INTRODUCTION TO

AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

The Atmosphere
 THE ATMOSPHERE
• Earth’s radius at the equator is about
6,378.1 km. The polar radius is about
6,356.8 km. There are about 90 km of
gaseous atmosphere. Outer space is
over 185 km up, but there is very little
air above 90 km.
• Because of gravity, air above presses
down on the air below. At sea level air
pressure is 101,325 N/m2.
HYDROSTATIC EQUATION
• At a height h above the surface, let’s say
that pressure p [N/m2] or Pascals and the
density is r [kg/m3]. The acceleration due to
gravity is g [m/s2]. If you go up a tiny
distance dh, the pressure decreases by a
tiny amount dp.
dp = -rgdh
This is because you no longer have to support
the weight of the air column that went
below you.
 PERFECT GAS LAW
• The perfect gas law is a relation between
pressure, density temperature and
composition of a gas.
p = rRT
R depends only on the composition of the gas i.e.
air. The Universal Gas Constant is 287 J/kg-
K in SI units for air. Inserting R from perfect
gas law to the previous hydrostatic equation
and differentiating it gives
𝑑𝑝 −𝑔 𝑝2 −𝑔
= 𝑑ℎ 𝑙𝑛 = ℎ2 − ℎ1
𝑝 𝑅𝑇 𝑝1 𝑅𝑇
PRESSURE and DENSITY CHANGE
• In the gradient region (Troposphere) where T
changes as altitude changes, we will assume
that this variation is linear, i.e.,
−𝑔 −𝑔
𝑝2 𝑇2 𝜌2 𝑇2 −1
𝑎𝑅 𝑎𝑅
𝑇2 = 𝑇1 + 𝑎 ℎ2 − ℎ1 ; = ; =
𝑝1 𝑇1 𝜌1 𝑇1

• If T is constant in the Stratosphere

(11,000 m to 25,000 m)
𝑝2 𝜌2 −𝑔
= =𝑒 𝑅𝑇 (ℎ2 −ℎ1 )
𝑝1 𝜌1
 Troposphere
• In the Troposphere (the region below 11,000
m), the constant a is approximately -0.0065
K/m. Thus for a standard sea-level
temperature of 288.12 K, the temperature in
the troposphere is given by:
𝑇 = 288.12 − 0.0065ℎ
• Pressure and density variations are
−𝑔
𝑝2 𝑇2 𝑎𝑅 𝑇2 = 𝑇1 + 𝑎(ℎ2 − ℎ1 )
−𝑔
= 𝑎𝑅
𝑝1 𝑇1 𝑝2 𝑇2
=
𝑝1 𝑇1
 EXAMPLE
• What is the standard temperature, density
and pressure at 5,000 meters?
T= 288.12 – (0.0065) (5000)= 255.62 K

−𝑔 −9.81
𝑝2 𝑇2 𝑎𝑅 255.62 −0.0065𝑥287
= = = (0.8871998)5.2586 = 0,5329
𝑝1 𝑇1 288.12

−𝑔
𝜌2 𝑇2 𝑎𝑅 −1
= = 0.8871998 4.2586 = 0.600
𝜌1 𝑇1
 SEA-LEVEL STANDARD
CONDITIONS
• Sea-level Standard Conditions:
• Temperature = 288.12 K, Pressure = 101,325
N/m2, Density = 1.225 kg/m3.
• We can express the pressure or density at a
point on a given day as “so many meters,
meaning “If I were in a standard atmosfer
and measure this pressure and density, I
would be at these altitudes”. A major issue
arises in tropical contries where there are
high mountains, such as India. The density
altitude is often much higher than geometric
altitude.
REGIONS OF THE ATMOSPHERE
• Below 500 m, we are in the Atmospheric Boundary
Layer. The winds in this region get obstructed by
hills, buildings and by the friction of moving air
over the ground, hence they slow down and
become turbulent. This is where we see most of
the gusts, tornadoes, rain, snow etc.
• From about 11.000 m to 25.000 m is the
stratosphere, where the temperature is constant
at a cold 216.7 K. Most of today’s airlines cruise
in this region’s below layers.
• From 25,000 m to about 47,000 m, the
temperature rises again, linearly, reaching 270 K.
 SOME SAMPLE VALUES
Altitude (m) Temp (K) Pressure Density Viscosity
(N/m2) (kg/m3) (N.s/m2)
0 288.12 101,325 1.225 0.00001789
11,000 (end of tropos.) 216.50 22,633 0.36393 0.00001421
25,000 (end of stratos.) 221.65 2,511.18 0.03946 0.00001448
47,000 (end of linear 270.65 110.92 0.00142 0.00001703
temp.)
60,000 245.45 20.32 0.00028 0.00001575
71,000 214.65 3.95 0.00006 0.00001410
 Homework I
• Calculate tempearture, pressure and
density ratios of standard atmosphere
at each 250 m altitude intervals
starting from sea level to 12,000 m.