Flight Mechanics

1 Two-Dimensional Airfoils
Re = V c (1)

The Reynolds number is dened as:

where c [m] is the chord length and [P a s] is the viscosity of the air. The lift L [N ] and drag D [N ] can be calculated using: 1 1 L = cl V 2 S D = cd V 2 S (2) 2 2 where the lift coecient cl and the drag coecient cd depend on the angle of attack [rad] (being the angle between the longitudinal axis of the aircraft and the direction of ight), the shape of the wing, the Mach number and the Reynolds number. Also S [m2 ] is the wing surface. It is possible to plot the lift and drag coecients with respect to the angle of attack. However, it is also possible to plot the lift coecient with respect to the drag coecient. The diagram that results is called a lift-drag polar.

Three-Dimensional Airfoils

In reality wings arent two-dimensional but three-dimensional. And in three dimensions also wing vortices occur, causing induced drag. The drag coecient now consists of two parts. The part being present when there is zero lift CD0 , which is thus called the zero lift drag coecient, and the part belonging to the induced drag CDi . (Note that since were talking about three-dimensional airfoils, we use capital letters to denote the coecients.) The induced drag coecient is: CDi =
2 CL Ae

(3)

where A is the aspect ratio of the wing, dened as b2 /S (with b [m] the wing span), and e is Oswalds factor, depending on the lift distribution of the wing. The drag coecient now is: CD = CD0 + CDi = CD0 +
2 CL Ae

(4)

Flight Types

There are multiple ways of ying. Some of them have gotten a specic name. These are their denitions: Gliding Flight - Flight in which the thrust is 0: T = 0. Steady Flight - Flight in which the forces and moments do not vary in time, neither in magnitude nor direction. Straight Flight - Flight in which the center of gravity of the aircraft travels along a straight line. Symmetric Flight - Flight in which both the angle of sideslip (angle between the direction of motion and the longitudinal axis of the airplane) is zero, and the plane of symmetry of the airplane is perpendicular to the normal plane of the earth. Lets look at a steady horizontal ight. The lift is equal to the weight: L = W . It follows that: V = W2 1 S CL (5)

with Vmin as CLmax . The factor W/S is called the wing loading. So the minimum velocity is low when there is a low wing loading, or when the lift coecient is high. The latter is often achieved by using slats. 1

Straight Symmetric Flight

Now lets look at a straight symmetric ight in which the aircraft is climbing. The angle between the direction of ight and the ground plane is the ight path angle [rad]. The angle between the longitudinal axis of the aircraft and the direction of ight is the angle of attack. The angle between the longitudinal axis of the aircraft and the ground plane is the pitch angle [rad]. Note that = + . Figure 1 visualizes the denitions of these angles.

Figure 1: Visualization of angles in symmetric ight. By drawing a free body diagram of the aircraft, the sum of the forces in multiple directions can be calculated. If we assume that the thrust vector is in the direction of ight, we get: T D W sin = W dV g dt L W cos = 0 (6)

Now lets dene the power required Pr [J/s] as follows: CD CD 1 LV = WV Pr = DV = CD V 3 S = 2 CL CL (7)

In the last part of this equation the assumption cos = 1 was used, which is accurate for normal climb angles. Multiplying the rst part of equation 6 by V , and by using the relation V (dV /dt) = (1/2) (d(V 2 )/dt), it can be rewritten as: 1 W dV 2 = T V DV W V sin = Pa Pr Pc 2 g dt (8)

where Pc [J/s] is the climb power. (Note that Pc = W V sin = W dh/dt, with h [m] as the height.) So the quantity Pa Pr can be seen as the power left to climb and accelerate - to increase the potential/kinetic energy of the aircraft.

Steady Gliding

When the engines of an airplane arent active (or if the airplane doesnt have any engines), the airplane is gliding. So T = 0 and Pa = 0 and thus: Pr = W dh W dV 2 + dt g dt (9)

If the airplane still follows a horizontal path (dh/dt = 0), the velocity decreases. In most situations this isnt favorable, so pilots usually try to keep a constant velocity, at the cost of height. Thus the aircraft descends. The descend angle [rad] is dened as = . Now the following applies: 1 CD V 2 S = W sin 2 and 1 CL V 2 S = W cos 2 2 tan = CD CL (10)

Suppose we want to travel as much distance as possible. To accomplish this, we should minimize sin . It can be shown that sin = D/W , so sin as D . So we want to chose our V and CL such that the drag D is minimal. The drag can be calculated with equation 2. However, this equation still has the velocity V in it, which is a function of the lift coecient CL . To solve this problem, we use equation D 5. From this follows that the drag is D = C CL W . Since the weight W is constant, the drag is minimal if CD /CL is minimal. This is the case if: d
CD CL

CL =0

dCL

dCD dCL 2 CL

CD =0

dCD CD = dCL CL

(11)

This can be solved using equation 4:

L d CD0 + Ae dCD CD = = CL dCL dCL

C2

=0+

2CL Ae

CD0 CL CL + =2 CL Ae Ae

CL =

CD0 Ae

(12)

Using equation 5 the corresponding velocity can be found. So if we know our zero lift drag coecient, we know how to y to get as far as possible. But now suppose we do not want to go as far as possible, but just want to stay in the air as long as possible. For that, we rst introduce the rate of descent RD [m/s], which is dened as: RD = dh = V sin = V sin dt (13)

The aircraft stays as long as possible in the air if RD is minimal. We know that: RD = dh CD = V sin =V cos = dt CL
2 W 2 CD 3 3 cos S CL

(14)

2 3 Since W , S and are constants, the rate of descend is minimal if CD /CL is minimal. Using a method analogue to what we just did, we nd that:

d 0=

2 CD 3 CL

dCL

CL 2 3 2 2CD 2 Ae CD CL 3CL 6 CL

2 CL = 3CD Ae

CL =

3CD0 Ae

(15)

The time until we reach the ground (the endurance) t [s] and the traveled distance (the range) s [m] can then be calculated using: h h t= s= (16) RD tan

Propeller Aircraft Range and Endurance

The jet engine and the propeller are very dierent. So their thrust develops dierently. In a propeller aircraft the thrust T decreases as the velocity increases. This happens in such a way that the power available Pa is (approximately) constant. In a jet aircraft the thrust T simply stays constant for any velocity. Suppose we have a propeller aircraft that wants to y as far as possible with the fuel it has. Lets assume that the velocity and height stay constant, and thus Pa = Pr . The distance per amount of fuel should be maximized. If Wf is the weight of the fuel that is left, the following quantity should be maximized: s ds ds/dt V = = = Wf dWf dWf /dt F 3 (17)

So the quantity V /F should be maximized. If we dene the power coecient CP [N/J ] (which can assumed to be constant for propeller aircrafts) such that F = CP Pbr , we can nd that: V V V j V j V j j 1 = = = = = F CP Pbr CP Pa CP Pr CP DV CP D (18)

Since j and CP are constants for the aircraft, the quantity V /F is at a maximum if the drag is at a minimum. In the last paragraph we already found out when this was the case. So the aircraft has a maximum range if CL = CD0 Ae. But what if we want to stay in the air as long as possible with the amount of fuel we have? Then we ought to minimize the fuel ow F . We can nd that: F =VD CP CP = W j j
2 W 2 CD 3 S CL

(19)

2 3 Since CP , j , W , S and are all constants, this is minimal if CD /CL is minimal. So the aircraft has maximum endurance if CL = 3CD0 Ae.

Jet Aircraft Range and Endurance

Suppose we have a jet aircraft that wants to y as far as possible with the fuel it has. Once more we assume Pa = Pr and thus T = D. We should once more maximize V /F . If we dene the thrust coecient CT (which can assumed to be constant for jet aircrafts) such that F = CT T , we can nd that: V V 1 W 2 CL V = = = (20) 2 F CT T CT D CT W S CD
2 is minimal. It can be derived that this is the case if So the aircraft has maximum range if CL /CD 1 3 CD0 Ae.

CD = 4CDi and thus CL =

If the jet aircraft wants to stay in the air as long as possible, the quantity F should be minimized. This is the case if CD /CL is minimal. Now its easy to see that the aircraft has maximum endurance if CL = CD0 Ae.