Faculty of Engineering and Quantity Surveying

MEE3221 FLUID MECHANICS 2

Lab Report 4:
Drag and Lift Case Study

Name Matriculation Number

Goh Joshua I19018018

Erik Arif Von Schleusingen I17013631

Soo Yi Ming I17013619

Tan Jun Zhang I17012747

Program : BMEGI

Session : 8K1

Lecturer : Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chuah Keng Hoo

 Introduction
Lift and Drag are aerodynamic forces that are the fundamental reaction forces that enables
aircrafts to fly, wind turbines to spin, and countless more machines and concepts rely on these
two forces. To understand lift and drag forces, the concept of fluid reaction forces acting on a
body should first be understood, as these are the forces engineers use to quantify and gauge the
efficiency and the aerodynamic performance of a body. Essentially, there are only two
scenarios where lift and drag causes a reaction: (i) where the fluid is moving but body is
stationary , and (ii) where fluid is stationary but body is moving. In case (i), when fluid is
moving and the body is at rest, the movements of fluid will exert forces on the body. An
example could be a man standing in the middle of a strong wing. Air is also considered as a
fluid and when the man is inside the flow of wind, there will be several forces exerting on the
man by the wind, pushing him to move. In case (ii), when a body is moving at a certain velocity,
and the fluid is stationary, various forces will be exerted by the fluid on the body, because a
moving body cuts out layers of the fluid, causing the different layers to travel at different
velocities, in accordance to the tendency of these layers to rejoin at the end point of a body
shape. Here, as Bernoulli’s principle states, an increase in velocity of a fluid occurs
simultaneously with a decrease in the static pressure of the location, or a decrease in the fluid’s
potential energy. For instance, a person swimming in water could be an example of case (i),
where the lower streamline body of a swimmer is more bendy, causing water to travel faster
below the swimmer, resulting in a lower pressure, and thus giving the swimmer a higher
tendency to sink into the water.

To define Lift and Drag force, Lift can be defined as a force acting on a body directly
perpendicular to the direction of fluid motion, when fluid is moving and body is at rest, or vice
versa. Drag is defined as a force exerted on a body parallel to the direction of fluid motion over
a streamline body, when the body is at rest and fluid is moving, or vice versa. to put it simply,
force that is created by the fluid and acts on the body, parallel in the direction with the motion
can be termed as Drag, FD. Drag is basically a force that is a resistance to the tendency of an
object to move forwards. Therefore, Drag can be detrimental or beneficial depending on the
purpose of our object, because it takes additional force to overcome drag, but in some cases is
advantageous such as in brakes for automobiles, in parachutes etc. Lift force is normally
presented in symbol FL. Lift force basically is a force that works on pressure difference to lift
and make objects go airborne. Again, lift can also be beneficial of disadvantageous, depending
on the applications necessary.
To further understand Lift and Drag, the below diagram visualizes the reactions of FL and FD
on a body of irregular shape, following with formulas that relate all the important parameters
affecting these forces.

where,
CD = Coefficient of Drag
CL = Coefficient of Lift
A = Area of the body at which a projected area of the body is perpendicular to direction
of fluid flow
FR = Resultant force acting on the body
ρ = Density of fluid
V = Flow velocity relative to object

Objectives
• To examine the lift and drag forces acting on an aerofoil body
• To deduce the coefficient of drag and lift on an aerofoil body
• To analyze the relationships between pressure differences against the angle of motion
direction
Literature Review
Forces and Moments of Aerodynamics

Force distribution on a surface:

The first diagram on the top left depicts how force/area vector f is exerted on an entire body
while fluid flows around it. The normal and tangential components are pressure, p, and shear
stress, τ, respectively. In a conventional aerodynamic situation, pressure, p is commonly
greater that τ, by at least two orders of the magnitude of p. Therefore, vector f is always nearly
perpendicular to the surface. Most of the time, τ significantly contributes to the drag force, even
with a small τ magnitude, hence it should never be neglected. The distribution of stress forces
of vector f that is integrated over the surface of the body generates a resultant force termed as
vector R, and at the same time produces a moment M about any chosen moment-reference
point. In 2D scenarios, the sign conventions for moment M is always positive as upwards, as
portrayed in the diagram above.
Force components:
Along any chosen axis, the resultant force vector R has perpendicular components. All selected
axes are arbitrary, but there are two most practical choices that makes a difference: Freestream
axis and Body Axis. In freestream axis, the vector R components are drag force FD, and lift
force FL, both parallel and perpendicular to V∞. For Body Axes, the resultant vector R
components are the axial forces A and the normal force N, both parallel and perpendicular to
the airfoil chord line respectively. If either set of components are computed, the other set can
then be attained through a simple axis transformation using an angle of attack, α. FL and FD
can be obtained from N and A as follows:

𝐹𝐿 = 𝑁 cos α − A sin α
𝐹𝐷 = 𝑁 cos α − A sin α

To calculate non-dimensional coefficients, formulas are as follows:

𝐿
𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐶𝐿 =
𝑞∞ 𝑠
𝐷
𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐶𝐷 =
𝑞∞ 𝑠
𝑀
𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐶𝑀 =
𝑞∞ 𝑠𝑙
where,
s = reference area
l = reference length
q∞ = dynamic pressure
L = lift force
D = drag dorce
M = pitching moment

To calculate 2D bodies, the local coefficients can be calculated using the formulas as follows:

𝐿′
𝐿𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐶𝐿 =
𝑞∞ 𝑐
𝐷′
𝐿𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐶𝐷 =
𝑞∞ 𝑐
 𝑀′
𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐶𝑀 =
𝑞∞ 𝑐 2
where,
c = length of cord (reference length)

Experimental Procedure

Figure 1: Assembly of Drag Force Apparatus

List of components:
1. Adjustable Duct 7. Control Panel
2. Duct 8. Pitot Static Tube
3. Spring Balance 9. Inlet Duct
4. Lift and Drag Load 10. Aerofoil Body
5. Blower 11. Cylinder body
6. Differential Pressure Transmitter 12. Manometer

Procedure:
1. Aerofoil body is placed into the adjustable duct.
2. The aerofoil body is set up to be balanced by a counter force string. The string is then
attached to the electronic balance, and the entire assembly to ensured again to be
balanced.
3. The pitot static tube is placed at the centre of the duct.
4. The two outlets of the tube is connected to the water manometer.
5. The initial reading on the manometer is obtained and recorded.
6. All 14 points on the aerofoil is connected to the water manometer using a tube, as
shown in the figure below.

7. The aerofoil is placed at an angle of attack of -5°.

8. The radial fan of the machine is switched on.
9. The free stream static pressure and the total output pressure are recorded respectively.
10. The readings at the electronic balance are obtained and recorded as the lift and drag
force.
11. The manometer reading is recorded at all points from 1 to 14.
12. Steps 1 to 11 are repeated, but with angle of attack manipulated to be: 0°, 5°, 10°, 15°,
20°, 20°, and 25° respectively, and the readings are obtained and recorded.
13. By changing the air flow rate using dampers, steps 1 to 11 are then again repeated to
obtain a different free stream static pressure.
14. A table is produced that records and calculated the lift and drag forces using the
formulas:
𝐵𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 (𝑔)
𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑔 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒, 𝐷 (𝑁) = × 0.5 × 9.81
1000
𝐵𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 (𝑔)
𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑡 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒, 𝐿 (𝑁) = × 4.0 × 9.81
1000
15. The coefficient of lift and drag is calculated from the values of drag and lift forces
obtained from step 14.
16. The coefficient of pressure is calculated at each point of the aerofoil body.
17. A graph of coefficient pressure, Cp against x/c at different angles of attack is plotted.
 Case Study
Aerodynamics in Lift and Drag forces in regards to the Concept of Flight
To have a clearer understanding on the concept of flight, various fundamental physics
principles such as Bernoulli’s Principle and Newton’s 2nd Law must first be understood.
Bernoulli stated that his theory of flight can be explained in terms of the Bernoulli’s equation
which is a revelation of the Conservation of Energy. This concept stated that:

• “For a non-viscous incompressible fluid in a steady flow, the sum of pressure, potential
energy and kinetic energy per unit volume is constant at any point.”

From this statement, neglecting the potential energy due to altitude, we can say that when the
velocity of a fluid increases, the pressure at which the fluid flow decreases by an equivalent
amount, to maintain the overall energy levels. According to Bernoulli’s principle, air that flows
over the top (more curved part) of an aerofoil or a wing must travel a further distance and hence
needs to travel faster to meet the air that is travelling the shorter distance under the wing, as it
is a natural tendency for the phenomena to occur, for winds to meet at the same instances after
travelling different routes. This is because the energy associated with the air must remain
constant always. This phenomena results in a pressure difference in both sides of the aerofoil,
being the more curved part causing air to travel faster, thus decreases pressure, and at the less
curved part, air travels at a more default speed, thus having a higher pressure compared to the
upper part of the wing. This pressure difference creates lift.
However, Bernoulli’s principle does not define how a aircrafts are able to fly inverted, nor does
it describe how structures with flat plate wings or kites and paper planes can fly or remain
airborne. These phenomena can be explained by Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion. While Isaac
Newton did not actually propose a Theory of Flight, he did introduce Newton’s 2nd Law of
Motion that can be used to explain aerodynamic lift in all forms. Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion
states that, “the force of an object is always equal to its mass times its acceleration, or
subsequently equivalent to the rate of change of its momentum”. To simplify, this essentially
means that whenever a change of momentum is present, there must be an equivalent force
acting on it. For the case of flight, since momentum is a vector entity, the change in direction
of the airflow around the wing must be associated with the force on the volume of air involved.
To further back this concept up, Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion that states, “to every action there
is an equal and opposite reaction”, this means that the force of the aerofoil pushing air
downwards is actually creating a downwash, and it is coupled by an equal and opposite force
pushing the aerofoil upwards and thus providing the aerodynamic lift. Which means to say, the
turning of air flow on a body can also create lift force.
Aircraft wings
The theory of how aircraft wings enables it to go airborne is based on the aforementioned
principles above. Here, the aircraft is kept in the air by the forward thrust of the wings (airfoils),
through the flow and turning or air. The thrust driving the wing forward is provided by an
external source, in this case by propellers or jet engines. The result of movements of the wing
through stationary air is a lift force which is perpendicular to the motion of the wing, which is
in this case greater than the downwards gravitational force on the wing, and therefore is the
main reason that keeps the plane airborne. This lift force is then accompanied by drag that
represents air resistance against the wing as it forces its way through moving air. Here, drag is
dependent on the effective area of the wing facing directly into the airflow, as well as the shape
of the aerofoil. The magnitudes of the lift and drag forces are also highly dependent on the
angle of attack between the direction of the motion of the wing through air, and the chord line
of the wing. The figure below depicts how the several mentioned parameters react to a body.

Lift, Drag,and Angle of Attack

The angle of attack on an aircraft wing is the angle between the direction of motion of the wing
and the chord line of the wing. At very minimal angles of attack, the airflow over the aerofoil
is essentially smooth and laminar with perhaps a small amount of turbulence occurring at the
trailing edge of the aerofoil. The point at which laminar flow stops and turbulence begins is
known at the separation point, as shown in the figure below. Increasing the angle of attack
increases the area of aerofoil facing directly into the wind, and this causes the lift to increase
but also moves the separation point of laminar flow of air above the aerofoil part way up
towards the leafing edge, and this results in an increase in turbulent flow above the aerofoil,
and therefore increase drag as well.
 Conclusion
To conclude this study, all objectives were successfully achieved. The lift and drag forces
acting on an aerofoil body were clearly understood, and we were able to understand the ways
to properly deduce coefficient of drag and lift forces acting on an aerofoil body. The
relationships between pressure differences against the angle of attacks were also precisely
understood as to how these factors affect one another and alter the lifting efficiency of the body.
This research has also provided a window in mastering proper ways to handle the FM21 Air
flow Training Unit device and has aided us in learning the effects of lift and drag on an aerofoil.
Since we were unable to access the device and conduct hands-on experiment, several
simulation software could be used to conduct the experiment virtually, with the benefits of
minimizing parallax and human errors while conducting experiments.

The field of lift and drag in aerodynamics in real-life applications is broad as it can be seen in
automotive, marine vehicles, aviation, wind turbines, propellers, grounding machines, internal
flows and even atmospheric flows to name a few. The concept of lift and drag helps engineers
and researchers to understand aerodynamic performance of a body, as well as aid in
understanding and utilizing the fundamental aspects of fluid flow in the analysis, design,
integration, and fabrication of aerodynamic geometries.
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