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TECEH?ICALHOTES
NATIONAL ADVISORY COMHTTEE .FORAERONAUTICS

No. 353
-..

t--

l
,%
ANALYTICAL DETERMINATION OF THE LOAD ON A TRAILING SDG3 FLAP
By Robert K, PinkertGn
Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory

.
.}.-
_#..: . . :=+

:,
:,.

Washington
!)ctoker,1930
 NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTICS.

TECHNICAL NOTE NO. 353.

.

ANALYTICAL DZTERMIitATIONOF THE LOAD ON A TRAILING EDGE FLAP.

By Robert M. Pinkerton.

Summary

This report presents a theoretical.analysis of the lift

on a trailing edge flap. An analytical expressionhas been de .
rived which enables the computation of the flap load coeffi _,=
ciento The theoretic~ results seem to show a fair agreement .
<
with the me~er experimental results which are available.
*

I nt r o duc t i on
t

.
Theoretical relationships fo; an airfoil with a hinged flaP ...
have been developed by different authors and pzesented in sev-
eral publications, a list of which is contained in the references
of this report. These relationships consist of analytical ex-
pressions which measure the effect of a displaoed flap-upon the ~
lift, pitching moment, and hinge moment coefficients. A SUIIUII~-y

of the theoretical methods used and the results obtained is

given in Reference 6. This reference contains, also, a discus-
sion of the effect of aspect ratio and shows that the parameters
determined therein are independent of aspect ratio. There is,
*
however, one phase of the problem which has not been presented,
i namely, the flap load.
 c N.A,C.A. Technical Note No. 353 2

,
The purpose of this report is to extend the existing theory
of Glauert to an investigation of the load on a trailing e~ue
flap. An analytical expression for the coefficient of lift on
the flap is derived in the following pages.

An al y s i s

For the purpose of this investigation a thin symmetrical

section is chosen as a basis fo2 calculation. Such a section
may be reduced essenti~ly to the diagram below, where the bro-
ken line A E C is the mean camber line of the section. The
diagram and notation are those used by Glauert with two excep-
. tions, namely,,the use of 5 instead of T for flap angle and

T a instead of a for angle of attack of forwmd part of air-

foil. These cha~~es are in keeping with American usage.

u
N.A.C.A. Technical Note No. 353 3

a= ~gle of attack of forward paxt of airfoil,

6 = angle of fI.
ap displacement,
E = ratio of flap chord to total chord,
c = total chord (approximately AC),
Ec = flap chord (EC or NC),
Yc = height of the hinge B above the base line AC,
from which it follows that
,
6 .~+Y ~ (for small angles).
1

The coordinate axes are chosen so that the XaXis coincides

with AC and the origin lies at the leading edge, namely, the
point A, As will be observed later, it is necessary to replace
the va-iable x with the variable 6 where

x= -+C(l-C069) (1)

so that f3 passes along the airfoil from O toTr. IYom the

diagram and equation (1) it is easily found that the hinge is
located by Q where
Cosv = -(1-2E)
(2)
sinq = 2/ E(l -E)

It is shown in Reference 1 that the lift force on an air-

foil is given by
L =[c PVkdx (3)
..
where k d x is the element of vorticity distribution taken
along the airfoil and is assumed to be of the form

kdx=c VI Ao(l+cose)+~ Ansinn8sin0]d8 (4)

N.A.C.A.Technical Note No. 353 4

The values of A. and An are found in Reference 3:

~=q+~;~h
(5)
An = 2sinnV~
nn

The lift force Lf, cn the flap may now be expressed by

means of (3) and (4) and the substitution of the proper limits

Lf = P V2 c jn [Ao(l + COS8) +5 An sin no sinO] d6 (6)

$ 1
Before integration of this expression, it is necessary to rewrite
it in the form (the reason will be apparent upon integration)

Lf = p V2cJn [Ao(l+cos@)+ &l si~s6+ ~ An sin nO sine]de (6)

TJ
Integration ~fi substitution of the values of the coefficients ._
leads finally to the result

Lf = ~ p V2C[2(Tr q - sinq)a+ #{(n - T)z-t* sinq sin 2q

(7)
+; sinnq(sinn+lq _ sin n lw\\ ~]
2 ni n+l n 1 /

Also from the theory of two-dimensional motion

Lf = CLfEC~ P V2 (8)

By inspection of equation (7) we may write the lift coefficient

for the flap in the form
CLf = dla+da~ (9)
 N.A.C.A. Technical Note No. 353 . 5

Equation (3) may be written in the more convenient form

(as will be shown later)

~Lf = no CL-n6 (11)

by means of the expression for CL

CL = ao(a+kb) (Reference 6) (12)

where a. is the slope of the lift curve for infinite aspect

ratio and k is given by

k= +(TT- cp+sin q). (13)

Using 2 n, the theoretical value of a., and equations (10)

and (13), the values of no and n may be calculated as

follows:

no = 2 (n - cp- sing)
V(l + Cosq)

n= 4[~in~q(~ + Cosq]+ 2 ~ ~sinq sin nq cos ng _

Tr(l+ Cosq) 2\ n=-l

COSCP si~ n~}].

n(n2 1) Z

A general.summation of the series term in the e~ression

for n has not.been found, hence an approximate method of cal-
culation is necessary for each size of flap desired.. Values of
no and n have been calculated for different values of q frOm
O degrees to 180 degrees at 15-degree intervals and plotted
* against computed values of E in Figure 1. Sufficient terms

in the series have been taken to obtain reliable results to

*

 .
N.A.C.A. Technical Note No. 353 6

#
three decimal places.
Thus far the analysis has been confined to two-dimensional
flow and the final result is an expression for the lift coeffi-
cient on the flap, namely,

If the usual assumptions are made regarding the effect of chang

ing the aspect ratio, the expression for cLf written in the
form -abovewill not be affected by aspect ratio. In other words,
it is assumed that the section characteristics remain the s%le
if the effective angle of attack and the shape of tnesection
remain the sac. Since the lift coefficient is a measure of ..-
the effective angle of attack, the flap load coefficient is in-
{
dependent of aspect ratio at a given value of the flap angle md
lift coefficient. The equation as written above may, therefo~e,
be applied to a wing of any aspect xatio, and the values of the
parameters no and n, as determined for the infinite wing
(Figure 1), may be applied directly to find the flap load on a
finite wing.

Cornpa?isonwith Experimental Results.- In order to check

the accuracy of the theoretical results presented herein, it
would be necessary ta have accurate measurements of actual flap
loads. Such data are not easily obtainable. However, there axe

available some pressure distribution measurements made on a

a symmetrical R.A.F. 30 airfoil with trailing edge flap which have
 X.A,C.A. Technical Note No. 353 ~

been published in Reference 6. The results at a Reynolds Number

of 3.56 X 10s have been cross-fa~red to obtain the experimental
curves which are shown with the theoretical lines in Fi=gure2.

Lmgley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory,

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics,
Langley Field, Vs., Oct, 13, 1930.

..

Re f er enc e s

1. Glauert, H. : The Elements of Aerofoil and Ai.rscrew

Theory. Cambridge University Press
(1926).
2. Glauert, H. . A Theory of Thin Aerofoils. Reports
.
and Memoranda No. 910 (1924). Brit-
ish Aeronautical Research Committee.
b 3. Glauert, H. .
. Theoretical Relationships for an A6re-
foil with Hinged Flap. Reports and
Memoranda No. 1095 (1927). British
Aeronautical Research Co~mittee.
, 4. Higgins, George J. The Effect of a Flap and Ailerons on
and .
. the K.A.C.A. M6 Airfoil Section.
Jacobs, Eastman N. X.A.C.A. Technical Report No. 260
(1927).
5. Munk, Max M. : The Determination of the Angles of
Attack of Zero Lift and Zero Moiuent,
Based on Wnkls Integrals. N.A.C.A.
Technical Note No. 122 (1923).
6. Jacobs, EastiuanN. Pressure Distribution Over a Symmet
and : rical Airfoil Section with Trailing
Pinkerton, Robert M.
%eJ~a~~9Jj~*cA* echnicd ePort
r
.
N.A.C.A. Technical Note No.353 Fig.1

\
J

\.

.,
. .
2*4 >

= no CL - il
;6
cLf _
2.2
~
2.0 \

1.8 ,.

-
:Tp 1. \
i
..

.1.
I
i
.x, i ~.-.
.. . \
T i
.8 +--- - -+..
t1

I---H---I--H
.4 I .++._.+___ L.
.L

~
I
-
\~
I
8
.2 1-
tt-
o l.-.~ .
0 ,1 .2 .3 .4 .5 .6 .7 .8 .9 1.0
E, Ratio of flap chord to total chord
+

# Fig.1 Theoretical parauet~srs,

c
 .

N.A.C.A. Technical Note No.353 Fig.2

6
-30 -20 -100 0 1(P 2qo 300 400
f
.8
Theo:etic:J
.6

i
.4

2 I t
I

i
I
~L =
CL = 0
.4 == = -L=
cLf O
E = .1
-.2 /
/
-.4 l+)? . .

-.6

The~retie:al
.6 . .
zxpe.rine~
.-t
al
.4
+
.2 -

OLf O /
E=].2
,?.2

-.4

/ ..
-.6 /
4 /
-.8 & J
-300 -200 -109 00- 100 20 30 40
b 5
Fig.2 Comparison of theoretical and experimental
coefficients.