CHAPTER 2

PHYSICS APPLIED TO FLIGHT TESTS

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 2
PHYSICS APPLIED TO FLIGHT TESTS
2.1. QUANTITIES
2.1.1. Scalar Quantities
2.1.2. Vector quantities
2.2. UNIFORM MOTION
2.2.1. Velocity
2.3. ACCELERATED MOTION
2.3.1. Uniformly Accelerated Motion
2.3.2. Projectile movement
2.3.3. Terminal velocity
2.4. NEWTON’S LAWS
2.4.1. Force
2.4.2. Force Decomposition
2.4.3. Force Addition
2.4.4. Newton´s First Law
2.4.5. Newton´s Second Law
2.4.6. Newton´s Third Law
2.4.7. Friction
2.5. CIRCULAR MOTION
2.5.1. General
2.5.2. Centripetal Force
2.6. POTENTIAL ENERGY
2.7. KINETIC ENERGY
2.8. WORK, ENERGY AND POWER
2.9. TORQUE
2.10. MOMENT
2.11. MOMENT OF INERTIA
2.12. TERMOMETRY
2.13. PROPAGATION
2.13.1. Cycle
2.13.2. Frequency
2.13.3. Period
2.13.4. Wavelength
2.13.5. Phase
 2.13.6. Radio Waves
2.13.7. Spectrum applications in aviation
2.13.8. Loading Information onto a Wave
2.13.9. Amplitude Modulation (AM)
2.13.10. Frequency Modulation (FM)
2.13.11. Digital Modulation
2.14. dB
 CHAPTER 2
PHYSICS APPLIED TO FLIGHT TESTS

2.1. QUANTITIES
2.1.1. Scalar Quantities
A certain quantity is defined as scalar when it is fully described by a magnitude (or
numerical value) alone.
If the aircraft manual says its mass is 300 kg, you don´t need any other information to
completely understand the quantity.
Examples of scalar quantities: volume, mass, and time.

2.1.2. Vector quantities

A certain quantity is defined as vector when it is described by both a magnitude and a
direction As example, let´s assume that speedometer is the only instrument in your
panel and you read 100 kt, but you don´t know the flight direction.
In other words, considering a vector quantity, you have the magnitude, but you need
more information, for example: 100 kt going North.
Example of vector quantities: force, velocity, and acceleration.

2.2. UNIFORM MOTION

Motion may be defined as a continuing change of position or place, or as the process in
which a body undergoes displacement. An object in uniform motion always has a
constant speed.

2.2.1. Velocity
Velocity is a vector and denotes both the speed of an object and the direction in which
the object moves.
Constant velocity implies not only constant speed, but, unchanging direction as well.
S
V= where S is the distance traveled, V is velocity, and t is the elapsed time.
t
The British system unit of speed is the foot per second ( ft /sec ); the SI unit is the meter
per second (m/sec); many other units are common, such as the mile per hour ( mph ),
kilometer per hour
(km/h ), knot (kt ).
2.3. ACCELERATED MOTION
Motion which the velocity is changing (in magnitude or in direction) is called
accelerated motion.
The acceleration is positive if the speed is increasing, negative if the speed is
decreasing. Negative acceleration is sometimes called deceleration.

2.3.1. Uniformly Accelerated Motion

The average acceleration which is applied to a body moving in a straight line is:
v f −v i
a avg= wherea avgrepresents the average acceleration, V f the final velocity, V ithe
t
initial velocity, and t the elapsed time.
Acceleration units are: foot per second per second per second ( ft /sec ² ), on English
System; and meter per second per second (m/sec ² ), on SI.

Ex.: An airplane velocity is increased from 0 to 70 mph in 10 seconds in straight flight.

(v f −v i )
Consideringa avg= , the rate of change in velocity (acceleration) is 7 mph per
t
second.
The distance traveled during any time is obtained by:

s=V avg × t

Since the speed changes at a uniform rate, the average speed is equal to the average of
the initial and final speeds:

v f −v i
V avg =
2

By combining these equations, two other useful equations can be obtained.

V f =V i +a . t
And also:
1 2
S=S i+ V i . t+ a .t
2
 2 2
V f =V i +2 .a . S

Example: An Air Force F-16 fighter is cruising at 300 kt. The pilot advances the
throttle to full afterburner and accelerates to 800 kt in 20 seconds. What is the average
acceleration and distance traveled (in British and International units)?
v f −v i 800−300 25 kt
a avg= a avg= a avg= or 12,85 m/s2
t 20 s

2 2
v f −v i
2 2
V f =V i +2. a . s s= =((800* 0,514)2- (300* 0,514)2)/ 2*12,85
2a
s = 5654 m or 3 nm.

2.3.2. Projectile movement

Without drag effect:
2.3.3. Terminal velocity
Velocity of the object when the sum of the drag force (Fd) equals the downward force
of gravity (FG) acting on the object. Since the net force (Fr = 0) on the object is zero, the object
has zero acceleration.

Considering ρ constant:

2.4. NEWTON’S LAWS

2.4.1. Force
When calculating the thrust of a turbine engine it is used the equation:

Force = Mass × Acceleration, and the thrust of the engine is expressed in pounds.
The force unit in the English system is pound, and in the metric system is Newton. One
pound is equal to 4,448 Newton.
The GE90-115 turbofan engine, for example, has 115.000 pounds of thrust.
2.4.2. Force Decomposition
In some problems, it is difficult to analyze the force effects during the whole motion of
an object. Otherwise, it will be easier by decomposing the resultant force in two other
forces, on two perpendicular reference axes and studying the effects of each force on
each axis.

Figure 2.1: Force decomposition

Example:

Figure 2.2: Force decomposition - example

Y axis:
W
T y =T × sinα W =T y T = (W is given)
sinα
X axis:
T x =T × cosα T x =F F=T × cosα
3
cos α= =0 ,6
5
4
sin α= =0 , 8
5
T = W/0,8 = 12,5 N
F = T x 0,6 = 12,5 x 0,6 = 7,5 N

2.4.3. Force Addition

There are two basic methods to add forces: parallelogram and the sine law.
Parallelogram method

2 2 2
R =F 1 + F 2 + 2∗F 1∗F 2∗cos α

Figure 2.3: Parallelogram