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Definitions:
1. Aeromechanics: the branch of mechanics that deals with the motion of
gases (especially air) and their effects on bodies in the flow.
The four forces of flight are lift, weight, thrust and drag. These forces
make an object move up and down, and faster or slower. How much of
each force there is changes how the object moves through the air.
What is weight?
Everything on Earth has weight. This force comes from gravity pulling
down on objects. To fly, an aircraft needs something to push it in the
opposite direction from gravity. The weight of an object controls how strong
the push has to be. A kite needs a lot less upward push than a jumbo jet
does.
What Is Lift?
Lift is the push that lets something move up. It is the force that is the
opposite of weight. Everything that flies must have lift. For an aircraft to
move upward, it must have more lift than weight. A hot air balloon has lift
because the hot air inside is lighter than the air around it. Hot air rises and
carries the balloon with it. A helicopter’s lift comes from the rotor blades at
the top of the helicopter. Their motion through the air moves the helicopter
upward. Lift for an airplane comes from its wings.
What Is Drag?
Drag is a force that tries to slow something down. It makes it hard for an
object to move. It is harder to walk or run through water than through air.
That is because water causes more drag than air. The shape of an object also
changes the amount of drag. Most round surfaces have less drag than flat
ones. Narrow surfaces usually have less drag than wide ones. The more air
that hits a surface, the more drag it makes.
What Is Thrust?
Thrust is the force that is the opposite of drag. Thrust is the push that moves
something forward. For an aircraft to keep moving forward, it must have
more thrust than drag. A small airplane might get its thrust from a propeller.
A larger airplane might get its thrust from jet engines. A glider does not have
thrust. It can only fly until the drag causes it to slow down and land.
Simulation of the airflow over a wing in a wind tunnel, with colored "smoke" to
show the acceleration and deceleration of the air.
From Newton law-So, how does a wing generate lift? To begin to understand
lift we must return to high school physics and review Newton’s first and
third laws. (We will introduce Newton’s second law a little later.) Newton’s
first law states a body at rest will remain at rest, or a body in motion will
continue in straight-line motion unless subjected to an external applied
force. That means, if one sees a bend in the flow of air, or if air originally at
rest is accelerated into motion, there is a force acting on it. Newton’s third
law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. As
an example, an object sitting on a table exerts a force on the table (its
weight) and the table puts an equal and opposite force on the object to hold
it up. In order to generate lift a wing must do something to the air. What the
wing does to the air is the action while lift is the reaction.
Let’s compare two figures used to show streams of air (streamlines) over a
wing. In figure 3 the air comes straight at the wing, bends around it, and then
leaves straight behind the wing. We have all seen similar pictures, even in
flight manuals. But, the air leaves the wing exactly as it appeared ahead of
the wing. There is no net action on the air so there can be no lift! Figure 4
shows the streamlines, as they should be drawn. The air passes over the
wing and is bent down. The bending of the air is the action. The reaction is
the lift on the wing.
True airflow over a wing with lift, showing upwash and downwash.
How does an Airplane Fly?
LIFT
THRUST DRAG
WEIGHT
Gravity opposes lift, thrust opposes drag. In order to take off, the aircraft's thrust
and lift must be suffucient to overcome its weight and drag. In level flight at
constant speed, thrust exactly equals drag and lift exactly equals the pull of gravity.
To land, an aircraft's thrust must be reduced safely below its drag, as its lift is
reduced to levels less than its weight.
LIFT
airflow
Most airplane wings have a special, basic shape as viewed edge-on: their upper
surfaces are curved and their lower surfaces are flatter. This shape is what works
with the fluid motion of the air to create lift. As air moves around a wing, some goes
over the top and some goes underneath. The air that goes over the curved upper
surface undergoes two important changes: it is reduced in pressure (by the
centrifugal force of flowing across the curved surface) and it is accelerated
downward (as it leaves the trailing edge of the wing). The wing is forced into the
region of reduced air pressure above the upper surface of the wing by the higher air
pressure beneath the wing. Also, the downward acceleration of the air (downwash)
at the trailing edge forces the wing upward.
Since lift is dependant on the motion of the air, it increases as the speed of the air
increases. Lift also increases (to a point) as the angle that the wing makes with the
airflow (known as the angle of attack) increases. Past a certain point, however,
increased angle of attack will cause the wing to suddenly lose its lifting ability, or
stall.
Ailerons
The ailerons on an airplane's wings control roll around the longitudinal axis. They
work together, simultaneously, tied to the control wheel, or stick, in the cockpit.
When the control wheel is turned left, the aileron on the left wing goes up and the
one on the right wing goes down. The opposite occurs when the wheel is turned
right. But how does this make the airplane roll?
The ailerons alter the lifting ability of the wings slightly. When an aileron is
lowered, the lift on the outer portion of that wing increases, causing that wing to rise
a little. When an aileron is raised, the lift on the outer portion of that wing is
decreased slightly, causing that wing to drop a little. Since the ailerons on an
airplane work together, their action causes the airplane to roll.
Elevators
The elevators on the horizontal portion of the tail of an airplane control the pitch of
the plane, or its motion around the lateral axis. They are also tied to the control
wheel in the cockpit. When the wheel is pulled back, the elevators move upward,
causing the tail of the plane to move downward and the nose to pitch upward. When
the wheel is pushed forward, the elevators move downward, causing the tail of the
plane to rise and the nose to pitch downward.
The elevators work like the ailerons on the wings, in that they cause changes in the
lift generated by the tail of the plane. Also, the elevators work together,
simultaneously, like the ailerons, but they do not work in opposition to one another.
Both go up when the control wheel is pulled back and both go down when the
control wheel is pushed forward.
Rudder
The rudder on the rear edge of the vertical fin on the airplane's tail controls yaw
around the vertical axis. It is connected to the pedals at the pilot's feet. Pushing the
right pedal causes the rudder to deflect to the right. This makes the tail of the
airplane move toward the left, causing the nose to move to the right. Pushing the left
pedal makes the rudder deflect to the left, the tail moves to the right, and the nose
points to the left.
rudder left, tail right
Although the rudder pedals and control wheel in the cockpit are not linked together,
they must be used simultaneously to control the plane. The pilot guides the airplane
by careful and precise movements of the control wheel and rudder pedals, as well as
adjusting the thrust of the aircraft.
Jet Engines
A jet engine is any engine that ejects a jet or stream of gas or fluid, thereby
obtaining thrust in reaction to the ejection force. A jet aircraft engine obtains
oxygen from the atmosphere for the combustion of its fuel, creating thrust in
reaction to the rapid exhaust of the combustion products. There are several types of
jet engines. Some are briefly described below.
Turbojet
Turboprop
Ramjet
A ramjet engine is the simplest type of jet engine since it has no moving parts. The
engine is basically a specially-shaped duct open at both ends, with the air necessary
for combustion being compressed by the forward motion of the engine. Fuel is
sprayed into the airstream and the mixture is ignited. The high-pressure air coming
into the combustion chamber keeps the reaction from going back toward the inlet.
Combustion Chamber
Air Exhaus
Intak t
e nozzle
Ramjet engines cannot operate under static conditions. In order to function, they
have to already be traveling through the air at slightly over the speed of sound. (The
speed of sound is somewhat over 740 miles per hour at sea level.) This means that
the aircraft using them must first get up to the required speed using some other type
of propulsion, then start the ramjets. They can operate at up to five times the speed
of sound.
Scramjet