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Officer Commanding, Flight Commanders. Instructors and gentleman present.

Assalamualikumk and good morning. Next 15 min or so I will discus about LIFT
AUGMENTATION to refresh our memory.

Aim
The aim of today's class is to educate ourselves on certain aspect of lift augmentation.

For this I shall follow the sequence as shown in the slide:

 Def of Lift

 What is Lift Augmentation and why it is reqr

 Principle of op

 Lift Augmentation devices

 Summary

LIFT

Lift is defined a component of total air reaction, acting on an aerofoil which is

perpendicular to the flight path or the relative air flow direction.

Lift augmentation & why it is reqr:

With the development of ac over the years, the design of the aerofoil has also improved.
But the extra lift for the fixed wg ac is being achieved by flying faster. It resulted in
increment of wg loading as well as increment of stall speed. This increment of stall speed
led us to high touch down & high T/O speed. But all fixed wg ac need to have low T/O &
landing spd from the point of safety & reduction of T/o and landing run. To achieve low
spd there must be CL as high as possible. For increasing CL lift augmentation is required.
Here lift augmentation means the ways of generating CL max by applying different
method.

Principle of ops
Let us consider streamline airflow over a wing. At +ve AOA the airflow accelerates over
leading edge but slows down over trailing edge. This causes thickening of boundary layer
& separation from the surface creating loss of lift & increase of drag. Further increase of
AOA causes separation point to move further forward. In this case only the front part of
the wg is effective in generating lift. If high speed airflow can be maintained almost over
the whole wg then boundary layer thickening and separation delays. Thus CL can be
increased. This will augment the lift.
Devices

The chief devices used to increase the Cl max are:

1. Slats-slot

2. Flap

3. Boundary Layer Control

Aim of these devices is: To improve airflow over the upper surface of the wg; Changing
wg camber at low speed to obtain high CL without high AOA.
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Slats

Purpose: If the aerofoil shape is modified temporarily by increasing camber, it

can generate lift at a greater AOA before stall. Using slat is a method of reducing ac
speed by increasing CL during T/O and landing or when needed.

Types:

Fixed Slates: Fixed slat make some suitably shaped apertures in the wing which is
called ‘Slot’. These guide the airflow from lower surface to upper surface of the wing
through venturi effect by generating more lift.

Automatic Slates: At low AOA Slat has no effect on CL. Rather it tends to increase
CD slightly. For this most leading edge slat are automatic types. Normally it lies flush
against the leading edge, but opens against spring loading when leading edge suction
pressure becomes intense at high AOA.

Slots

Slots are provided by the slat which acts like a venturi tube. It accelerates the air from
lower surface to upper surface of the wing. Thus the airflow becomes faster and
separation point is delayed.

1. A slot formed by a slat which is placed ahead of the aerofoil

leading edge.(Fig.1)
2. A built in slot incorporated in the wing behind the leading edge.(F-
2)

3. Slots formed by the movement of flaps behind the leading edge

flaps or in front of trailing edge flaps.(F-3)

Effect of Slat (graph)

As shown in the fig the slat delays the separation until AOA reaches 20°.During the time
the CL has rises steadily upto a peak which is greater than that of unslotted wg. Also the
stalling speed of a slotted wg is reduced. The amount of reduction depends on the length
of the leading edge cover by slot and the chord of the slot. Slat prolongs the lift curve by
delaying the stall until a greater AOA. If an ac operates at high AOA the slat itself
generates high lift coefficient because of its marked camber.

Flap

Purpose

Flap changes the camber and hence effective angle of attack of the wing. Thus by
increasing CL, the use of flap enables an ac to fly at slow speed for T/O and landing
without very much risk of stalling/ high nose up attitude.

Types of flap

 Trailing Edge Flap

 Plain/ camber flap

 Split flap
 Zap flap
 Slotted flap
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 Double slotted flap
 Fowler flap

Plain/camber flap: Camber increased. When fully lowered drag is too much with nose
down pitching movement. Max lift 50%

Split flap: Increased camber. More drag than plain flap. Nose down pitching movt. Max
lift 60%.

Zap flap: Camber & wg area both are increased. Much drag. Nose down pitching ovt.
Max lift 90%.

Slotted flap: Control of boundary layer. Camber increased. Stall delayed. Less drag. Max
lift 65%.

Double slotted flap: Control of boundary layer. Camber increased. Stall delayed. Less
drag. Max lift 70%. If tripe slotted max lift 120%.

Fowler flap: Increased camber & wg area. Best flap for lift. mech complicated. Nose
down pitching movt. Max lift 90%.

Leading edge flap: These are used on many modern high speed ac such as Phantom, F-III
etc. There are two main purposes of leading edge flaps.

 To change the camber of the wing in order to give good lift co-efficient at low
speeds.

 To prevent the leading edge suction which takes place on thin sharp edged wing at
high angles of attack leading to a stalling condition.

Effect of flap: (graph)

Boundary layer separation

 Boundary Layer Control (BLC) is the direct and fundamental for increasing lift
supplying energy from outside source.

 If Boundary layer can be made laminar and unseparated, then not only the
CL but also some parts of drag (surface friction, form) will be reduced.

 Separation of the boundary layer can be stopped either by blowing air to

energise the boundary layer or by removing the boundary layer by suction
method.

Blowing air control

High pressure air is bled off from the engine compressor and blown out at high speed
through narrow slots across surface of the wings. The usual position for blowing slots is
just behind the leading edge and just in front of trailing edge flaps and control surfaces.

Suction control

A vacuum pump is attached to ducts, which lead to span wise slots cut in the upper
surface of the wing. When suction is applied, the lower layers of air in the boundary layer
are removed and are replaced by faster moving air from the higher layers. This delays
separation.
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Effect of blowing air for BLC. (Graph)
Summary

• Slats
• Purpose
• Types
• Slot
• Effect of slat
• Flap
• Purpose
• Types of flap
• Effect of flap
• Boundary layer control
• Methods of boundary layer control