Aerodynamic Characteristics of the Crest with Membrane Attachment on Cretaceous Pterodactyloid Nyctosaurus

The Nyctosaurus specimen K J1 was reconstructed under the hypothesis that there is a membrane attached to the crest; the so-called headsail crest. The aerodynamic forces and moment acting on the headsail crest were analyzed. It was shown that K J1 might adjust the angle of the headsail crest relative to the air current as one way to generate thrust （one of the aerodynamic forces, used to overcome body drag in forward flight） and that the magnitude of the thrust and moment could vary with the gesture angle and the relative location between the aerodynamic center of the headsail crest and body＇s center of gravity. Three scenarios were tested for comparison： the crest with membrane attachment, the crest without membrane attachment and the absence of a cranial crest. It was shown that the aerodynamic characteristics （increasing, maintaining and decreasing thrusts and moment） would have almost disappear in flight for the crest without membrane attachment and was non-existent without the cranial crest. It is suggested from aerodynamics evidence alone that Nyctosaurus specimen KJ1 had a membrane attached to the crest and used this reconstructed form for auxiliary flight control.

Aerodynamic force and moment measurement of 10°half-angle cone in JF12 shock tunnel

An aerodynamic force and moment measurement was conducted in JF12 long-testduration detonation-driven shock tunnel of Institute of Mechanics,Chinese Academy of Sciences.The test duration of JF12 is 100–130 ms.The nominal Mach number is 7.0 and the exit diameter of the contoured nozzle is 2.5 m.The total enthalpy is 2.5 MJ/kg which duplicates the hypersonic flight conditions of Mach number 7.0 at 35 km altitude.The test model is the standard aerodynamic force model of 10° half-angle sharp cone.The length of the test model is 1500 mm and the weight is 57 kg.The aerodynamic forces were measured with a six-component strain balance.The angles of attack were set to be à5°,0°,5°,10° and 14°,respectively.The experimental results show that in the 100–130 ms test duration,the signals of strain balance have 3–4 complete vibration cycles.So,the aerodynamic forces and moments can be obtained directly by averaging the signals of balance without acceleration compensation.The force measurement error of repeatability of JF12 is less than 2%.The aerodynamic force coefficients of JF12 are in good agreement with those of conventional hypersonic wind tunnels.For this test model at Mach number 7.0 and total enthalpy of 2.5 MJ/kg,the real-gas effects on aerodynamic force characteristics are not very evident.