Number Effects on the Performance of Ailerons and Spoilers

The influence of Reynolds number on the performance of outboard spoilers and ailerons was investigated on a generic subsonic transport configuration in the National Transonic Facility over a chord Reynolds number range from 3 to 30 million and a Mach number range from 0.70 to 0.94. Spoiler deflection angles of 0, 10, and 20 degrees and aileron deflection angles of -10, 0, and 10 degrees were tested. Aeroelastic effects were minimized by testing at constant normalized dynamic pressure conditions over intermediate Reynolds number ranges. Results indicated that the increment in rolling moment due to spoiler deflection generally becomes more negative as the Reynolds number increases from 3 × 10 6 to 22 × 10 6 with only small changes between Reynolds numbers of 22 × 10 6 and 30 × 10 6 . The change in the increment in rolling moment coefficient with Reynolds number for the aileron deflected configuration is generally small with a general trend of increasing magnitude with increasing Reynolds number.