Flight dynamics-I Prof. E.G.

Tulapurkara
Chapter-3

Chapter 3
Exercises
3.1 Following data relate to a light airplane.
W =11000 N
2
Wing: S = 15 m , CD0 = 0.007, A.R. = 6.5, taper ratio () = 1.0, e = 0.9.

Fuselage: Has a drag of 136N at V = 160 km/hr at sea level when the angle of
attack is zero.

Horizontal tail: CD0 = 0.006, St = 2.4 m2

Vertical tail: CD0 = 0.006, Sv = 2.1 m2

Other components: CD0 based on wing area = 0.003

Estimate the drag polar of the airplane assuming the contribution of the fuselage
to the lift dependent drag as small.

[Answer: CD = 0.0193 + 0.0544 CL2 ]

[Remark : The CDO of wing in this exercise appears higher than CDO of tails. It is
likely that the airfoil section used on Wing may be thicker (say 15 to 18%) and
that on tail be thinner (say 9%).]
3.2 A drag polar is given as:

CD = CD0 + KCLn

Show that:
CD0 1/n n
CLmd = { } , CDmd = C
K(n-1) n-1 D0
1 1
(CL/CD) max = { (n-1)/n
}
n
(n-1)1/n C D0 K1/n
n-1
Verify that when n = 2, the above expressions reduced to those given by
Eqs. (3.54),(3.55) and (3.56).

3.3 Based on data in Ref.1.1, chapter 6, the drag polar of a hypersonic glider is
given in the table below.

Dept. of Aerospace Engg., Indian Institute of Technology, Madras 1

Flight dynamics-I Prof. E.G. Tulapurkara
Chapter-3

CL 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2

CD 0.028 0.0364 0.05 0.07 0.0907

Fit Eq.(3.52) to this data and obtain CD0 and K. Also obtain CLmd, CDmd and

(CL/CD)max. The expressions mentioned in exercise 3.2 can be used.

[Answers: CD0 = 0.0283, K = 0.703, CD = 0.0283+0.0703 CL3/2

CLmd = 0.1865, CDmd = 0.0849, (CL/CD)max = 2.197].

Dept. of Aerospace Engg., Indian Institute of Technology, Madras 2