Flight dynamics-I Chapter-2

Prof. E.G. Tulapurkara

Chapter 2 Exercises
2.1 On a certain day the pressure at sea level is 758 mm of mercury (101059 N / m2) and the temperature is 25oC. The temperature is found to fall linearly with height to -55oC at 12km and after that it remains constant upto 20 km. Calculate the pressure, density and kinematic viscosity at 8km and 16km altitude. (Hint : When the temperature variation is linear, Eqs. (2.6) and (2.7) can be used to obtain the pressure and density at a chosen altitude by using appropriate values of p0, T0, 0 and . As regards the constant temperature region, an equation similar to Eq (2.10) can be used; note that, in this exercise, the tropopause is at 12 km altitude) [Answers: p8 = 36,812 N/m2, 8 = 0.5238 kg/m3, 8 = 3.002 x 10-5 m2/sec, p 16 = 10897 N/m2, 16 = 0.1740 kg/m3,16 = 8.218 x 10-5 m2/sec] Remark : Due to round off errors in calculations, the student may get the numerical values which are slightly different from those given as answers. Values within 0.5% of those given as answers can be regarded as correct.

2.2 If the altimeter in an airplane reads 5000m, on the day described in exercise 2.1, what is the altitude of airplane above mean sea level? What would be the indicated altitude after landing on aerodrome at sea level? (Hint: An altimeter is an instrument which senses the ambient pressure and indicates height in ISA corresponding to that pressure. It does not read the correct altitude when the atmospheric conditions differ from ISA. To solve this exercise, obtain the pressure corresponding to 5000 m altitude in ISA. Then find the altitude corresponding to this pressure in the atmospheric conditions prevailing as in exercise 2.1. As regards the second part of this exercise, the pressure at the sea level on that day is 101059 N/m2. When the airplane lands at sea level, the altimeter would indicate altitude, in ISA, corresponding to this pressure. In actual practice, the air traffic control would

Dept. of Aerospace Engg., Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

Flight dynamics-I Chapter-2

Prof. E.G. Tulapurkara

inform the pilot about the local ambient pressure and the pilot would adjust zero reading of his altimeter.)
[Answers: 5152 m, 22.3 m].

2.3 An altimeter calibrated according to ISA reads an altitude of 3,600 m. If the ambient temperature is 60 C, calculate the ambient density.
[Answer: 0.847 kg/m3].

2.4 During a flight test for climb performance, the following readings were observed at two altitudes: Record Number Indicate altitude (m) Ambient temperature (0C) between the two indicated altitudes. (Hint: Note that the ambient temperatures are different from those in ISA at 1300 and 1600 m altitudes. Hence the actual altitudes are different from the indicated altitudes. To get the difference between these two altitudes (h), obtain pressures at 1300 and 1600 m heights in ISA. Let the difference in pressures be p. Calculate density at the two altitudes using corresponding pressures and temperature. Take average of the two densities (avg). Using Eq. (2.2) : h -p / {avg x g} )
[Answer: 311 m] Remark:

1 1,300 16

2 1,600 14

The altimeter is calibrated according to ISA. Obtain the true difference of height

The difference between the actual altitudes (311 m) and the indicated altitudes (300 m) is small. Since altimeters of all the airplanes are calibrated using ISA, the difference between indicated altitudes and actual altitudes of two airplanes will be small. To take care of any uncertainty, the flight paths of two airplanes are separated by several hundred meters. However, with the availability of Global Positioning System (GPS) the separation between two airplanes can be reduced. 2.5 A light airplane is flying at a speed of 220 kmph at an altitude of 3.2 km. Assuming ISA conditions and the mean chord of the wing to be 1.5 m, obtain the

Dept. of Aerospace Engg., Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

Flight dynamics-I Chapter-2

Prof. E.G. Tulapurkara

Reynolds number, based on wing mean chord, and the Mach number in this flight.
[Answers: Re = 4.83 x 106, M = 0.186]

Dept. of Aerospace Engg., Indian Institute of Technology, Madras