Aerodynamic Center1

Suppose we have the forces and moments specified about some reference
location for the aircraft, and we want to restate them about some new origin.
~L
N~ ~L
N~

Mref A Mnew A
z

x xref xnew

M ref = Pitching moment about xref

M new = Pitching moment about xnew
xref = Original reference location
xnew = New origin
N = Normal force ≈ L for small ∝
A = Axial force ≈ D for small ∝

Assuming there is no change in the z location of the two points:

M ref = −( xnew − xref ) L + M new

Or, in coefficient form:

 
x −x 
Cm ref = −  new ref  CL + CM
 cN  new

 mean 
 a .c. 

The Aerodynamic Center is defined as that location xac about which the pitching
moment doesn’t change with angle of attack.

How do we find it?

1
Anderson 1.6 & 4.3
 Aerodynamic Center

Let xnew = xac

Using above:
( x − xref )
CM ref = − ac CL + CM ac
c

Differential with respect to α :

∂CM ref  x − xref  ∂CL  ∂CM ac 

= −  ac  ∂α +  ∂α 
∂α  c   
By definition:

 ∂CM ac 
 =0
 ∂α 
Solving for the above

xac − xref  ∂CM ref   ∂CL 

= −    , or
c  ∂α   ∂α 
xac − xref xref ∂CM ref 
= − 
c c  ∂CL 

Example:

Consider our AVL calculations for the F-16C

• xref = 0 - Moment given about LE
∂CM ref
• Compute for small range of angle of attack by numerical
∂CL
differences. I picked α = −30 to α = 30 .
x
• This gave ac ≈ 2.89 .
c
x ∂CM
• Plotting CM vs α about ac shows ≈0.
c ∂α

∂CM
Note that according to the AVL predictions, not only is ≈ 0 @ xac = 2.89 , but
∂α
also that CM = 0 . The location about which CM = 0 is called the center of
pressure.

16.100 2002 2
 Aerodynamic Center

Center of pressure is that location where the resultant forces act and about which
the aerodynamic moment is zero.

Changing “new” to “cp” and “ref” to “NOSE” to correspond to AVL:

 xcp − xNOSE 
 C L + C M cp

CM NOSE = −

 c 
xcp CM NOSE
⇒ =−
c CL
So if:
CM NOSE ∂CM NOSE
= ,
CL ∂CL
this will be true. This means that

CM ≈ 0 at CL = 0 .

16.100 2002 3
 Cm vs Alpha for F16C from AVL (M=0)

1.5

0.5

0
-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20

-0.5

Xref = 0
-1

Cm
Xref = Xac = 2.89

-1.5

-2

-2.5

-3

-3.5
Alpha
 Wind Tunnel Test Aerodynamic Center Characteristics for Washout and Rigid Wings (Altitude
= 10,000 ft.)

50

45

40

35
Rigid Wing
Washout Wing
30

A.C. (% MAC)
25

20

15
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3
Mach Number