Brainstorming and Barnstorming:

Basics of Flight
Flight History
Firstflight: The Wright Flyer 1903
Break Speed of Sound: Bell X-1A 1947
Land on Moon: Apollo 11 1969
Circumnavigate Earth on one tank of
gas: Global Flyer 2005
Weve come a long way
Major Topics

Terminology and Theory

Forces of Flight
Aircraft Design
Basic Aircraft Terminology
Airfoil:Cross sectional shape of a wing
Leading Edge: Front edge of wing
Trailing Edge: Back edge of wing
Chord Line: Line connecting LE to TE
Camber: Center line between top and
bottom of wing
High camber found on slow flying high lift
aircraft
Wing Layout
Planform: Vertical projection of wing
area
Elliptical:good for high speed
Straight: root stalls, but cheap to make

Tapered: good stall characteristics

Delta: used for supersonic flight

Wing Layout
Sweep: Angle between the lateral axis
and the wing (high speed aircraft)
Taper: Chord decreases as you move to
the wing tip
Incidence: Angle between the
longitudinal axis and the wing chord
Angle of Attack: Angle between the
wing and the relative wind
 Wing Layout
Twist: Bending of wing
about lateral axis (helps
prevent tip stall by
changing angle of
attack)
Anhedral: Downward
bend in wing (helps with
stability)
Dihedral: Upward bend
in wing
Corsair: WWII Fighter
Wing Layout
Aspect ratio
(AR)= Span^2/Wing
Area U2 spy plane: High AR
More efficient for
slow aircraft
Typical Values
Glider: 20-30
Trainer: 7-9
Loadstar: 18.5

SR-71: Low AR
6 degrees of freedom
Three axes of an aircraft
Longitudinal: Parallel to the fuselage
Lateral: Parallel to the wing

Normal: Perpendicular to the ground

Control Surfaces: Change Wing
by altering the Angle of Attack
Ailerons: horizontal surfaces located on
wing tips
Roll: rotation about the longitudinal axis
Elevator: horizontal surface located on
the tail
Pitch: rotation about the lateral axis
Rudder: vertical surface located on the
tail
Yaw: rotation about the normal axis
 Stabilizing Surfaces:
Balancing Moments
Vertical Stabilizer: The vertical part of
the tail which prevents unwanted yaw
Horizontal Stabilizer: Horizontal portion
of the tail (or the Canard) that prevents
unwanted pitch
Flaps
Change the shape
of wing
Increase Lift and
Drag
Used on takeoff and
landing
 Neutral Point: Location of resultant lift
force
CG: Center of gravity
High Wing: Wing on top (very stable)
Mid Wing: Wing in middle (acrobatic)
Low Wing: Wing on bottom ( less drag)
 Reynolds Number
Reynolds Number (Re): ratio of inertial
forces to viscous forces
Re = (D*V*p)/mu
D=characteristic length
V=velocity
p=density
Mu= dynamic (absolute) viscosity
A non-dimensionalized number that can be
used to relate models to actual aircraft
Determines whether a flow is laminar or
turbulent in the Boundary Layer (laminar is
good)
Very useful for aircraft design
Reynolds Number
S1223 at various Reynolds numbers

2.4
Re=61000
2
Re=101600

1.6 Re=122600
Re=147400
1.2 Re=171400
Cl

0.8 Re=198100
Re=251900
0.4 Re=302200
Re=149500
0
Re=198900
-0.4
-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25

Angle of Attack (degrees)

Note the difference in stall characteristics for different Re

Boundary Layer
No slip condition at
surface (V=0)
Effectively alters the
shape of the airfoil
Separation of the
B.L. results in a stall
Lead to major
advances in aircraft
design
Boundary Layer
Forces of Flight
Lift For steady, level flight these four
Drag forces and the moments they generate
must be in equilibrium. An airplane is a
Thrust force and moment balancing machine.
Weight
Lift
Controlled by
Airspeed, angle of attack, altering airfoil,
and altering the planform area
Lift = * p * V^2 * A *Cl
P=density, V=velocity, A = wing area
Cl=coefficient of lift
How is lift actually generated???
Lift: Equal Transit Time (Wrong)
Air splitting at LE must meet at TE
Air on top has a longer path; must travel
faster
Example: Boeing 747
Weight: 775,000 lbs
Airspeed: 550 mph or 810 ft/sec
Distance across top: 1.059*bottom
Density: 1/39 lb/ft^3
Wing Area: 5,500 ft^2
Boeing 747 Example
Pressure difference:
Punder-Pover=1/2*p*(Vbottom^2-Vtop^2)
Punder-Pover=18.75 lbs/ft^2
Lift=P*A=(18.75 lbs/ft^2) * (5500 ft^2)
Lift=103,000 lbs
Weight=775,000 lbsOoops!!!
This theory says that air accelerates thereby
causing a pressure gradient.
This is completely wrong. A pressure gradient
will cause a fluid to accelerates.
Einstein and Lift
Einstein hired by the German Air Force
He designed a wing based on the
previously described theory
It failed miserably
He was still relatively successful
 Lift is complicated!!!!!!!!
Newton Vs Bernoulli
Newton: deflection of air
Bernoulli: Pressure
gradient
Coanda effect
Circulation
3-D fluid flow is hard

Pressure Gradient
Newton and Bernoulli
A wing forces air down
Thus air forces a wing
up
A change in the
momentum of the fluid
results in a force
Air in motion creates a
pressure difference
around the wing
Air being forced down
Coanda Effect
Tendency of a fluid
in motion to stick to
an object
Due to skin friction
between fluid and
surface
The top of the wing
also directs air down
Experiment with a
rolled up paper.
3-D effects of lift
Spanwise flow
High pressure on
bottom
Low pressure on
top
Air from bottom
tries to move to
top Wing Tip Vortex
Return to the lift equation
Lift = * p * V^2 * A * Cl
Lift can be explained by the pressure
gradient as indicated by the equation
The gradient cannot solely be explained
by air moving faster over the top of the
wing
What about this Cl factor????
Coefficient of Lift
Magic number of lift;
determined
experimentally
Constant for any size
wing with same airfoil
Accounts for unknowns
Varies with angle of
attack
There is an angle where
the wing produces zero
lift
Explains how a wing
can fly upside down
Loss of Lift: Stall
Every wing has a stall angle
Stall angle is the angle of attack at
which the wing loses lift
Stall angle range from 12-20 degrees
What actually causes a stall???
Stall at high AoA
Boundary layer
separates from the
surface (inertial vs
viscous effects)
Effectively changes
wing shape
Turbulence results
that causes more
drag and less lift
 Drag:
Form Drag: shape of object
Skin Friction Drag: surface of object
Induced Drag: component of lift
Parasitic Drag = Form Drag + Skin Drag
Total Drag = Induced Drag + Parasitic Drag
Total Drag = * p * V^2 * A * Cd
Cdis the key and is determined
experimentally just like Cl.
Form and Skin Friction Drag
Form Drag
Greatly affects slow flying planes
Depends upon the frontal area
Depends upon how streamlined
What does it mean to be streamlined??
Examples of things that are streamlined
Skin Friction
Depends upon the surface roughness
Form Drag
How do we know if an object is
streamlined?
Nature,
wind tunnel testing, conformal
mapping

If these shapes are so

aerodynamic, why arent race
cars shaped this way????
 Induced Drag
Equal to horizontal
component of lift
Therefore increases with AoA
Actually caused by the wing
tip vortex discussed earlier
Reduced with use of a high
AR wing
Can be reduced with the
use winglets
Tradeoff: Skin Friction vs Form
Turbulators: prevent the B.L. from
separating
Increases skin friction
Decreases form drag
For slow aircraft; tradeoff is beneficial
Found on sea animals, new swim suits,
and golf balls
Turbulator Examples
Aircraft Stability
Static Stability: When disturbed, the
aircraft returns to original flight path
Longitudinal, Lateral, Roll
Dynamic Stability: Returns to original
flight path without excessive oscillation
Longitudinal Stability
Longitudinal Stability: Locate the
Neutral Point behind CG
Creates a correcting moment
To move the Neutral Point backwards,
increase the horizontal tail area
Lateral Stability
Largely depends upon tail size
CLA: Center of lateral area
Size tail to locate the CLA 25-28% of tail
length behind the CG
Prevents Spiral Instability
Sidegust rotates plane
One wing speeds up

Creates more lift

Directional Stability
Also depends upon tail size and CLA
A high wing adds stability
The plain acts like a pendulum
Naturally returns to stable position
Aircraft Control
Longitudinal, Lateral, and Directional
Control surfaces generate forces
These forces create moments that
rotate the plane
Proper location and sizing results in
excellent control
Stall must always be considered
Ailerons are located at the wing tips
KSU Aero Design Team 2005
Ft. Worth, Texas

3rd Place