What is flight dynamics?

Flight dynamics is the study of the performance, stability, and control of vehicles
flying through the air or in outer space. It is concerned with how forces acting on
the vehicle determine its velocity and attitude with respect to time.

Stengel, Robert F. Aircraft Flight Dynamics. Princeton University.

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Module Specification
Module Title: Flight Dynamics and Control
Module Code: ENGA 2003
Credit value: 15

Term-long
• 11 lectures 2 hrs/week
• 11 practical 2 hrs/week
• Self-directed study 50-100 hours
• Assessment 40 hours
• Report 3000 words Week 30
• Exam on-line May

The module will introduce students to:

• the principles of aircraft flight dynamics
• stability analysis
• stability augmentation and control systems using classical feedback control theory
• use of Matlab and Simulink to facilitate practical work

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Topics to be learned
• Module pre-requisites
• Coordinate systems and axes transformations
• Aerodynamic forces and moments, propulsion systems
• Aircraft static stability
• Aircraft equations of motion (EoM)
• Linearization of EoM, longitudinal and lateral/directional modes of motion
• Aerodynamic stability and control derivatives
• Dynamic stability and reactions to control deflections
• Stability criteria, root locus and Bode plots
• Principles of closed-loop flight control
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Literature
Durham, Wayne. ‘Aircraft Flight Dynamics and Control’, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2013.
Stengel, Robert F. 'Flight Dynamics', Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 2015.
Cook, Michael V.  'Flight Dynamics Principles', Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007.
J.L.Meriam and L.G.Kraige. “Engineering Mechanics: DYNAMICS”, Vol.2, Fourth Edition, John Wiley & Sons.

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Tools
MATLAB (matrix laboratory) is a multi-paradigm numerical
computing environment and proprietary programming language developed
by MathWorks. MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting
of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user
interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,
including C, C++, C#, Java, Fortran and Python.
https://uk.mathworks.com

SIMULINK  is a MATLAB-based graphical programming environment for

modeling, simulating and analyzing multidomain dynamical systems. Its
primary interface is a graphical block diagramming tool and a customizable
set of block libraries. It offers tight integration with the rest of
the MATLAB environment and can either drive MATLAB or be scripted from
it. Simulink is widely used in automatic control and digital signal
processing for multidomain simulation and model-based design.

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Greek alphabet
How to type Greek letters in Microsoft Word?

Latin keyboard layout

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asdfghjkl
zxcvbnm

Greek keyboard layout

use font “Symbol”
qwertyuiop
asdfghjkl
zxcvbnm
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Vectors Vector is a geometric object that has
magnitude (or length) and direction.

Unit vectors are used to represent the axes of a Cartesian coordinate system
in the direction of the x, y, and z axes of a three dimensional space

𝑎⃗ [] []
1 0
⃗𝑖= 0 ⃗
𝑘= 0
0 1

They form a set of mutually orthogonal unit vectors, typically referred to as a

standard basis in linear algebra.
⃗𝑗
𝑖⃗ ⃗ =𝐚 =5 ⃗𝑖+8 ⃗𝑗+3 𝑘
𝑎 ⃗
⃗
[ ]
𝑎𝑥
𝑘 ⃗ = 𝑎𝑦
𝑎

[] []
5 5 𝑎𝑧
𝐚= 8 ⃗= 8
𝑎 ⃗ =( 5 , 8 ,3 )
𝑎
3 3

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Vector addition
⃗
⃗ =𝑎 𝑥 𝑖+𝑎
𝑎 ⃗ ⃗
𝑦 𝑗 +𝑎 𝑧 𝑘
⃗
𝑏=𝑏 𝑖+𝑏⃗ ⃗𝑗+𝑏 ⃗𝑘
𝑥 𝑦 𝑧

=
=

[] [ ]
5 3
⃗= 3
𝑎 ⃗
𝑏= − 2 ⃗ ⃗ +⃗
𝑐 =𝑎 𝑏 −?
1 0

= = 8

[][ ] []
5 3 8
⃗
𝑐= 3 + −2 = 1
1 0 1

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Vector subtraction
⃗
⃗ =𝑎 𝑥 𝑖+𝑎
𝑎 ⃗ ⃗
𝑦 𝑗 +𝑎 𝑧 𝑘
⃗
𝑏=𝑏 𝑖+𝑏⃗ ⃗𝑗+𝑏 ⃗𝑘
𝑥 𝑦 𝑧

=
=

[ ] []
−3 5
⃗= 5
𝑎 ⃗
𝑏= 4 ⃗ ⃗ +⃗
𝑐 =𝑎 𝑏 −?
0 1

= = -8

[ ][][ ]
−3 5 −8
⃗
𝑐= 5 − 4 = 1
0 1 −1

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Magnitude of vector
Vector is a geometric object that has
magnitude (or length) and direction.

Magnitude of vector
𝑎⃗
[ ]
𝑎𝑥
⃗ = 𝑎𝑦
𝑎
𝑎𝑧

⃗𝑗 ⃗ ⃗ ⃗
⃗ =5 𝑖+8 𝑗 +3 𝑘
𝑎 |⃗
𝑎 |= √ 5
2
+8
2
+ 3
2
= √ 98 ≈ 9.899
𝑖⃗
⃗
𝑘 = 25+64+9 = 98

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Dot product (scalar)
⃗
⃗ =𝑎𝑥 𝑖+𝑎
𝑎 ⃗𝑗 +𝑎 ⃗𝑘
𝑦 𝑧
⃗ ⃗
𝑏=𝑏 𝑥 𝑖+𝑏 ⃗𝑗+𝑏 ⃗𝑘
𝑦 𝑧

⃗ 0 ⃗𝑗+3 𝑘
⃗ =8 𝑖+
𝑎 ⃗
⃗ ⃗ ⃗𝑗 +2 ⃗𝑘
𝑏=5 𝑖+4
⃗∙⃗
𝑎 𝑏=8 ∗ 5+0 ∗ 4 +3 ∗2=46

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Cross product (vector) ⃗
⃗ =𝑎𝑥 𝑖+𝑎
𝑎 ⃗ ⃗
𝑦 𝑗 +𝑎 𝑧 𝑘
⃗ ⃗
𝑏=𝑏 𝑥 𝑖+𝑏 ⃗𝑗+𝑏 ⃗𝑘
𝑦 𝑧

⃗ 0 ⃗𝑗+3 𝑘
⃗ =8 𝑖+
𝑎 ⃗
⃗ ⃗ ⃗𝑗 +2 ⃗𝑘
𝑏=5 𝑖+4

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Kinematics of particle
Velosity

Speed

Acceleration

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Kinematics of particle
rectangular coordinates

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Dynamics
is a study of the relations between unbalanced
forces and the resulting changes in motion Lift

Newtons 2nd law

Drag

Resultant

Rectangular coordinates
⃗
𝒂
Weight
Thrust

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Rotational dynamics
Newton’s 2nd law states that the time rate of change in the
angular momentum of the aircraft is equal to the
applied moments acting on the aircraft

[ ]
𝑑⃗
𝐻
𝑑𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙
=∑ ⃗
𝑀

is the angular momentum of the aircraft

⃗
𝐻= ⃗𝑟 × 𝑚 ⃗
𝑉

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