Basic Aerodynamics & Theory of Flight

By Ahmad Ahsan

The Airfoil
Any surface, such as a wing, propeller, rudder, or even a trim tab, which provides aerodynamic force when it interacts with a moving stream of air. FAA The mean camber line is a line drawn midway between the upper and lower surfaces The chord line is a straight line connecting the leading and trailing edges of the airfoil.

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).

Four Forces of Flight

LIFT

THRUST WEIGHT

DRAG

Variation of lift

In steady level flight, the lift force must always be equal and opposite to the aircraft weight. In landing and take-off where the speed is low, a large CL value is required. As the flight speed increases, the lift coefficient required reduces. The pilot controls the lift coefficient value primarily by altering the angle of attack of the aircraft. The angle of attack must be gradually reduced as the flight speed increases. Most aircraft are designed to fly in a near level attitude at cruise, and must therefore adopt a nose-up attitude on landing and take-off. In modern aircraft, the high lift coefficient required for landing is normally produced by means of flaps which increases the camber and area of wing. Flaps allow for approach at higher angle of attack with lower speed.

Stall

A stall occurs when the smooth airflow over the airplanes wing is disrupted, and the lift degenerates rapidly. This is caused when the wing exceeds its critical angle of attack. Stall can occur at any airspeed, in any attitude, with any power setting. Most stalls result in some loss of altitude during recovery. At a certain point, the lift starts to fall off. This effect is known as stalling. The fall-off of lift may occur quite sharply and quickly A sudden loss in lift can obviously have disastrous consequences The stalling characteristics of an aircraft wing depend not only on the aerofoil section shape, but also on the wing geometry The resultant upward force (L) at increasing angles of attack acts more or less at right angles to the surface, so drag is produced. Stall affects controllability of the aircraft. > Combat Aircraft / Missiles

Stall

Stall

Stall

Flow Separation

Said to occur when the airflow around the airfoil is no longer streamlined but turbulent and separates resulting in reduced lift. The main difficulty of flight in separated flow is one of stability and control. The lift, drag, and most importantly, the position of the centre of lift, all vary rapidly. To overcome this problem, the aircraft may need artificial stability in the form of automatic control system. Recent combat aircraft have demonstrated controlled flight at angles of attack of more than 70. Even though it may be possible to control the aircraft in the stalled condition, the instability of the separated flow may still cause structural problems due to excessive buffeting.

Other Methods

Conical Lift Generation (Concorde) On aircraft with straight un-swept wings, flow separation results in a poor ratio of lift to drag. If the wings are swept back at a sharp angle, the separated flow will roll up into a pair of stable cone-shaped vortices. This type of separated vortex flow represents an alternative method of lift generation. The air speed in the vortex is high, and so the pressure is low. Thus, lift is produced because the low pressure on the upper surface is now produced mainly due to the vortex motion above it.

Other Methods

Using engine thrust (Harrier , F35 JSF VTOL, STOVL) Terms VTOL, STOL Gas turbine engines are capable of producing a maximum thrust of more than twenty times their own weight. It is therefore possible to dispense with wing generated lift, and use engine thrust instead, by directing the jet downwards. Intermediate nozzle positions can be used for STOL.
> Disadvantage: Using engine thrust to produce lift is extremely inefficient, as it requires fifteen to twenty times more thrust than needed for conventional aircraft. > In vertical motion, hover and transition stages, the aircraft cannot be stabilized or controlled fully.
> The aircraft is very vulnerable to failures in the propulsion and stability system during vertical flight

> Advantage : Flexibility Of usage in different environments

> no need of runways or proper airfield in wartime

> High thrust means faster speed and easier maneuverability using thrust aid from the nozzle

Other Methods

Rotary Wings (Helicopter) Helicopter rotor blades are long rotating wings. The blades are mounted on an engine-driven shaft. As they move through the air, they generate lift in the same way as a fixed wing. The advantage over a fixed-wing air craft is that the rest of the aircraft does not need to move relative to the air, and it can therefore hover. Rotor blades may be hinged within limits. Autogyro (Ultralight)

Other Methods

Rotary Wings (Helicopter) Helicopter rotor blades are long rotating wings. The blades are mounted on an engine-driven shaft. As they move through the air, they generate lift in the same way as a fixed wing. The advantage over a fixed-wing air craft is that the rest of the aircraft does not need to move relative to the air, and it can therefore hover. Rotor blades may be hinged within limits. Autogyro (Ultralight)

The Wings

By Ahmad Ahsan

The Wings

The ratio of the overall wing span (length) to the average chord (width) is known as its aspect ratio. Simple experiments confirmed that high aspect ratio wings produced a better ratio of lift to drag than short ones for flight at subsonic speeds.

Lift Generation by Wings

The wing produces a circulatory effect; behaving like a vortex English engineer F. W. Lanchester reasoned that if a wing or lifting surface acts like a vortex A theory of vortex behaviour indicated that a vortex could only persist if it either terminated in a wall at each end, or formed a closed ring More lift = strong vortices Danger behind large aircraft Turbulence Flow downward and outward. Bernoullis

Lift Generation by Wings

From Bernoullis equation, we can relate pressure and speed of the air. The air speed in the centre of the vortex is high and the pressure is low. The low pressure at the centre is accompanied by a low temperature. This causes any water vapour in the air tends to condense and become visible in the centre of the trailing vortex lines, The vapour trails frequently seen behind high-flying aircraft are normally formed by condensation of the water vapour from the engine exhausts, and

The Wings

Below the wing, pressure is higher than the surrounding atmosphere, so the air flows outwards towards the tips. On the upper surface, the pressure is low, and the air flows inwards. This results in a twisting motion in the air as it leaves the trailing edge. Near each wing tip, the air forms into a well defined concentrated vortex, but a rotational tendency or vorticity occurs all along the trailing edge. Further downstream, all of the vorticity collects into the pair of concentrated trailing vortices. Wingtip vortices are circular patterns of rotating air left behind a wing as it generates lift

Vortices

Wingtip vortices are circular patterns of rotating air left behind a wing as it generates lift The wing's main purpose in life is to produce a pressure difference between the top and bottom surfaces. The contours of the wing force air to accelerate over the top surface, dropping pressure relative to the bottom, and providing a net upward force on the airplane, allowing it to fly. At the wingtips, high-pressure air on the bottom spills over to the top surface, swirling around in a horizontal vortex at each wingtip. The vortex influences the air travelling over to the wing, pushing it down and reducing the lift.

Vorticesthat the tip of the wing curved up for the last few feet instead. Suppose

There would still be some pressure difference between the outboard and inboard sides of the wingtip (or winglet), but since the vertical section itself isn't producing lift, it would be less than in the winglet-free case. Wingtip vorticies are less intense and further away from the main, lifting, section of the wing when winglets are present, boosting wing lift and allowing an airplane to carry more payload further for the same size wings. the airplane now has to carry two surfaces that weigh something and add some drag. The optimum size winglet is that which properly balances the drag reduction from moving tip vortices away from the wings with the drag increase from the extra surface area and the fuel penalty.

Vorticity and Horseshoe System

The wing-bound vortex, together with the trailing vortices, form a kind of horseshoe shape, and this is sometimes called the horseshoe vortex system. It forms three sides of the predicted closed ring. The circuit is completed by the starting vortex. A strong starting vortex is formed when the aircraft rotates at take-off. More vorticity is produced and left behind when the aircraft produces an increase in wing circulation. An additional starting vortex is formed, when an aircraft starts to pull out of a dive. The counterpart of starting vorticity is stop ping vorticity, which rotates opposite and is shed every time the circulation is reduced, landing.

The End