L2 Pre-Lecture Slides - Aircraft Modeling and Simulation

AE8116: Flight Dynamics and Aircraft Control
Chapter 2: Aircraft Modeling and Simulation
AGENDA:
• Implementing flat-Earth equations in MATLAB
• Studying the effects of forces and moments on aircraft dynamics
o Gravitation effects
o Propulsion effects
o Aerodynamic effects
Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Reza Faieghi. Copyright © 2021 Page 1 of 27

2.1 IMPLEMENTING FLAT-EARTH EQUATIONS IN MATLAB
2.1.1 Recap
Last session, we developed the flat-earth equations for aircraft by simplifying the
equations for 6-DOF rigid body dynamics.
The state vector is a 12 × 1 vector defined as follows
The flat-Earth equations are as follows
The 2nd line is called the kinematic equation.
The 3rd line is called the navigation equation.
The 4th line is called the force equation.

The 5th line is called the moment equation.
The above compact representation can be expanded in the following set of
equations.

The above expanded version of the equations provides a better insight how do
the flat-Earth equations look like. It is evident that
• The equations are nonlinear.
• The rate of change of one state is dependent on other states.
Although the expanded equations may seem more intuitive, their compact
counterparts are usually easier to handle in simulations as well as control
developments.
2.1.2 MATLAB Simulations
The flat-Earth equations, both in their compact and expanded representations,
are in the generic form of
As mentioned in Mathematical Preliminaries, this is the nonlinear state space
representation.
One way to implement nonlinear state-space representations in MATLAB
Simulink is to use the following block diagram, where the function f (  ) is scripted
in an m-file.
Let us now use MATLAB to implement the flat-Earth equations.
2.2 STUDYING THE EFFECTS OF FORCES AND MOMENTS ON AIRCRAFT
DYNAMICS
As we saw in our MATLAB implementation, we need to know specify the forces
and moments to continue with aircraft simulation.
The primary forces and moments acting on aircraft come from three sources:
• Gravity
• Propulsion
• Aerodynamics

Since flat-Earth equations are expressed in body frame, it is convenient to
describe the gravitational, propulsive and aerodynamical forces and moments in
body frame as well.
In what follows, we derive equations for forces and moments from each source.
We start from the easiest one, the gravity, and then move to more involved topics
of propulsion and aerodynamics.
2.2.1 Gravity

2.2.2 Propulsion
The thrust generated by engines are often explained in terms of weight
This relates engine's thrust to aircraft thrust-to-weight ratio, which is important
parameter to assess aircraft performance. Check out this link for thrust-to-weight
ratio of various aircrafts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust-to-
weight_ratio#Aircraft_2
Each engine on an aircraft generates a propulsive force. The location where the
engine is mounted and its propulsive force is taking effect is called the
application point.
The propulsive force of engines is aligned with the forward axis in frd frame.

It is unlikely that an engine's application point coincides with cm. Therefore, there
exist propulsion moments.
2.2.3 Aerodynamics
This section is a review of aerodynamic forces and moments required for the
course. No prior knowledge on aerodynamics is needed. More detail can be
found in Chapter 2 of the textbook.
The aerodynamic forces are generated due to the relative motion between aircraft
body and air. Since the aerodynamic forces do not act on cm, they generate
moments; hereafter referred to as aerodynamic moments.
The forces include: The moments include:
• Drag • Rolling moment
• Crosswind • Pitching moment
• Lift • Yawing moment

The aerodynamic forces and moments for each aircraft is thoroughly studied in
wind tunnels. Often, a scaled model of aircraft is created and fixed in the tunnel.
The aerodynamic forces and moments acting on the scaled models are
measured for various flight conditions. Then, they are corrected to model the
aerodynamic forces and moments on free flight.

To facilitate assessments of aerodynamic force and moments, we define a new
coordinate system, called the wind axes system.
Speaking of auxiliary coordinate systems, there is also a stability axes system
that is useful to study stead-state flight. As such, it is aligned with the oncoming
flow direction.
By following the rules for finding rotation matrices, we can define the DCM
between the body, wind, and stability axes systems as follows.

This transformation will also be used without the subscript e when converting
instantaneous wind-axes components into body axes, and vice-versa.
The forces and moments magnitudes in wind axes system is empirically modelled
as follows. Overall, it is evident that the magnitudes depend on motion, body
shape, and atmosphere conditions.

Let us now see parameters q , S , b , c , and C(  ) are.
Dynamic Pressure
Dynamic pressure is defined as
It can be thought as kinetic energy per unit volume of air flow. Dynamic pressure
can be calculated using the aircraft speed and standard models of atmosphere.
Example: In the standard atmosphere model (U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1976),
the mass density 𝜌 is 2.3769 ×10−3 slugs/ft3 at sea level (1.2250 kg/m3). The
dynamic pressure at 300 mph (440 ft/s) at sea level is
Total wing area, wing span, mean aerodynamic chord
The shape of the wing, when viewed from above looking down onto the wing, is
called a planform. Wing area is the area of the planform. The total wing area of
an aircraft is the sum of areas of its all wings.

Wing space is the distance from one wingtip to the other.
The mean aerodynamic chord is the mean distance between the leading and
trailing edge of the wings measured on a straight line.
Note: The parameters S , b and c account for the geometrical features of aircraft
wings. There are other geometrical measures closely related to these parameters
such aspect ratio AR = b2 S . See pages 71-72 of the textbook, and this link:
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/geom.html
Aerodynamic coefficients
Aerodynamic coefficients refer to the parameters C(  ) . They are dimensionless
and are determined empirically via wind tunnel and flight tests. In general, each
aerodynamic coefficient is a function of several parameters:
C(  ) = C(  ) ( ,  , M , h,  s , Tc )

Let us now see what each parameter is.
Angle of Attack (AoA)
AoA is a measure of aircraft’s relative motion with respect to oncoming flow
direction.
The formal definition of AoA is the angle between freestream direction and chord
line of an airfoil. Airfoil is a theoretical object whose motion through a gas can
generate significant lift.

Airfoil is however a theoretical object, and in practice, defining a chord line for an
aircraft is complicated. As such, usually a reference line is alternatively defined for
aircrafts. The choice of reference line varies in different textbooks. In this course,
we use the fuselage reference line (frl) as the reference line.
The fuselage reference line is the straight line used as a reference from which
basic dimensions are laid our and major components are located. It is usually
along the plane of symmetry and at a convenient height.
For aircraft, AoA is the angle between frl and the projection of the relative wind on
the body x–z plane. It is positive when the relative wind is on the underside of the
aircraft.
AoA in steady-state flight is denoted by  e , which was used to derive the DCM
between body, wind and stability axes systems.

Sideslip angle
The sideslip angle is the angle between the relative wind vector and its projection
on the body x-z plane. It is positive when the relative wind is on the right side of
the airplane.
Mach number
Mach number, defined as follows, is the ratio of freestream airspeed to local
speed of sound.

Mach number is an important parameter in characterizing the compressibility of
air. For M  0.3 , the air is compressible. The compressibility affects the pressure
and aerodynamic characteristics.
Altitude
Altitude is defined as the vertical distance between a reference datum e.g., mean
sea level (msl) and aircraft.
Note: There is also another important aerodynamic parameter known as the
Raynold’s number defined as
By knowing the Mach number and altitude, Raynold’s number can be calculated.
As such, the aerodynamic coefficients do not need to be explicitly represented as
a function of Raylonld’s number, hence C(  ) = C(  ) ( ,  , M , h,  s , Tc ) .

Control surface deflection
The primary control surfaces are aileron,
elevator, and rudder.
There are also secondary control surfaces such
as flaps, spoilers, slats, and air brakes that are used in special circumstances e.g.,
take-off or landing when significant increase or reduction on lift is required.
With any deflections on control surfaces, the geometrical characteristics of wings
change, and this alters the aerodynamic forces and moments.
The control surface deflections are commanded in angles.

Thrust coefficient
The thrust coefficient normally applies to propeller aircraft and is used to account
for propeller wash over the wings, fuselage, and vertical fin. It is defined by
where S D is the area of the disc swept out by a propeller blade.
The propeller generates a slip stream which increases the airspeed over the
wings, changes the angle of downwash behind the wing (which affects the angle
of attack of the horizontal tail), and changes the dynamic pressure at the tail.

Aerodynamic curves
Aerodynamic coefficients vary for different values of  ,  , M , h ,  s , and T . The
variations are often nonlinear. To better understand these variations, the
aerodynamic coefficients are often plotted against different parameters. Some
examples will be discussed here.







Given the level of complexity of in aerodynamic coefficients, it is often difficult to
explain them in the form of analytic expressions. As such, look-up tables and
interpolations are used to find aerodynamic coefficients for a given atmosphere
and flight conditions. Nonetheless, in simplified models curve fitting can be used
to describe aerodynamic coefficients using polynomials.

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AE8116: Flight Dynamics and Aircraft Control

Chapter 2: Aircraft Modeling and Simulation

• Implementing flat-Earth equations in MATLAB

• Studying the effects of forces and moments on aircraft dynamics

Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Reza Faieghi. Copyright © 2021 Page 1 of 27

2.1 IMPLEMENTING FLAT-EARTH EQUATIONS IN MATLAB

equations for 6-DOF rigid body dynamics.

The state vector is a 12 × 1 vector defined as follows

The flat-Earth equations are as follows

The 2nd line is called the kinematic equation.

The 3rd line is called the navigation equation.

The 4th line is called the force equation.

The 5th line is called the moment equation.

The above compact representation can be expanded in the following set of

Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Reza Faieghi. Copyright © 2021 Page 3 of 27

the flat-Earth equations look like. It is evident that

• The equations are nonlinear.

• The rate of change of one state is dependent on other states.

counterparts are usually easier to handle in simulations as well as control

2.1.2 MATLAB Simulations

The flat-Earth equations, both in their compact and expanded representations,

are in the generic form of

As mentioned in Mathematical Preliminaries, this is the nonlinear state space

One way to implement nonlinear state-space representations in MATLAB

Let us now use MATLAB to implement the flat-Earth equations.

2.2 STUDYING THE EFFECTS OF FORCES AND MOMENTS ON AIRCRAFT

As we saw in our MATLAB implementation, we need to know specify the forces

and moments to continue with aircraft simulation.

Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Reza Faieghi. Copyright © 2021 Page 5 of 27

Since flat-Earth equations are expressed in body frame, it is convenient to

describe the gravitational, propulsive and aerodynamical forces and moments in

body frame as well.

of propulsion and aerodynamics.

Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Reza Faieghi. Copyright © 2021 Page 6 of 27

The thrust generated by engines are often explained in terms of weight

This relates engine's thrust to aircraft thrust-to-weight ratio, which is important

ratio of various aircrafts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust-to-

Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Reza Faieghi. Copyright © 2021 Page 7 of 27

exist propulsion moments.

course. No prior knowledge on aerodynamics is needed. More detail can be

found in Chapter 2 of the textbook.

moments; hereafter referred to as aerodynamic moments.

The forces include: The moments include:

• Drag • Rolling moment

• Crosswind • Pitching moment

• Lift • Yawing moment

Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Reza Faieghi. Copyright © 2021 Page 8 of 27

aerodynamic forces and moments on free flight.

Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Reza Faieghi. Copyright © 2021 Page 9 of 27

To facilitate assessments of aerodynamic force and moments, we define a new

coordinate system, called the wind axes system.

Speaking of auxiliary coordinate systems, there is also a stability axes system

between the body, wind, and stability axes systems as follows.

Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Reza Faieghi. Copyright © 2021 Page 10 of 27

instantaneous wind-axes components into body axes, and vice-versa.

as follows. Overall, it is evident that the magnitudes depend on motion, body

shape, and atmosphere conditions.

Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Reza Faieghi. Copyright © 2021 Page 11 of 27

Let us now see parameters q , S , b , c , and C(  ) are.

Dynamic pressure is defined as

Example: In the standard atmosphere model (U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1976),

dynamic pressure at 300 mph (440 ft/s) at sea level is

Total wing area, wing span, mean aerodynamic chord

an aircraft is the sum of areas of its all wings.