Turning flight

Flight Mechanics - Academic year 2023/24

Dr. Mauro Mancini

Politecnico di Torino
Pull-up maneuver
Pull-up maneuver

1
Pull-up maneuver

What is it 𝑛?
the load factor 𝑛 is the ratio of the lift of an aircraft to its weight
and represents a global measure of the stress (”load”) to which the
structure of the aircraft is subjected.

• 𝑛max for 𝛾 = 0:
𝑉2
𝑟= (𝑛 − 1)
𝑔
𝑉 2 = 𝑛𝑉∞
2

𝑉∞
1 min
𝑟min = 1
1− 𝑔
𝑛max

2
Turning flight

Turned flight is an accelerated flight mode: a centripetal force acts on

the aircraft due to the non-straight flight path.

We will consider the simple case of turns at constant radius in a hor-

izontal plane. (constant altitude)

Due to centripetal force, we cease to consider 𝐿 = 𝑊 as in unaccel-

erated flight. In turning flight we define the load factor 𝑛 = 𝐿/𝑊 to
account for this inequality.

𝑛 represents the acceleration acting on the aircraft along an axis per-

pendicular to the trajectory (and therefore to the wing plane, if the
speed 𝑉 is parallel to the axis of the aircraft). It will therefore also be
the acceleration perceived by the pilot.

3
Turning flight

4
Turning flight

STEADY, LEVEL, COORDINATE TURNS

• Constant 𝑧, 𝑟, 𝜔, and 𝑉 (along the trajectory).
• The resultant of the mass forces 𝑍 is contained in the symmetry
plane and 𝐹𝑟 = 𝐹𝑐 .

Top view
Front view
5
Turning flight

6
Turning flight

• 𝑟: turning radius,
• 𝜔: rate of turn,
𝑊 𝑉2 𝑊 2
𝐹𝑐 = = 𝜔 𝑟
• 𝜙: bank angle, 𝑔 𝑟 𝑔
• 𝐹𝑐 : centripetal force,
• 𝑍: resultant of the mass forces.
EQUILIBRIUM IN COORDINATE TURNS

𝐿sin(𝜙) = 𝐹𝑐 , 𝐿cos(𝜙) = 𝑊

The Lift is augmented w.r.t. unaccelerated flight, because only a frac-

tion of it is used to balance the weight. The total Lift is

𝐿 = √𝐹𝑐2 + 𝑊 2

7
Turning flight

The inequality between Lift and Weight is given by the load factor, 𝑛
𝐿
𝑛= , 𝐿 = 𝑛𝑊
𝑊

IMPORTANT!
This load factor 𝑛 can be related to the bank angle used in the turn,
to the turn radius, and to the rate of turn.

• Relation 𝜙 - 𝑛

𝐿 𝑊 1 1
𝑛= = = ⇒ 𝜙 = acos ( )
𝑊 𝑊/cos(𝜙) cos(𝜙) 𝑛

The greater the 𝜙, the greater the 𝑛: 𝜙max for 𝑛max .

8
Turning flight

The equilibrium flight speed increases w.r.t. unaccelerated flight (for

constant 𝑐𝐿 ):
𝑊/𝑆 𝑊/𝑆
𝐿 = 𝑊 → 𝑉 = √2 𝐿 = 𝑛𝑊 → 𝑉 = √2𝑛
𝜌𝑐𝐿 𝜌𝑐𝐿
In turning flight, the flight speed guaranteeing equilibrium is:
𝑊/𝑆
𝑉 = √𝑛𝑉∞ , 𝑉∞ = √2
𝜌𝑐𝐿
𝑉∞ is the flight speed ensuring the equilibrium in unaccelerated flight
at the same angle of attack 𝛼, i.e. for the same 𝑐𝐿 .
Stall velocity!
The stall velocity 𝑉𝑚𝑖𝑛 in accelerated flight increases by a factor √𝑛
w.r.t. unaccelerated flight:

𝑊/𝑆
𝑉𝑚𝑖𝑛 = √𝑛 2 = √𝑛𝑉∞
√ 𝜌𝑐𝐿 𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑀𝐴𝑋 9
Turning flight

Relation for 𝜔.

𝑊 2 𝑊
𝐹𝑐 = √𝐿2 − 𝑊 2 = 𝑊 √𝑛2 − 1, 𝐹𝑐 = 𝜔 𝑟 = 𝜔𝑉
𝑔 𝑔
⇓
𝑔 2 𝑔 𝑛2 − 1 𝑊/𝑆
𝜔= √𝑛 − 1 = , (𝑉∞ = √2 )
𝑉 𝑉∞ √ 𝑛 𝜌𝑐𝐿

Conditions for maximum turn of rate

𝜔max for 𝑉∞ (i.e. 𝑐𝐿 ) and 𝑛max (i.e. high 𝜙)). 𝑛max → structural
min max
constraints.

10
Turning flight

Relation for 𝑟.

𝑉 𝑔 𝑛2 − 1
𝑟= , 𝑉 = √𝑛𝑉∞ , 𝜔=
𝜔 𝑉∞ √ 𝑛
⇓
2
𝑉∞ 𝑛
𝑟=
𝑔 √𝑛2 − 1

Conditions for minimum turning radius

𝑟min for 𝑉∞ (i.e. 𝑐𝐿 ) and 𝑛max (i.e. high 𝜙)). 𝑛max → structural
min max
constraints.

Both 𝜔max and 𝑟min are obtained for 𝑛max and 𝑐𝐿 !

max

11
Turning flight

2
𝑔 2
𝑛max −1 𝑉∞ 𝑛max
min
𝜔max = √ 𝑛 , 𝑟min =
𝑉∞ 𝑔 2
min max √𝑛max −1

For the turning performance of an aircraft it is usually advantageous

to have:

• Maximum load factor 𝑛max as high as possible,

• Stall speed 𝑉∞ as low as possible.
min

Note that 𝑉∞ increases with the altitude (𝜌 ↓), therefore the turning
min
performances decrease with 𝑧.

12
Turning flight

𝑇 vs 𝐷?
In turned flight, one must also consider whether the thrust 𝑇 can equal
the drag 𝐷, which is increased because 𝐿 = 𝑛𝑊.
Drag Necessary power
𝐿 𝑛𝑊 3
𝐸= ⇒ 𝐷= = 𝑛𝐷∞ Π𝑛 = 𝐷𝑉 = 𝑛𝐷∞ ⋅ √𝑛𝑉∞ = 𝑛 2 Π𝑛
𝐷 𝐸 ∞

• Jet planes: the thrust (T) provided by the engines should increase
by a factor 𝑛 in turning flight w.r.t. unaccelerated flight.
• Propeller planes: the power (Π𝑎 ) provided by the engines should
3
increase by a factor 𝑛 2 in turning flight w.r.t. unaccelerated flight.

13
Turning flight

EXERCISE

Consider the aircraft Tecnam P2006T with max take-off weight 1180 kg,
wing area S = 14.8 𝑚2 , wingspan b = 11.4 m, 𝑐𝐷 = 0.028, Oswald ef-
0
ficiency number e = 0.83, 𝑐𝐿 = 1.6, shaft power at mean sea level
max
Π𝑚 = 200 ℎ𝑝 = 149.6 𝑘𝑊, propeller efficiency 𝜂𝑝 = 0.78, and maxi-
0
mum load factor 𝑛𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 3.8. Consider the altitude of mean sea level
and:
1. Compute the minimum turning radius, the maximum turn of rate
and the maximum bank angle that can be achieved with the max-
imum load factor.
2. Check whether the propulsion system can guarantee the power
required to perform the turn defined in point 1 and corresponding
to the maximum possible load factor.
3. If the propulsion system does not have sufficient power to per-
form the turn in point 1, calculate the highest performance turn 14
that can be executed at the maximum power available.
Performances vs z

THEORETICAL VALUES

2
𝑔 2
𝑛max −1 𝑉∞ 𝑛max
min
𝜔max = √ 𝑛 , 𝑟min =
𝑉∞ 𝑔 2
min max √𝑛max −1
𝑉∞
min,0
⇓ 𝑉∞ =
min
√𝜎
2
𝑔 2
𝑛max −1 𝑉∞ 𝑛max
min,0
𝜔max (𝑧) = √𝜎 √ , 𝑟min (𝑧) =
𝑉∞ 𝑛max 𝜎𝑔 2
min,0 √𝑛max −1
⇓
1
𝜔max (𝑧) = 𝜔max,0 √𝜎, 𝑟min (𝑧) = 𝑟min,0
𝜎

15
Performances vs z

𝜔max (𝑧) with 𝑛 = 𝑛max

38

37
maximum rate of turn [deg/s]

36

35

34

33

32
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
z [km]

16
Performances vs z

𝑟min (𝑧) with 𝑛 = 𝑛max

115

110
minimum turning radius [m]

105

100

95

90

85

80
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
z [km]

17
Performances vs z

PRACTICAL VALUES

2
2
Πav 3
3 Πav 3 3
𝑛av = [( ) 𝜎 ] 2 ⇒ ( ) =𝐶 ⇒ 𝑛av = (𝐶𝜎 2 )
Πn Πn
𝑧=0 𝑧=0

2
𝑔 2 −1
𝑛av 𝑉∞ 𝑛av
min
𝜔max, av = √ 𝑛 , 𝑟min, av =
𝑉∞ 𝑔 2 −1
min av √𝑛av
2
3 3
⇓ 𝑛av = (𝐶𝜎 2 )
4
3 3
𝑔 (𝐶𝜎 2 ) − 1 𝑔
4
𝐶 3 𝜎2 − 1
𝜔max, av = √𝜎 = √𝜎 √
𝑉∞ √ 3
2
3
𝑉∞ 𝐶 3
𝜎
2
min,0 min,0
(𝐶𝜎 ) 2

2
3 3
2 2
𝑉∞ (𝐶𝜎 2 ) 𝑉∞ 2 18
min,0 min,0 𝐶 3
𝜎
Performances vs z

𝜔max (𝑧) with 𝑛 = 𝑛av , (Πav = Π𝑛 )

30

29

28
maximum practical rate of turn

27

26

25

24

23

22

21

20
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
z [km]

19
Performances vs z

𝑟min (𝑧) with 𝑛 = 𝑛av , (Πav = Π𝑛 )

130

125
minimum practical turning radius

120

115

110

105

100

95

90

85
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
z [km]

20
Performances vs z

𝜙max (𝑧) with 𝑛 = 𝑛av , (Πav = Π𝑛 )

67

66

65

64
bank angle [deg]

63

62

61

60

59

58
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
z [km]

21
V-n diagram

22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45