Basic Aerodynamics

Basic Aerodynamics

Dartmouth Flying Club

October 10, 2002
Andreas Bentz
Basic Aerodynamics

Lift

Bernoulli’s Principle
Energy

 Definition: Energy is the ability to do work.

 Energy cannot be created or destroyed. We
can only change its form.
 A fluid in motion has (mainly) two forms of
energy:
 kinetic energy (velocity),
 potential energy (pressure).

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The Venturi Tube and Bernoulli’s Principle

kinetic energy velocity

(velocity) increases
potential energy pressure
(pressure) decreases

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Lift: Wing Section
 Air flows toward the low pressure area above the wing:
upwash and downwash.
 Newton’s third law of motion: to every action there is
an equal and opposite reaction.
 “The reaction to downwash is, in fact, that misunderstood
force called lift.” Schiff p. 8

relative low pressure

upwash downwash
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Angle of Attack
 The angle of attack is the angle between the chord line
and the average relative wind.
 Greater angle of attack creates more lift (up to a
point).

total
lift

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Lift and Induced Drag
 Lift acts through the center of pressure, and
perpendicular to the relative wind.
 This creates induced drag.
induced drag

effective total
lift lift

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Got Lift? Flaps

 Flaps increase
the wing’s
camber.
 Some also
increase the
wing area
(fowler flap).
 Almost all jet
transports also
have leading
edge flaps.
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Too Much Lift? Spoilers

 Spoilers destroy lift:

 to slow down in flight (flight spoilers);
 for roll control in flight (flight spoilers);

 to slow down on the ground (ground spoilers).

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Basic Aerodynamics

Side Effects

There is no such things as a free lunch.

Drag: Total Drag (Power Required) Curve

1,400

1,200
max.
1,000 lift/drag
best glide
800

600
 induced drag
400
 parasite drag
Drag (lbs)

 resistance 200

 total drag
50 100 150 200
Indicated Airspeed (knots)
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Wingtip Vortices and Wake Turbulence

relative low pressure

 Wingtip vortices create drag:

 “ground effect”;
 tip tanks, drooped wings, “winglets”.

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Basic Aerodynamics

Stability

Longitudinal: Static, Dynamic

Lateral
Longitudinal Stability

lift
down lift

weight
 Static stability (tendency to return after control input)
 up elevator increases downward lift, angle of attack increases;
 lift increases, drag increases, aircraft slows;
 less downward lift, angle of attack decreases (nose drops).
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Aside: CG and Center of Pressure Location

lift
down lift

weight
 Aft CG increases speed:
 the tail creates less lift (less drag);
 the tail creates less down force (wings need to create less lift).
 This also decreases stall speed (lower angle of attack req’d).
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Lateral Stability

 If one wing is lowered (e.g. by turbulence), the

airplane sideslips.
 The lower wing has a greater angle of attack (more
lift).
 This raises the lower wing.

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Directional Stability

 As the airplane turns to the left (e.g. in

turbulence), the vertical stabilizer creates lift
toward the left.
 The airplane turns to the right.

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Speed Stability v. Reverse Command
 Power curve: 1,400

Percent horsepower
100%
 Power is work
1,200 max.
performed by the
endurance
engine. (Thrust is 1,000
force created by the ca. 75% of
max.
propeller.) 800 lift/drag
50%
 Suppose airspeed
Drag (thrust required)
600
decreases.
 “Front Side”: Power is 400

greater than required:

200
aircraft accelerates.
 “Back Side”: Power is
less than required: 50 100 150 200

aircraft decelerates. Indicated Airspeed (knots)

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Basic Aerodynamics

Turning Flight

Differential Lift
Turning Flight
 More lift on one wing than
on the other results in roll
around the longitudinal
axis (bank).
 Lowering the aileron on one
wing results in greater lift
and raises that wing.

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Turning Flight, cont’d
 More lift on one wing than
on the other results in roll
around the longitudinal
axis (bank).
 Lowering the aileron on one
wing results in greater lift
and raises that wing.
Centrifugal
 This tilts lift sideways. Force
 The horizontal component
of lift makes the airplane
turn.
 (To maintain altitude, more
total lift needs to be created:
higher angle of attack req’d)
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Adverse Yaw and Frise Aileron

 However, more lift on one

wing creates more
induced drag on that
wing: adverse yaw.
 Adverse yaw is corrected
by rudder application.
 Frise ailerons counter
adverse yaw:
 They create parasite drag
on the up aileron.
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Basic Aerodynamics

Stalls

Too Much of a Good Thing

Stalls

 A wing section stalls when its critical angle of

attack is exceeded.
 Indicated stall speed depends on how much lift the
wing needs to create (weight, G loading).
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Stalls, cont’d
 The disturbed airflow over the wing hits the tail and the
horizontal stabilizer. This is the “buffet”.
 Eventually, there will not be enough airflow over the
horizontal stabilizer, and it loses its downward lift. The
nose drops: the stall “breaks”.

lift
weight

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Stalls, cont’d
 The whole wing
never stalls at the
same time.
 Power-on stalls in
most light singles
allow the wing to
stall more fully.
Why?
 Where do you
want the wing to
stall last?
 Ailerons

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Stalls, cont’d (Stalls with one Engine Inop.)

 Stalls in a
twin with
one engine
inoperative
lead to roll
or spin
entry:
 Propeller
slipstream
delays
stall.
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Stalls, cont’d

 Stall strips make the wing stall sooner.

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Stalls, cont’d
 Definition: The angle of incidence is the acute angle
between the longitudinal axis of the airplane and the
chord line of the wing.
 Twist in the wing makes the wing root stall first:
 The angle of incidence decreases away from the wing root.

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Preventing Stalls

 Slats direct airflow over the wing to avoid

boundary layer separation.
 Slots are similar but fixed, near the wingtips.
 Delays stall near the wingtip (aileron effectiveness).
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Stalls and Turns

 Greater angles of bank require greater lift so

that:
 the vertical component of lift equals weight (to
maintain altitude),
 the horizontal component of lift equals centrifugal
force (constant radius, coordinated, turn)

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Stalls and Turns, cont’d
 Load factor
limit load
(multiple of factor:
aircraft gross
weight the
wings acrobatic 6G
support)
increases
Normal 3.8G
with bank
angle.
 Stall speed
increases
accordingly.
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Turns

 As bank increases, load factor increases.

 But: as airspeed increases, rate of turn
decreases.
 In order to make a 3 degree per second turn, at 500
Kts the airplane would have to bank more than 50
degrees.
 Uncomfortable (unsafe?) load factor.

 This is why for jet-powered airplanes, a

standard rate turn is 1.5 degrees per second.

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Basic Aerodynamics

High and Fast

In the Flight Levels

High and Fast

 Mach is the ratio of the true airspeed to the

speed of sound.
 Speed of sound decreases with temperature.
 Temperature decreases with altitude.

 At higher altitudes, the same indicated airspeed

leads to higher Mach numbers.
 Conversely: at higher altitudes, a certain Mach
number can be achieved at a lower indicated
airspeed.
 The indicated stall speed increases with
altitude (compressibility).
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High and Fast, cont’d
 At high subsonic speeds, portions of the wing can
induce supersonic airflow (critical Mach number Mcrit).
 Where the airflow slows to subsonic speeds, a
shockwave forms.
 The shockwave causes boundary layer separation.
 High-speed buffet, “aileron snatch”, “Mach tuck”.
velocity velocity decreases,
increases shockwave forms
boundary layer
separates

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High and Fast, cont’d

 Vortex generators delay boundary layer

separation.

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High and Fast, cont’d
 With
altitude:
 indicated
stall speed
(low speed
buffet)
increases;
 indicated
airspeed
that results
in critical
Mcrit
decreases.
 coffin corner
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References

 De Remer D (1992) Aircraft Systems for Pilots

Casper: IAP
 FAA (1997) Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical
Knowledge AC61-23C Newcastle: ASA
 Lowery J (2001) Professional Pilot Ames: Iowa
State Univ. Press
 Schiff B (1985) The Proficient Pilot vol. 1 New
York: Macmillan
 U.S. Navy (1965) Aerodynamics for Naval
Aviators Newcastle: ASA
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