EQUATIONS OF MOTION (Lecture # 10)

TEXT BOOK : Ch 6 Sec 6.1-2 Page No: 259-264

REF BOOK (S): Ch 8 of Airplane Aerodynamics and

Performance by Roskam
Flight Dynamics Overview

 A/C movement in response to forces produced by air

flow and because of the A/C properties is known as Flight

Dynamics. It is divided into two main areas that includes :-

 A/C Performance

 Stability and Control

 Chapter 6 of the text deals with A/C Performance

Slide 2
Basic Assumptions
 To simplify studies following assumptions are made
without compromising much on accuracy for flight
dynamics
 A/C will be considered as a rigid body
 Four natural forces are acting on the airplane i.e.
Lift, Drag, Weight and Thrust
 These have been calculated by Fluid Mechanics
 All these forces are trying to move the A/C in one way
or the other Slide 3
 Drag Polar Revised

 We Know that drag polar for a 3-D wing is given

as
CL2
CD  Cd  Which means
eAR
Total Drag = Profile Drag + Induced Drag
Here the equation will be modified as
CL2
CD  CD,e     1
eAR
This equation is applicable for complete A/C
CD,e is the parasite drag= profile drag of wing and all other surfaces
Slide 4
 Drag Polar Revisited
 Here CD means drag coefficient for complete A/C including
fuselage, tail planes etc.
 Similarly CL is for the whole A/C & Cd,e is parasite drag
coefficient. It includes the profile drag, skin friction drag and
pressure drag of the wings, tail surfaces, fuselage etc. At
supersonic speeds, it also contains the wave drag.
 This Cd,e is itself a function of CL given as

CD,e  CD,0  rCL2 where "r" is an empirically

determined constant
Slide 5
Drag Polar Revisited
Substituting the value of CD,e in eqn 1, we get
 1  2
CD  CD,0   r   CL ----2
 eAR 
For simplicity, we assume that "e" includes the
effects of "r" also, then equation 2 will reduce to
CL2
CD  CD,0     3 Now second term also includes
eAR
the contribution of parasite dragnduced drag to idue to
lift. This "e" is known as "Oswald Efficiency Factor"
Here the 2nd term now includes the Induced drag &
increment in parasite drag due to lift
Slide 6
Drag Polar

Slide 7
Aircraft Performance

Slide 8
 Equations of Motion

If we stand
back, flight
path is
generally
curves – radius
of curvature
and motion is
curvilinear Slide 9
Equations of Motion

Slide 10
Equations of Motion

Slide 11
Special Case of Straighten Level,
Unaccelerated Flight (SLUF)
 It is also known as Cruise Flight, or Static Flight and
performance of A/C under such conditions as Cruise Performance
or Static Performance

 It is assumed that A/C is flying straighten level, with no

acceleration

 Even being a very simplified case, still it can help us in finding

 Maximum Velocity of A/C
 Maximum Rate of Climb
 Maximum Range/Endurance
Slide 12
Special Case of Straighten Level,
Unaccelerated Flight (SLUF)
Assuming unaccelerated flight, then, Eqn 1& 2
reduces to TCosαT -D-WSinθ=0 and
TSinαT +L-WCosθ=0 Now if, we assume that
flight path is along horizontal, then above
equations reduces to TCosαT -D=0 and
TSinαT +L-W=0 Further, if we assume that α T
is very small, then we can get
T=D and L=W, which are the eqns of motion
of an A/C under SLUF conditions
Slide 13
Conclusion

 Study of Flight Dynamics includes analysis of A/C

Performance and stability

 Simplified Equations of Motion for the SLUF

conditions show that Lift must be equal to the

weight of A/C and thrust should be equal to Drag

Slide 14