FLIGHT MECHANICS –II

PPT

BY
MS. G SWATHI,
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
MR. A RATHAN BABU
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

(Autonomous)
Dundigal, Hyderabad - 500 043
AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING
 UNIT-I

AIRCRAFT IN EQUILIBRIUM FLIGHT,

ELEVAOR ANGLE TO TRIM,
LONGITUDINAL AND MANEUVER
STABILIY
 CONTENTS
• DEGREES OF FREEDOM OF ASYSTEM
• STATIC STABILITY
• DYNAMIC STABILITY
• NEED FOR STABILITY INAIRPLANES
• PURPOSE OF CONTROLS
• INHERENTLY AND MARGINALLY
STABLE AIRPLANES
 [Link] OF FREEDOM
• The In mechanics, degrees of freedom (DOF)
are the set of independent displacements and/or
rotations that specify completely the displaced or
deformed position and orientation of the body or
system.
• A rigid body moving in 3–D space system has six
degrees of freedom – 3 translational and 3
rotational.
• In general, a rigid body in d dimension space
system has d(d + 1)/2 degrees of freedom (d
translations and d(d −1)/2 rotations).
Degrees of freedom – EXAMPLE

GIMBAL LOCK-contd

ROTATING GIMBAL
Degrees of freedom – EXAMPLE
GIMBAL LOCK-contd

• Gimbal lock is the loss of one degree of

freedom that occurs when the axes of two of the
three gimbals are driven into the same place and
cannot compensate for rotations around one axis
in three dimensional space.
GIMBAL NO LOCK GIMBAL LOCK – LOSS OF ONE D O F
Degrees of freedom – EXAMPLE
GIMBAL LOCK-contd

Note – In a gimbal lock no gimbal is restrained.

All three gimbals can still rotate freely about
their respective axes of suspension.
Nevertheless, because of the parallel
orientation of two of the gimbal axes there is
no axis available to accommodate rotation
along one axis. This results in loss of one
degree of freedom.
Degrees of freedom – EXAMPLE
AIRPLANE
• The airplane axis system is shown below.
• It is a right hand axes system with the positive X
and Z axes in the plane of symmetry and Y axis
perpendicular to the
plane of symmetry
Degrees of freedom – EXAMPLE
AIRPLANE-contd

• The airplane is in a kind of gimbal lock when it

is in the plane of symmetry when two planes
coincide with each other.
Degrees of freedom – EXAMPLE
AIRPLANE-contd

• The components of forces and moments

acting on the airplane and the components of
airplane motion reffered to this axis system
are as follows
LINEAR ANGULAR ANGULAR
AXIS FORCE MOMENT INERTIA
VELOCITY DISPLACEMENT VELOCITY

X Fx L u φ p Ix

Y Fy M v Θ q Iy

Z Fz N w Ψ r Iz
Degrees of freedom – EXAMPLE
AIRPLANE

• The motion of an airplane can be completely

defined only if the six velocity components are
given, the airplane is considered to be a
dynamic system in six degrees of freedom
• The equation of statics must be applied to each
degree of freedom to check the equilibrium
conditions viz.,
• ΣFX =0 ; ΣFY=0 ; ΣFZ =0 ; &
ΣL=0 ; ΣM=0 ; ΣN=0
Degrees of freedom – EXAMPLE
AIRPLANE-contd

• In three dimensions, the six DOFs of a rigid

body (airplane) are described using the
following nautical names:
– Moving up and down (heaving);
– Moving left and right (swaying);
– Moving forward and backward (surging);
– Tilting forward and backward (pitching);
– Turning left and right (yawing);
– Tilting side to side (rolling).
 2. STATIC STABILITY
• As any vehicle moves it will be subjected to minor
changes in the forces that act on it, and in its speed.
• If the change causes further changes that tend to restore the
vehicle to its original speed and orientation, without human
or machine input, the vehicle is said to be statically stable.
The aircraft has positive stability.
• If the change causes further changes that tend to drive the
vehicle away from its original speed and orientation, the
vehicle is said to be statically unstable. The aircraft has
negative stability.
• If the change causes no tendency for the vehicle to be
restored to its original speed and orientation, and no
tendency for the vehicle to be driven away from its original
speed and orientation, the vehicle is said to be neutrally
stable. The aircraft has zero stability.
 STATIC STABILITY - contd

• LONGITUDINAL STABILITY – It is the

stability of an aircraft in the longitudinal, or
pitching, plane during static (established)
conditions.
• This characteristic is important in determining whether an
aircraft will be able to fly as intended.
• The longitudinal stability of an aircraft refers to
the aircraft's stability in the pitching plane – i.e.,
the plane which describes the position of the
aircraft's nose in relation to its tail and the
horizon.
STATIC STABILTY – contd
LONGITUDINAL STATIC STABILITY

• If an aircraft is longitudinally stable, a small

increase in angle of attack will cause the
pitching moment on the aircraft to change so
that the angle of attack decreases. Similarly, a
small decrease in angle of attack will cause the
pitching moment to change so that the angle of
attack increases.
STATIC STABILITY - contd

• DIRECTIONAL STABILITY – It is the stability

of a moving body or vehicle about a vertical
axis.
• If a vehicle is directionally stable, a yawing
moment is produced which is in a direction
opposite to the rotational disturbance. This
"pushes" the vehicle (in rotation) so as to return
it to the original orientation, thus tending to
keep the vehicle oriented in the original
direction.
STATIC STABILITY - contd

• LATERAL STABILTY – An airplane is said

to possess lateral static stability if after
undergoing a disturbance that rolls it to some
bank angle ø, it generates forces and moments
that tend to reduce the bank angle and restore
the equilibrium flight condition.
STATIC STABILITY - contd

Lateral and directional stability are

interrelated. The motions of an airplane are
such that a roll motion causes a yaw motion
and a yaw motion causes a roll motion. Thus,
cross-coupling exists between the directional
static stability and lateral static stability and
gives rise to the three important dynamic
motions observed: directional divergence,
spiral divergence, and Dutch roll.
STATIC STABILITY
 Longitudinal Static Stability
cg

Time = 0.0
Tail Force

Aircraft encounters gust

Nose pitches up Resulting Motion

Time = 1.0 Tail Force

Airflow Direction

Time = 2.0 Tail Force

 Lateral Static Stability
Time = 0.0
Lift Vectors
Dihedral Angle
View Downstream
Weight

Aircraft rolls
slightly to the right
Time = 1.0
Resulting
Motion
Weight

Lift Vectors
Time = 2.0 Dihedral Angle

Weight
LATERAL CONTROL
STATIC DIRECTIONAL STABILITY

a) STATICALLY STABLE AIRPLANE b) RESTORING MOMENT in yaw direction

ANGLE OF ATTACK vs PITCHING MOMENT
 [Link] STABILITY
• It deals with the time history of aircraft motion
after the aircraft is disturbed from an equilibrium
or trim condition.
• If the aircraft goes to its original condition as the
time goes to infinity, it is said to have positive
dynamic stability.
• If the aircraft neither returns to trim nor diverges
further from the disturbed condition, it is said to
have neutral dynamic stability.
• If the aircraft diverges from the trim condition
and the disturbed condition as time goes to
infinity, it si said to have dynamic instability
DYNAMIC STABILITY – Contd.
• The study of dynamic stability is important to
understand aircraft handling qualities and
design features that make an airplane fly or not
as well while performing specific mission tasks.
DYNAMIC STABILITY
DYNAMIC STABILITY – Contd.

• LONGITUDINAL DYNAMIC STABILITY

– Deals with statically stable airplane

– Two types of oscillations

• Phugoid mode of oscillation – long & slow
• Short period variation with angle of attack
Phugoid and short period oscillations
LONGITUDINAL DYNAMIC STABILITY

• PHUGOID MODE LONGITUDINAL

OSCILLATION
– is a long-period, slow oscillation of the
airplane's flight path.
– The pilot generally can control this
oscillation himself
LONGITUDINAL DYNAMIC STABILITY

• SHORT PERIOD VARIATION WITH

ANGLE OF ATTACK
– this oscillation decreases very quickly with no
pilot effort.
– But, with its natural short period, the oscillation
may worsen if a pilot attempts to lessen it by
use of a control because of the pilot's slow
reaction time where he may get "out of phase"
with the oscillation, and thus induce dynamical
instability that may eventually lead to
destructive forces.
 UNIT-II

ESTIMATION OF AERODYNAMIC
FORCE AND MOMENT DERIVATIVES
OF AIRCRAFT
LONGITUDINAL DYNAMIC STABILITY
SHORT PERIOD VARIATION WITH ANGLE OF ATTACK

– occurs if the elevators are left free.

– This is called the "porpoising" mode, and is
influenced by the elevator balance.
– The main effect is vertical accelerations of the
airplane that may get out of hand if a coupling
between the free elevator and airplane occur.
Proper design is essential to avoid this type of
instability.
 Contributions of power plant to Cmcg and Cmα

• The contributions of power plant to Cmcg and Cmα have two

aspects namely direct contribution and indirect
contribution.

Direct contribution of power plant to Cmcg and Cmα

• The direct contribution appears when the direction of the

thrust vector does not coincide with the line passing
through the c.g.
• The direct contribution is written as :Mcgp = T x Zp (2.59)
where, T is the thrust and Zp is the perpendicular distance
of thrust line from FRL; positive when c.g. is above thrust
line.
• In non-dimensional form Eq.(2.59) is expressed as:
Cmcgp = Mcgp/(½ ρV2S c )

• The thrust required varies with flight speed and

altitude. Hence, Cmcgp would vary with flight condition.

• However, the thrust setting does not change during

the disturbance and hence, there is no contribution to
Cmα.

• This fact is also mentioned in Ref.1.9. p.506.

• The contribution to Cmα comes from another
cause. Consider a propeller at an angle of
attack . The free stream velocity (V) is at an
angle (α)to the propeller axis.
• As the air stream passes through the
propeller it leaves in a nearly axial direction.
This change of direction results in a normal
force (Np) in addition to the thrust (T).
• Np acts at distance lp from the c.g. (Fig.2.26)
and hence, produces a moment Np x lp.
• It may not return to the equilibrium position
namely divergent oscillation and undamped
oscillation.
• Only when the system finally returns to the
equilibrium position, the system is said to be
dynamically stable.
• Otherwise, it is dynamically unstable. With
this criterion, the damped oscillation and
subsidence are the only dynamically stable
cases.
• The value of Np depends on the angle of
attack of the propeller and hence the term Np
x lp depends on α. This will contribute to Cmα.
Cmα due to normal force depends on many
factors like thrust setting, number of blades in
the propeller and advance ratio.
Indirect contributions of power plant to Cmcg and Cmα

The effect of propeller on the horizontal tail has been discussed. In the
case of an airplane with a jet engine, the exhaust expands in size as it
moves downwards and entrains the surrounding air.

This would induce an angle to the flow; the induced angle would be
positive in the region below the jet.

In military airplanes where the engine is located in rear fuselage the

engine exhaust would affect the horizontal tail, generally located above
the rear fuselage, by inducing a downwash in addition to that due to wing.

This effect will also come into picture in case of passenger airplanes with
rear mounted engines. To alleviate this, the horizontal tail is mounted
above the vertical tail
Slope of lift curve (CLα) and angle of zero lift (α0L) of the airplane:

• Let, L denote lift of airplane. Then, L = Lwb+Lt .

• For airplanes with large aspect ratio wings (A>5), the lift of the wing
body combination is approximately equal to lift produced by the
gross wing i.e.. Lwb≈ Lw

• Noting that Lt = ½ρVt2 St CLαt (α – s + it) and Lw = ½ ρV2SCLw; the

slope of the lift

• curve of the airplane (CLα) can be written as :

CLα = CLαw + η (St/S)CLαt {1-(ds/dα)}

 Angle of zero lift (α0L) for airplane:
• Assuming that the wing is set such that during
cruise the angle of attack of the airplane (αcr )
is zero, the lift coefficient during cruise (CLcr)
can be written as :
CLcr = CLα (αcr - α0L) = CLα (0 - α0L)
Hence, α0L = - CLcr /CLα
 Stick-fixed neutral point

• It may be pointed out that the c.g. of the airplane moves during
flight due to consumption of fuel. Further, the contribution of wing
to Cmα depends sensitively on the location of the c.g. as it is
proportional to ( x ccg - x acc ).

• When the c.g. moves aft, xcg increases and the wing contribution
becomes more and more positive. There is a c.g. location at which
(Cmα)stick-fixed becomes zero.

• This location of c.g. is called the stick-fixed neutral point. In this

case, the airplane is neutrally stable.

• If the c.g. moves further aft, the airplane will become unstable. The
Cm vs. α curves for the statically stable, neutrally stable and unstable
cases are schematically.
• It may be recalled that the aerodynamic centre of
an aerofoil is the point about which the pitching
moment is constant with angle of attack.
• Similarly, the aerodynamic centre of the wing
(xac), by definition, is the point about which Cmacw
is constant with angle of attack.
• With this background, the quantity xacwb can be
called as the aerodynamic centre of the wing -
body - nacelle combination.
• Further, when the c.g. is at neutral point, Cmα is
zero or Cmg is constant with α.
• This refers the neutral point as the aerodynamic
centre of the entire airplane.
 UNIT-III

STICK FREE LONGITUDINAL STABILITY,

CONTROL FORCES TO TRIM AND
LATERAL- DIRECTIONAL STATIC STABILITY
 INTRODUCTION
•The motion of the airplane takes place in the plane
of symmetry i.e. along x-and z-axes and about y-axis.

•This chapter and the next one, deal with the

motions along y-axis and about x-and z-axes.

• These motions lie outside the plane of symmetry.

•The translatory motion along y-axis is sideslip and

rotations about x-and z-axes are the rolling and
yawing respectively.
• The lateral stability and control, deal with the
equilibrium and its maintainability about the
x-axis.
• However, the lateral and directional motions
cannot be separated completely because a
change in one of them leads to change in the
other.
• The directional stability and control, deal with the
equilibrium and its maintainability about the z-
axis.
• For example, when an airplane has a rate of roll,
the unequal changes in the drag of the two wing
halves create a yawing moment.
• Besides the rolling and yawing motions, the
sideslip also creates forces and moments
affecting lateral and directional motions.
• The six effects caused by rolling, yawing and
sideslip are listed below.
• Rolling moment due to rate of roll.
• It is called damping in roll.
• Yawing moment due to rate of yaw.
• It is called damping in yaw.
• Rolling moment due to rate of yaw.
• It is called cross effect.
• Yawing moment due to rate of roll.
• It is called adverse yaw.
• Rolling moment due to side slip.
• It is called dihedral effect.
• Yawing moment due to sideslip.
• It is called weather cock effect.
•The directional static stability and control are considered.

Criteria for equilibrium and static stability about z-axis

In an equilibrium flight, the airplane flies in the plane of symmetry with
sideslip and yawing moment both being zero.

Before discussing the criteria for equilibrium and static stability about
z-axis,it is useful to recapitulate a few relevant concepts.
Sideslip and yaw
• Sideslip is the angle between the plane of
symmetry of the airplane and the direction of
motion.
It is taken as positive in the clockwise sense.
• It is denoted by ‘β’. It may be recalled that the
tangent to the flight path is the direction of
motion.
• It may be further pointed out that a positive β is
due to a positive side slip velocity which is the
component of airplane velocity along the y-axis.
• Angle of yaw is the angular displacement of
the airplane center line, about a vertical axis,
from a convenient horizontal reference line.
• It is measured from the arbitrarily chosen
reference direction and taken as positive in
the clockwise direction . It is denoted by ‘y
 Criterion for directional static stability
• The conventions for positive yawing moment and
sideslip (β).
• Consider that in equilibrium flight, the airplane is flying
with β = 0.
• Now, let a disturbance cause the airplane to develop
positive sideslip of Δβ.
• It is observed that to bring the airplane back to
equilibrium position i.e. β=0, a positive yawing
moment (ΔN) should be produced by the airplane.
Similarly, a disturbance causing a negative Δβ should
result in–ΔN i.e. for static directional stability,
dCn/dβ or Cnβ should be positive.
 UNIT-IV

ARICRAFT EQUATIONS OF MOTION,

PERTURBED MOTION, LINEARIZED,
DECOUPLED EQUATIONS
 Static stability and dynamic stability
• In the cases it is observed that, as soon as the the
system is disturbed, it tends to return to the
undisturbed position. Such systems are called statically
stable.
• The tendency of the system, immediately after the
disturbance, is to turn away from the equilibrium
position. Such a system is said to be statically unstable.
• When the tendency of the system, after the
disturbance, is to stay in the disturbed position, then it
is said to have neutral static stability.
• Even when the system has a tendency to go towards
the undisturbed position
• It may not return to the equilibrium position
namely divergent oscillation and undamped
oscillation.
• Only when the system finally returns to the
equilibrium position, the system is said to be
dynamically stable.
• Otherwise, it is dynamically unstable. With
this criterion, the damped oscillation and
subsidence are the only dynamically stable
cases.
 Body axes system
• To formulate and solve a problem in dynamics we
need a system of axes.
• To define such a system, we note that an airplane
is nearly symmetric in geometry and mass
distribution about a plane which is called the
plane of symmetry.
• This plane is used for defining the body axes
system.
• It shows a system of axes (OXbYbZb) fixed on the
airplane which moves with the airplane and
hence called body axes system.
• The origin ‘O’ of the body axes system is the
center of gravity (c.g.) of the body which, by
assumption of symmetry, lies in the plane of
symmetry.
• The axis OXb is taken as positive in the forward
direction. The axis OZb is perpendicular to OXb in
the plane of symmetry, positive downwards. The
axis OYb is perpendicular to the plane of
symmetry such that OXbYbZb is a right handed
system.
Effect of elevator deflection on Cmcg vs α curve
• When an elevator is deflected it produces a moment about
c.g.
• Then the value of Cm0 of the airplane changes and the Cmcg
vs α curve is shifted.
• However, Cmα does not change due to the elevator
deflection and the slope of the curve is same as that with
zero elevator deflection.
• This figure also indicates that elevator deflection brings
about change in the value of α at which Cmcg is zero or the
airplane is in trim.
• It may be pointed out that the elevator deflection is
denoted by 6e and downward deflection of elevator is taken
positive (see section 2.4.5 for further details).
 UNIT-V

LONGITUDINAL, LATERAL AND

DIRECTIONAL DYNAMIC STABILITY
 Cmcg and Cmα expressed as sum of the
contributions of various components of
the airplane
Using wind tunnel tests on a model of an airplane or by Computational
• Fluid Dynamics (CFD), the Cmcg vs α curve for the entire airplane
can be obtained.
• However, CFD has not yet advanced enough to give accurate values
of the moments and these computations are not inexpensive.
• Wind tunnel tests are very expensive and are resorted to only at the
later stages of airplane design. Hence, the usual practice to obtain
the Cmcg vs α curve is to add the contributions of major
components of the airplane and at the same time take into account
the interference effects
• . The contributions of individual components are
based on the wind tunnel data or the analyses
available in literature. References 1.1,1.8,1.9,
1.12, 2.1 and 2.2 are some of the sources of data.
• The contributions to Cmcg and Cmα are due to
the wing, the fuselage, the power plant and the
horizontal tail. Figure 2.8 shows the forces and
moments produced by the wing and the
horizontal tail. The contributions of fuselage,
nacelle and the power plant are shown as
moments about c.g. and denoted by
• Mf,n,p. The fuselage reference line is denoted by
FRL. It may be recalled that the
 Stability and control

• angle of attack (α) of the airplane is the angle between free stream
velocity (V) and FRL.
• The c.g. of the airplane is also shown in the figure. The wing is
represented by its mean aerodynamic chord (m.a.c.).
• It is set at an angle of incidence iw to the FRL. Hence, the angle of
attack of wing (αw) is α + iw.
• Following the usual practice, the lift of the wing (LW) is placed at
the aerodynamic centre of the wing (a.c.) along with a pitching
moment (Macw).
• The drag of the wing (Dw) is also taken to act at the aerodynamic
centre of the wing.
• The wing a.c. is located at a distance xac from the leading edge of
the m.a.c. The airplane c.g. is at a distance xcg from the leading
edge of the m.a.c.
• The horizontal tail is also represented by its mean aerodynamic chord.

• The aerodynamic centre of the tail is located at a distance lt behind the

c.g.

• The tail is mounted at an angle it with respect to the FRL.

• The lift, drag and pitching moment due to the tail are Lt, Dt and Mact
respectively. As the air flows past the wing, it experiences a downwash s
which is shown schematically.

• Owing to this the angle of attack of the horizontal tail would be (α + it - s ).

Further, due to the interference effects the tail would experience a
dynamic pressure different from the free stream dynamic pressure. These
aspects will be elaborated.
 Contributions of wing to Cmcg and Cmα

• The forces (lift, Lw and drag, Dw) and the moment (Macw) due to the wing
and the relative locations of the c.g. of the airplane and the aerodynamic
centre of the wing.
• The angle of attack of the airplane is the angle between the relative wind
and the fuselage reference line (F‘L). This angle is denoted by α.

• The wing is represented by its mean aerodynamic chord (m.a.c.).

• The wing is set at an angle iw to the FRL. This is done so that the fuselage
is horizontal during cruising flight. Thus, αw = α + iw or α = αw – iw.

• xac is the distance of the a.c. from the leading edge of the m.a.c..

• xcg is the distance of the c.g. from the leading edge of the m.a.c..

• Zcgw is the distance of the a.c. below c.g.

• An important aspect of the above derivation may be pointed out
here.
• The expression for Cmαwh involves CL or the slope of Cmcgw vs α
curve depends on CL or α.
• Hence, Cmcgw become slightly non-linear.
• The usual practice, is to ignore the contributions of the horizontal
components to Cmαw.
• However, the following aspects may be pointed out. (a) A high wing
configuration is slightly more stable than a mid-wing configuration.
• A low wing configuration is slightly less stable than the mid-wing
configuration. (b) In the simpler analysis the Cmcgw vs α curve is
treated as straight line but the Cmcg vs α curves, obtained from
flight tests on airplanes, are found to be slightly non-linear. One of
the reasons for the non-linearity in actual curves is the term
Megwh.