Aerodynamic Center1

Suppose we have the forces and moments specified about some reference
location for the aircraft, and we want to restate them about some new origin.
~L
N~

Mref

~L
N~

Mnew

xref

xnew

M ref = Pitching moment about xref

M new = Pitching moment about xnew
xref = Original reference location
xnew = New origin

N = Normal force L for small

A = Axial force D for small
Assuming there is no change in the z location of the two points:

M ref = ( xnew xref ) L + M new

Or, in coefficient form:

Cm ref

x x
ref
= new
cN

mean
a .c.

CL + CM
new

The Aerodynamic Center is defined as that location xac about which the pitching
moment doesnt change with angle of attack.
How do we find it?
1

Anderson 1.6 & 4.3

Aerodynamic Center

Let xnew = xac

Using above:
( x xref )
CM ref = ac
CL + CM ac
c
Differential with respect to :
CM ref

x xref CL CM ac
= ac
+

By definition:
CM ac

=0

Solving for the above

xac xref
c

CM ref CL
=

, or

xac xref
c

CM ref

c
CL

xref

Example:
Consider our AVL calculations for the F-16C
xref = 0 - Moment given about LE

Compute

CM ref
CL

for small range of angle of attack by numerical

differences. I picked = 30 to = 30 .
x
This gave ac 2.89 .
c
x
CM
Plotting CM vs about ac shows
0.
c

CM
0 @ xac = 2.89 , but

also that CM = 0 . The location about which CM = 0 is called the center of

pressure.
Note that according to the AVL predictions, not only is

16.100 2002

Aerodynamic Center

Center of pressure is that location where the resultant forces act and about which
the aerodynamic moment is zero.
Changing new to cp and ref to NOSE to correspond to AVL:

CM NOSE

xcp

c
So if:
CM NOSE

xcp xNOSE
C L + C M cp
c
CM NOSE
CL

CM NOSE

,
CL
CL
this will be true. This means that

CM 0 at CL = 0 .

16.100 2002

Cm

-10

-5

-3.5

-3

-2.5

-2

-1.5

-1

-0.5

0.5

1.5

Alpha

10

15

Xref = 0
Xref = Xac = 2.89

Cm vs Alpha for F16C from AVL (M=0)

20

A.C. (% MAC)

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

Mach Number

0.9

1.1

1.2

Rigid Wing
Washout Wing

1.3

Wind Tunnel Test Aerodynamic Center Characteristics for Washout and Rigid Wings (Altitude
= 10,000 ft.)