Ancient Egyptian Aeroplane Modification

Mahmoud Adel Abdel-Hamid

Faculty of Engineering, 44519, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt, madel6905@gmail.com

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ahmed Farouk AbdelGawad

Professor, Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, 44519, Zagazig University, Zagazig,
Egypt, afaroukgb@gmail.com

Abstract– The present work represents an analysis for an mention of any holes on the top of the tail, nor did he observe
ancient model airplane found in a tomb near Saqqara in 1898. grooves on the tail that might accommodate a tail-plane.
This analysis clarifies if this model can fly or not after doing some
modification to make it suitable for flying like regular Aeroplanes It was found that the other birds had legs, this had none.
we known today. This work also includes a flow analysis of the air The other birds had painted feathers, this had none. The other
movement around the model wings. Moreover, stress analysis was birds had horizontal tail feathers like a real bird, this strange
carried out to examine if the plane can resist the affecting of the
flow forces on the model. wooden model tapered into a vertical rudder. One can also see
Keywords—Ancient Egyptians, Aeroplane model, Flow that the wing has an airfoil cross-section. It was all
simulation, Stress analysis aerodynamically correct. Too much about the model was
beyond coincidence. Figure 1 shows a picture for the ancient
I. INTRODUCTION model exists at the Cairo Museum today [1].
A. General
In room 22 of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt, there
is a wooden object that appears very similar to a modern
airplane or glider. In fact, it is so similar that some have
offered it as proof that the ancient Egyptians possessed the
technology of flight. The artifact (Special Register No. 6347;
the number 33109 is written on the bottom of the port wing) is
made of wood and has a length of 5.6 inches (14.2 cm) and a
wingspan of 7.2 inches (18.3 cm). It was found in a tomb near
Saqqara in 1898 and has been dated to about 200 B.C [1].
The seed of the theory that the model represents an
example of a working aircraft can be traced to Khalil Messiha,
Professor of Anatomy for the Artists at Helwan University
(and member of the Royal Aeromodellars Club, Egypt, and the
Egyptian Aeronautical club). According to Messiha, (in
Figure 1. Picture of the ancient model [1].
Messiha, Khalil, Guirguis Messiha, Gamal Mokhtar, and
Michael Frenchman. "African Experimental Aeronautics: A
B. Previous Work
2,000-Year-Old Model Glider" in Van Sertima, ed. Blacks in Some scientists carried out simulation to the model to see
Science: Ancient and Modern, 1983, pp.92-99) the model is if it can fly by making a similar model and testing it in a
made of sycamore wood and weighs 39.120 grams. smoke tunnel, they study the movement of the smoke around
Messiha wrote, "One can note also that there is a Dihedral the model as shown in figures 2, 3 [2].
angle which is slightly unequal on both sides due to slight
distortion of the wood, caused by the passage of time... The II. SIMULATION OF THE ANCIENT MODEL
body is made of the same wood as the wing and has an aerofoil Simulations were carried out by Solidworks software [3].
shape beautifully carved and smooth. Its nose is pyramidal in The original dimensions of the ancient model were used in the
shape with one eye painted on its right surface." He added that simulation. There are some requirements for the model to
"there is no trace of any decoration of 'feathers' painted on the make it suitable for flying as illustrated below.
body with the exception of the eye, and two faint reddish lines
surrounding the belly under the grooves." He makes no
2nd IUGRC International Undergraduate Research Conference,
Military Technical College, Cairo, Egypt, July 24-27, 2017.
1
A. Balance body [1]. Figure 5 obtains no such tail existing in the ancient
Balance somewhere between 25% and 60% of the wing model of the plane.
chord back from leading edge. A galnce on bird's body shows
that it made from one piece of wood which make the balance
point is at or behind the trailing edge of wing. The bird's head
has no weight attached to it or buried within it. Such aweight is
needed to bring the balance point between the range 25% and
60% [1]. Figure 4 shows the balance point in the model.

Figure 5. Model without a horizontal tail.

Figure 2. Movement of smoke around the model [2].
C. Fin
The fin is the vertical tail surface that forms the rear of the
bird's body. It is be shaped to provide spiral stability. The
presence of a large fin at the rear of the body must be balanced
by a dihedralled wing if the bird is to glide without tipping
over sideways into a terminal spiral dive. A dihedralled wing
is one with the tips raised above the center of the wing like
virtually all passenger planes and model aircraft. The bird has
the opposite wing arrangement. As shown in figure 6 that its
wing tips are drooped to give anhedral, which would only
serve to increase the bird's spiral instability [1].

Figure 3. Direction of smoke around the wing [2].

Figure 6. Rear fin of body gives spiral instability.

III. PRESENT MODIFICATIONS

Generally, the original overall dimensions of the
model were kept. After considering the model, we have
Figure 4. Centre of mass.
to do some modifications to the model to be stable in
flight, namely: (i) body balancing, (ii) wing streamlines,
B. Tail
(iii) horizontal tail, (iv) vertical tail.
It is essential to have a horizontal tail surface of 20% to
25% of the wing area. No such tail exists and there are no
traces of tail plane's attachment point on the bird's fin or rear

2nd IUGRC International Undergraduate Research Conference,

Military Technical College, Cairo, Egypt, July 24-27, 2017.
2
A. Body Balancing
According to balancing, we need to add some
weight to the front of the plane to bring its balance point
in the range of 25% and 60% as shown in Figure 8. The
balancing was achieved by trial and error.
Figure 7. The present assembly of the ancient model.
Figure 8. Top view showing balance point.
This balance point is called center of gravity, which is the
average of location of the weight of the aeroplane. The weight
of the plane is computed from:
W= m g
The weight acts to the center of the earth, so we need an
opposite force for this one, which makes the plane fly, called
the lifting force. Large amount of the lifting force is provided
from the wing. Thus, we make the wing geometry suitable to
provide the lifting force.
B. Wing Streamlines
Wing geometry is one of the chief factors affecting
airplane lift. Thus, making the wing streamline is necessary to
give the plane the lifting force that makes it flying. The lifting
force comes from the difference of pressure between the upper
surface and the lower one on the wing. This variation in
pressure results from the variation in velocity by making the
2nd IUGRC International Undergraduate Research Conference,
Military Technical College, Cairo, Egypt, July 24-27, 2017.
velocity above the wing higher than one below it. As the
velocity increases, the pressure decreases and vice-versa. This
equation is called Bernoulli's Equation which says that (the
sum of the kinetic, potential, and flow energies, of a fluid
particle is constant along a streamline during steady flow when
compressibility and frictional effects are negligible) [4].
P + ½ ρ v² + ρ g z = constant (2)
Figures 9 and 10 show the wing cross‒section that gives
the model the lifting force which makes it suitable for flying.
Figure 9. Cross‒ section for wing.
Figure 10. Side view of the wing.
These streamlines in the wing make a difference in
velocity along the cross-section of the wing which produces a
variation in pressure. Based on the variation in pressure, we
can calculate the lifting force that the plane needs to fly.
(1)
C. Horizontal tail
The horizontal rear tail is necessary to control the plane
and providing the stability for it to keep it straight. It prevents
also up and down motion of the nose of the plane. The
horizontal rear tail is equal about 20% of the wing area as
shown in figure 11 [5].
The horizontal tail consists of two pieces, fixed piece
called horizontal stabilizer and moving one called elevator.
The elevator is the small moving piece in the rear of the
stabilizer, which varies the amount of the lift force generated
by the tail surface that is used to control the up and down
motion of the plane. The elevators move together, when the
right elevator moves up, the left one moves with it to up. The
3
elevator is very important. It brings the nose of the plane up to
climb during takeoff [5]. A.1. Ambient Conditions
Ambient conditions are illustrated in table 1.

Table 1. Ambient conditions.

Thermodynamic parameters
Velocity parameters
Static Pressure: 101325.00 Pa
Temperature : 293.5 k
Velocity vector
Velocity in X direction: 70.000
m/s
Velocity in Y direction: 0 m/s
Velocity in Z direction: 0 m/s

A.2. Boundary Conditions

C = (γ×R×T)½ = (1.4 × 287 × 293.5)0.5 = 343.41 m/s (3)

Mach number = v/C = 70/ 343.41 = 0.204 (4)

ṁ=ρ v A=constant = 1.2×70×10236.03×(10ˉ³)²=0.86 kg/s (5)

Figure 11. Horizontal tail.
Where, C is the sound speed, v is the plane speed, ṁ is the
D. Vertical Tail mass flow rate, ρ is the flow density, and A is area of flow
There is another tail in the rear of the plane is called the passage. Table 2 shows boundary conditions of the model.
vertical tail. It consists of two pieces, fixed one is called
stabilizer, and moving one, rudder as shown in figure 12. The
vertical tail was taken as about 15% of the wing. Table 2. Boundary conditions.
The vertical tail compromises stabilizer and rudder. The mass flow rate 0.86 kg/s
stabilizer provides stability to the plane and keep it straight. Mach number 0.204
The rudder prevents side to side or yawing motion of the plane
nose. By moving the rudder, it controls the amount of force
generated by the tail surface and is used to control the yawing A.3. Max and Min Values
motion of the nose of the plane [5]. Table 2 shows the maximum and minimum values of the
simulation results.

Table 3. Max & Min results.

Name Minimum Maximum
Temperature [K] 291.21 295.61
Density (Fluid) [kg/m³] 1.16 1.29
Velocity [m/s] 0 93.973
Velocity (X) [m/s] -4.184 93.073
Velocity (Y) [m/s] -32.252 37.998
Velocity (Z) [m/s] -33.940 33.709
Mach Number 0 0.27
Relative Pressure [Pa] -4118.22 7509.32
Total Pressure [Pa] 97206.78 109143.16

B. Analysis of Flow Simulation

Figure 12. Vertical tail.
Flow simulation is used to obtain the flow of fluid through
IV. FLOW SIMULATION FOR THE PRESENT MODIFICATION an object. In our case, it shows the variation of the pressure
and velocity on the upper and the lower surfaces of the wing as
After doing the modification on the model and making it shown in figure 13(a) and 13(b).
suitable for flying, we can measure the value of the velocity
and pressure on the wing of the plane by carrying out flow
simulation and calculating the lifting force that the plane needs
to fly.
2nd IUGRC International Undergraduate Research Conference,
Military Technical College, Cairo, Egypt, July 24-27, 2017.
4
 13(a) Pressure values.
14(b) Bottom view of the plane.
Figure14. Variation of pressure on the top and bottom surfaces of model.

Figure 14 shows the difference in pressure which results

from the variation in velocity. According to the continuity
equation, which says that for steady flow, the mass entering
per unit time equals to the mass leaving per unit time, Eq. 5.
To satisfy continuity equation, when one parameter
changes, the other parameters have to change. So, when the
velocity changes the pressure changes too. As a result of
change in pressure, the density changes to keep the equation
correct.
Figure15 (a) shows the corresponding velocity values
above the aeroplane model. Maximum value equals: v=72 m/s.
13(b) Velocity values.
On the opposite side, Figure 15 (b) shows the minimum value
Figure 13. Variation of pressure and velocity.
of the velocity below the aeroplane which equals: v = 50 m/s.
Figure 13 shows the expected variation of pressure and
velocity around the plane. Velocity increases above the plane
and decreases below it. Consequently, Pressure decreases
above the plane and increases blow it. Thus, lift is generated.
These results give confidence in the present work.
After showing the results from the analysis, we can carry
out calculation for the pressure values and velocity. The

15(a) Bottom view for velocity.

14 (a) Top view of the plane.

15(b) Top view for velocity.

2nd IUGRC International Undergraduate Research Conference,

Military Technical College, Cairo, Egypt, July 24-27, 2017.
5
 15(c) Front view for velocity.
Figure15. Velocity variation for the aeroplane model.

According to Bernoulli's equation, due to the change in

velocity, the pressure value changes also. Figure 16 (a) shows
the values of the pressure above the wing surface. The average
value equals:
P1 = (100617.17 + 98911.87)/ 2 = 99764.52 Pa
On the other side, figure 16(b) shows the pressure under
the wing. The average value equals:
P2 = (102322.37+100617.17) / 2 = 101469.77 Pa
The difference in pressure between the upper and lower
surfaces: P = 101469.77 ‒ 99764.52 = 1705.25 Pa. After
computing the pressure difference, we can calculate the lift
force:
Lift force = P × Awings = 1705.25 × (10236.03×10ˉ ) 6
16(b). Bottom view of the pressure contours.
Figure 16. Pressure contours on the wing surfaces.
4. STRESS ANALYSIS
After doing flow simulation of the model, we can do stress
analysis using the results of the flow simulation to check
model failure under aerodynamic forces. This study obtains the
stresses that affect the model, and it shows the places where
the failure starts.
A. Model Information
Table 4 shows the parts of the model and their properties.

= 17.455 N (6)
Weight of the model = m × g = (214.76 × 10ˉ³) × 9.8 Table 4. Properties of the model.
= 2.105 N (7) Treated
Part Name Volumetric Properties
As
From equations (6) and (7), we can see that the lift force is
Body
bigger than the weight of the model. Thus, the modified will
surely fly.
Mass:0.161765 kg
Body of Volume:5.8399×10-5 m³
the plane Density:2770 kg/m³
Weight:1.5853 N

Wing
Mass:0.0529924 kg
Volume:1.91307×10-5
Wing
m³
Density:2770.02 kg/m³
Weight:0.519326 N

16(a). Top view of the pressure contours.

2nd IUGRC International Undergraduate Research Conference,

Military Technical College, Cairo, Egypt, July 24-27, 2017.
6
B. Material Properties E. Study Results
Table 5 shows the material properties of the model. E.1. Von Mises Stress
According to Von Mises stress theory, one of the failure
theories that depends on yield stress of the material, we can get
Table 5. Properties of material.
max and min stresses that affect the model. As shown in
Model Reference
figure 17, the values of stresses can be stated as˸
Max stress = 217869 N/m²

Min stress = 0.00620842 N/m²

Considering that the yield strength of the model material

Properties
Name: E-Glass Fiber
Model type: Linear Elastic Isotropic
Default failure criterion: Unknown
Tensile strength: 2×109 N/m²
Elastic modulus: 8×1010 N/m²
Mass density: 2770 kg/m³
(fiberglass) is 206.85×106 N/m², which is much larger than the
maximum stress (217869 N/m²), it is clear that there is no
Components threat of mechanical failure.
SolidBody (B-1), E.2.Resultant Displacement
SolidBody (W-1) Figure 18 shows the resultant displacement that happened
in the model under stresses. The max displacement that occurs
in the model is very small as shown in figure 18.

C. Fixtures Max displacement = 0.0019154 × 10ˉ³ m

Table 6 shows the fixture details
As the maximum displacement is so small, there is no fear
of surface deformation.
Table 6. Fixed Part in the model.
Fixture name Fixture Image Fixture Details
Name Type Min Max
217869 N/m²
Entities: 6 face(s) VON: Von 0.00620842 N/m²
Stress1 Node: 19699
Fixed-1 Type: Fixed Mises Stress Node: 19165
Geometry

D. Resultant Forces
Table 7 shows the resultant forces on the model. Table 8
shows the effective body (gravity) load.

Table 7. Force analysis.

Components X Y Z Resultant
Reaction force
-2.95679 1.97334 0.00130576 3.55482
(N)
Reaction
Moment 0 0 0 0
(N.m)

Table 8. Effective body (gravity) load.

Load name Load Image Load Details A.P-E GLASS FIBER-Stress-Stress1
Reference: Top Plane Figure 17. Von Mises stresses.
Values: -9.81 m/s²
Units: SI
Gravity-1

2nd IUGRC International Undergraduate Research Conference,

Military Technical College, Cairo, Egypt, July 24-27, 2017.
7
 E.4.Facor of Safety
Figure 20 shows the possible unsafe areas which their
Name Type Min Max factor of safety (FS) were below the value unit value (1).
Displacemen1 URES: Resultant 0.0 mm 0.0019154 ×10ˉ³ m Where the red colour refers to unsafe areas, and the blue
Displacement Node: 331 Node: 13569 colour refers to safe area.
However, according to figure 20, there is no unsafe area
on the model surface. This result of figure 20, supports the
results of figures 17-19.

Name Type Min Max

Max
8283 2.96816×1011
Factor of Safety1 Shear
Node: 19699 Node: 19165
Stress

Red < FS = 1 < Blue

A.P-E GLASS FIBER-Displacement-Displacement1

Figure 18. Max displacement occurred on the model.

E.3.Equivalent Strain
Due to stresses that occurred on the model, deflection on A.P-E GLASS FIBER-Factor of Safety
the model occurred (strain). Figure 19 illustrates the strain Figure 20. Factor of safety.
values and the effecting places. It is clear that maximum strain
value is very small.
5. CONCLUSIONS
Name Type Min Max After the simulation of the present model and based on the
Strain1 ESTRN: Equivalent 3.09117×-10 1.18552×-6 above illustrations and observations, the following points can
Strain Element: 2965 Element: 9053 be stated:
(i) The simulation illustrates that the modified model is able to
fly with safe structural design.
(ii) The wing geometry plays the most important role in
aeroplane lift based on its aerodynamic performance.
(iii) There is an important role of the rear tail in controlling the
aeroplane and providing stability.
(iv) The elevator is important to the airplane take-off.

NOMENCLATURE
A Cross‒sectional area of the wing.
C Sonic speed.
FS Factor of safety.
g Acceleration of gravity.
Max Maximum.
Min Minimum.
M Mass of the model.
ṁ Mass flow rate.
A.P-E GLASS FIBER-Strain-Strain1 P Pressure affecting on the aeroplane.
Figure 19. Deflection on the model.
R Gas constant.
2nd IUGRC International Undergraduate Research Conference,
Military Technical College, Cairo, Egypt, July 24-27, 2017.
8
T Temperature.
z Elevation.
v Velocity of the model.
W Weight of the model.
Greek
P Pressure difference
γ Isentropic exponent.
ρ Air density.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author would like to acknowledge Prof. Dr. Ahmed
Farouk Abdel Gawad for his efforts to complete the present
study.

REFERENCES
[1] http://www.catchpenny.org/model.html.
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGVWcF4fssI.
[3] http://www.solidworks.com/
[4] Y. Cengel, and J. Cimbala, Fluid Mechanics: Fundamentals
and Applications, 3rd edition, 2014. ISBN-13:
9780073380322
[5] https://www.grc.nass.gov/WWW/k‒12/airplane/elv.html.

2nd IUGRC International Undergraduate Research Conference,

Military Technical College, Cairo, Egypt, July 24-27, 2017.
9