Similarity Design of Flying Qualities Criteria for Scaled Models of Supersonic Aircraft

During the conceptual design phase of an aircraft, the motion of a full-scale aircraft can be approximated via flight tests of a scaled model, which can then be used to evaluate both the aircraft design and its flying qualities. To date, similarity design studies on flying qualities criteria for scaled models have been limited to low-speed conditions, with no such studies conducted for supersonic scaled models. To address this problem, first, the similarity criteria for the ontological parameters, motion parameters, and flight control law parameters of the scaled model are derived using the heavy-model method. Second, five representative flying qualities criteria are selected to analyze the similarity relationships of the assessment parameters, and a correction method for the flying qualities assessment boundaries of supersonic scaled models is proposed. Third, based on the differences in response characteristics between the full-scale aircraft and the scaled model, the low-order equivalent fitting method for the full-scale aircraft’s closed-loop system is adjusted to derive an applicable method for the scaled model. Finally, a supersonic aircraft and its scaled model are used as examples, with low-order equivalent fitting and evaluations performed using simulation data. The results demonstrate that their assessment results from the respective criteria boundaries are consistent.