AE34

Elements of Aeronautical
Engineering

STABILITY AND
CONTROL

R.Rajendran, Professor, Aeronautical Engineering, DSCE, Bangalore

 Stability and Control

Stability Control

Static Dynamic Coordinate Systems

Control Surfaces
Coordinated Turn
Longitudinal Lateral Directional

Criteria Adverse Yaw Adverse Roll

Aircraft Control
Coordinate Systems
• The movement of the center of mass can be in three directions: x, y, or z. These
directions can either be related to the body of the airplane (body axis system) or
to the relative wind (wind axis system) .

Control perspective – body axis system

 Note: Neither of the
above mentioned axis
systems are
necessary
perpendicular or
parallel to the ground.

Aerodynamic perspective – wind axis system

Degrees of freedom (motion)

Six degrees of freedom

 Axial

 Normal

 Transverse

 Roll

 Pitch

 Yaw
Aircraft Control – Roll, Pitch, and Yaw

Nomenclature!
Axial: A
Normal: N
Side: Y
Roll: L
Pitch: M
Yaw: N
Aircraft Control – Aft, Port, Starboard, Fore

• Often in Stability and Control, people refer to front, rear, left and right as
port, fore, aft, and starboard.

Rear = Aft

Right = Starboard Left = Port

Front = Fore
Aircraft Control – Control Surfaces

• How do you control or induce the 6 motions we described earlier?

Other methods
than can be used:
-Vectored Thrust
-Aerodynamic
Forces

If ailerons are designed to control the roll motion, why are they
located that far on the wing?
Why do they deflect in opposite directions?
Aircraft Control – Ailerons and Rolling Moment

Ailerons deflect differentially (one moves up while the other one moves
down). The increased camber on one of the wing results in increased lift on that
wing, resulting in the roll motion.

Why do you need a vertical stabilizer?

Aircraft Control – Roll Control through Wing Twist

We saw earlier the benefits of wing twist…

Instead of deflecting a flap-like control surface, studies have looked into having
variable twist wings, on which ailerons are called twisterons.

Utah State
Utah State
Aircraft Control – Motion Control Advanced Technology
Morphing Wings change their shape to reach optimal flying efficiency.

Active Aeroelastic Wing

Courtesy of NASA

Courtesy of Benini
and Marques
Aircraft Control – Ailerons and Pure Control Reaction

The resulting geometry differential can sometimes lead to a drag differential, that will
end up in yawing moment.

Of course, if the desire is to turn, the induced yaw may be just fine.
Aircraft Control – Rudder and Yawing Moment

The rudder is essentially a flap on the vertical stabilizer.

It is used to control the motion about the aircraft’s vertical axis. How ?

When the rudder is deflected, the increased camber on the vertical tail leads to
an increase in lift causing the yawing moment.
Aircraft Control – Rudder and Pure Control Reaction

How ???the aircraft around its vertical axis results in a velocity differential
Rotating
between the two wings, resulting in a lift differential, leading to adverse rolling.

Higher
Velocity Lower
Velocity
Aircraft Control – Rudder-Aileron Cross-Control

Occasionally a pilot will “cross-control” an airplane to keep the wings level in yaw.
This requires applying the rudder in one direction while using the ailerons in
the other direction to prevent the rolling tendency that comes from yaw.

This can be a very effective way to descend quickly without building up a lot of
speed. It can also be a technique used to keep the airplane aligned with a runway
while making a landing approach in a cross wind.

Cross-Wind
Cross-
wind force
Aircraft Control – Elevators and Pitching Moment

The elevators are essentially flaps on the horizontal stabilizer.

They are used to control the motion about the aircraft’s transverse axis (axis
“passing through the wings”). How ?

Why do you need a horizontal stabilizer?

When the elevators are deflected, the increased camber on the horizontal tail
leads to an increase in lift causing the pitching moment.
Aircraft Control – Elevators and Pure Control Reaction

How ??? No adverse motion, other than drag.

Elevators are used to increase or decrease the lifting capability or lift

coefficient of the wing.

They are used, along with the engine power or thrust setting, to enable
the plane to climb or descend at the desired rate and to help provide the
extra lift needed in a turn.

Why would you need extra lift in a turn?

Aircraft Control – Coordinated Turn

Any vehicle that is turning must produce a force along

the turn radius in the direction of the turn to overcome
the centripetal acceleration.
You could use rudder to produce side force…But wings
have much greater area, and can therefore produce
much greater force!
The wing is rolled into the turn and part of the lift
produced by the wing is used to provide the force to
pull the plane through the turn.
But, by using some of the lift to make the turn there is
no longer enough lift to balance the weight!
The result is that to keep everything balanced or
coordinated in a turn all the controls on the plane must In a coordinated turn, altitude and
be involved: turning radius are constant.

1. The rudder is used to begin the turn.

3.The elevator is used to increase the
angle of attack and, thus, the lift.
2.The ailerons are used to give the
4.Finally, power or thrust is increased to
needed amount of roll.
overcome the added drag.
Aircraft Stability
Static versus Dynamic Stability

Static-vehicles initial tendency following a disturbance

Dynamic- time history of the vehicles motion after its responds to its static stability

Aircraft Stability – Static Stability

Aircraft Stability – Static Stability

Stable Neutral Unstable

LONGITUDINAL STABILITY

Assume lift acts behind CG and the gust increases AoA, what happens?
For
Now a stable
assume liftaircraft,
acts in one
frontthat corrects
of CG, what itself, we want the
happens? lift to act
What if lift acts at CG? behind the CG.
STABLE OR UNSTABLE?

LONGITUDINALLY
STABLE!

Remember, by convention positive pitching moment = nose up.

STABLE OR UNSTABLE

LONGITUDINALLY
UNSTABLE!
CONVENTIONAL TAIL SURFACE

For stability, we will always have a

nose down pitching moment. How do
we keep the plane from flipping nose
down onto its back?
One way is to use a horizontal
stabilizer.
Since the horizontal stabilizer is aft of
the aerodynamic center, to counteract
the nose up motion induced by the
lift, we need a down force from the
stabilizer.

This means we want the stabilizer at a

negative AoA.
Advantage of CONVENTIONAL TAIL SURFACE

This wing / stabilizer arrangement is

also self correcting. Why?

An increase in angle of attack

on the wing will be
. accompanied by a decrease in
the negative angle of attack of
the horizontal stabilizer,
reducing the download on the
tail so that the α of the wing
decreases
DIRECTIONAL STABILITY

Airplanes achieve yaw stability the

same way an arrow does. The
feathers (really small fins) at the aft
end of an arrow aerodynamically
correct any tendency to yaw by
producing a yaw-countering side
force.

The fins on a missile work the same

way and an airplane does the same
with a vertical stabilizer.

The rudder allows to overcome this inherent stability when yaw is desired.
LATERAL STABILITY

Roll stability is more complicated.

We want stable roll, however we want to
be able to roll on demand (for
maneuvers like coordinated turn for
example).

Two ways to reach stable roll:

- High Wings
- Wing Dihedral
Lateral Stability – High Wings

Pendulum effect = stable roll.

Higher
Pressure
LATERAL STABILITY AND SWEPT WING
LATERAL CONTROL AND LARGE WINGS

At high speeds, large wings (and therefore large ailerons) tend to have complex
dynamic motions that reduce their efficiency.
Using spoilers to create a lift differential is usually then preferred.
Lateral Stability – Roll Induced by propellers