AAE 354

Lesson 04-1

Flight Dynamics

Aircraft Equations
of Motion
Full Description of Aircraft Movement
• Aircraft flight is a dynamic phenomenon:
– Every control input or external excitation results in a
dynamic response
– The dynamic response may have a single or several
frequency components
• The dynamic response may be damped (stable) or
un-damped (unstable)
• The modeling of this dynamic response
necessitates the derivation of the full equations
of motion of the aircraft
 Types of Equations
• Non-Linear Equations of Motion
– Compute exact flight path and motions
• Simulate flight motions
• Optimise flight paths
• Predict performance
– Provide basis for approximate solution
• Linear Equations of Motion
– Simplify computation of flight paths and solutions
– Define modes of motion
– Provide basis for control system design and flying
qualities analysis
Review of Axis System
 Body Axes System
• The linear velocity vector and the angular
velocity vector are resolved along the body
axes system
• Use of a body axes system has the advantage
that the moments of inertia and products of
inertia calculated with respect to this system
would remain almost constant
 Equations of Motion
• Based on Newton’s laws on motion
• Valid in an inertial frame of reference
• Difficult to calculate angular momentum in inertial
frame as moment of inertia varies continuously for a
translating and rotating aircraft
• To avoid this problem body axes are used
• Accelerations measured in body axes system cannot be
used to estimate forces unless accelerations with
respect to an inertial frame of reference are found
• A theorem from vector analysis helps us obtain the
latter accelerations
 Newton’s Second Law
𝑑
෍𝑭 = 𝑚𝑽
𝑑𝑡
𝑑
෍𝑴 = 𝑯
𝑑𝑡

𝑑 𝑑 𝑑
𝐹𝑥 = 𝑚𝑢 𝐹𝑦 = 𝑚𝑣 𝐹𝑧 = 𝑚𝑤
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡

𝑑 𝑑 𝑑
𝐿 = 𝐻𝑥 𝑀 = 𝐻𝑦 𝑁 = 𝐻𝑧
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡

(𝑯 : Moment of Momentum)
 Moment of Momentum
𝑌
𝒗
𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑚 = 𝑚𝒗

𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓
𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑚 = 𝒓 × 𝑚𝒗
𝒎
(𝑯)
𝒓

𝑂 𝑋
 Vector Theorem

If the body-fixed frame is rotating with rotation vector 𝝎, then

𝑑𝑨
for any vector, 𝑨, in the inertial frame is
𝑑𝑡

𝑑𝑨 𝑑𝑨
ቤ = ቤ +𝝎×𝑨 𝝎 = 𝑝𝑖Ƹ + 𝑞𝑗Ƹ + 𝑟𝑘෠
𝑑𝑡 𝐼 𝑑𝑡 𝐵

Specifically, for Newton’s Second Law

𝑑𝑽
𝑭 = 𝑚 ቤ + 𝑚𝝎 × 𝑽 𝑽 = 𝑢𝑖Ƹ + 𝑣𝑗Ƹ + 𝑤 𝑘෠
𝑑𝑡 𝐵
𝑑𝑯
𝑴= ቤ +𝝎×𝑯
𝑑𝑡 𝐵
 Equations of Motion
• Equations of motion are obtained by applying the
Newton’s second law to the motion of airplane
• Airplane is treated as a rigid body which is
translating as well as rotating
• Motion decomposed as:-
– Translation of the c.g. of the airplane with reference
to an inertial frame which is taken as a frame fixed at
a point on the earth, and
– Rotation with respect to the inertial system of a body
axes system attached to the airplane
 Equations of Motion (2)

• Two sets of equations are derived:

– Sum of forces acting on the system (internal and
external) are equal to its rate of change of momentum
– Sum of moments acting on the system (internal and
external) are equal to rate of change of moment of
momentum
• The object of the derivation is to estimate the
accelerations (linear and angular of the aircraft)
 External Forces and Moments
• There are five sources of external forces and
moments:
– Aerodynamic
– Gravitational
– Controls
– Propulsion
– Atmospheric Disturbances
 Assumptions
• The earth is an inertial reference, and unless
otherwise stated the atmosphere is fixed with
respect to the earth
• The aircraft is a rigid body
– Aero-elastic deflections are ignored
• The mass of the aircraft remains constant during
any particular dynamic analysis
– Fuel expenditure is neglected
• The axis OX and OZ lie in the plane of symmetry
of the aircraft, and Ixy and Iyz are equal to zero
 Derivation of Equations of Motion
Force Equation:
𝑑𝑽
𝛿𝑭 = 𝛿𝑚 ቤ
𝑑𝑡 𝐼

• where
– 𝛿𝑚 is an element of mass of the airplane
– 𝑽 is the velocity of elemental mass relative to an
absolute or inertial frame
– 𝛿𝑭 is the resulting force acting on elemental mass
Total external Force:

Velocity of the differential mass δm:

Substituting into Newton’s second law:

Assuming mass of vehicle as constant:

σ 𝛿𝑚𝒓
Since 𝒓𝒄 = 𝑚 = 0
𝑑𝑉𝑐
𝑭=𝑚 ቤ
𝑑𝑡 𝐼
 𝑑𝑽𝒄
𝑭=𝑚 ቤ + 𝑚𝝎 × 𝑽𝒄
𝑑𝑡 𝐵

𝐹𝑥 𝑢ሶ 𝒊 𝒋 𝒌
𝐹𝑦 = 𝑚 𝑣ሶ + 𝑚 𝑑𝑒𝑡 𝑝 𝑞 𝑟
𝐹𝑧 𝑤ሶ 𝑢 𝑣 𝑤

𝐹𝑥 𝑢ሶ 𝑞𝑤 − 𝑟𝑣
𝐹𝑦 = 𝑚 𝑣ሶ + 𝑚 𝑟𝑢 − 𝑝𝑤
𝐹𝑧 𝑤ሶ 𝑝𝑣 − 𝑞𝑢

𝐹𝑥 𝑢ሶ + 𝑞𝑤 − 𝑟𝑣
𝐹𝑦 = 𝑚 𝑣ሶ + 𝑟𝑢 − 𝑝𝑤
𝐹𝑧 𝑤ሶ + 𝑝𝑣 − 𝑞𝑢
 Moment Equation
For the differential mass 𝛿𝑚: 𝛿𝑯 = 𝒓 × 𝛿𝑚𝑽

Velocity of the mass element: 𝑽 = 𝑽𝑐 + 𝝎 × 𝒓

Total Moment of Momentum: 𝑯 = ෍ 𝛿𝑯 = ෍ 𝒓 × 𝛿𝑚 𝑽𝒄 + 𝝎 × 𝒓

= ෍ 𝒓 × 𝑽𝒄 𝛿𝑚 + ෍ 𝒓 × 𝝎 × 𝒓 𝛿𝑚

Since 𝑽𝒄 is a constant: 𝑯 = ෍ 𝒓𝛿𝑚 × 𝑽𝒄 + ෍ 𝒓 × 𝝎 × 𝒓 𝛿𝑚

Since σ 𝒓𝛿𝑚 = 0: 𝑯 = ෍ 𝒓 × 𝝎 × 𝒓 𝛿𝑚 = ෍ 𝒓. 𝒓 𝝎 − 𝒓. 𝝎 𝒓 𝛿𝑚

= 𝝎 ෍ 𝒓. 𝒓 𝛿𝑚 − ෍ 𝒓𝒓. 𝝎𝛿𝑚
But 𝒓 = 𝑥 𝑖Ƹ + 𝑦𝑗Ƹ + 𝑧𝑘෠
 𝑯 = 𝑝𝒊 + 𝑞𝒋 + 𝑟𝒌 ෍ 𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 + 𝑧 2 𝛿𝑚
After expanding:

− ෍ 𝑥𝒊 + 𝑦𝒋 + 𝑧𝒌 𝑝𝑥 + 𝑞𝑦 + 𝑟𝑧 𝛿𝑚
Scalar components of H:

Identifying inertia elements:

𝐻𝑥 = 𝑝𝐼𝑥 − 𝑞𝐼𝑥𝑦 − 𝑟𝐼𝑥𝑧

𝐻𝑦 = −𝑝𝐼𝑥𝑦 + 𝑞𝐼𝑦 − 𝑟𝐼𝑦𝑧
𝐻𝑧 = −𝑝𝐼𝑥𝑧 − 𝑞𝐼𝑦𝑧 + 𝑟𝐼𝑧
 Moments of Inertia
Note that:

𝐼𝑥 = ෍ 𝛿𝑚 𝑦 2 + 𝑧 2 𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝐼𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 0𝑥 𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑠

𝐼𝑦 = ෍ 𝛿𝑚 𝑥 2 + 𝑧 2 𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 0𝑦 𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑠

𝐼𝑧 = ෍ 𝛿𝑚 𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 0𝑧 𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑠

𝐼𝑥𝑦 = ෍ 𝛿𝑚𝑥𝑦 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 0𝑥 𝑎𝑛𝑑 0𝑦 𝑎𝑥𝑒𝑠

𝐼𝑥𝑧 = ෍ 𝛿𝑚𝑥𝑧 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 0𝑥 𝑎𝑛𝑑 0𝑧 𝑎𝑥𝑒𝑠

𝐼𝑦𝑧 = ෍ 𝛿𝑚𝑦𝑧 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 0𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 0𝑧 𝑎𝑥𝑒𝑠

Using Inertia notation:

𝐻𝑥 = 𝑝𝐼𝑥 − 𝑞𝐼𝑥𝑦 − 𝑟𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝐼𝑥 −𝐼𝑥𝑦 −𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑝

𝐻𝑦 = −𝑝𝐼𝑥𝑦 + 𝑞𝐼𝑦 − 𝑟𝐼𝑦𝑧 or 𝑯 = −𝐼𝑥𝑦 𝐼𝑦 −𝐼𝑦𝑧 𝑞
𝐻𝑧 = −𝑝𝐼𝑥𝑧 − 𝑞𝐼𝑦𝑧 + 𝑟𝐼𝑧 −𝐼𝑥𝑧 −𝐼𝑦𝑧 𝐼𝑧 𝑟
 Applying Moment Equation:

𝑑𝑯
𝑴= ቤ +𝝎×𝑯
𝑑𝑡 𝐵

𝐿 𝐼𝑥 𝑝ሶ − 𝐼𝑥𝑦 𝑞ሶ − 𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑟ሶ 𝑝𝐼𝑥 − 𝑞𝐼𝑥𝑦 − 𝑟𝐼𝑥𝑧

𝑴 = 𝑀 = −𝐼𝑥𝑦 𝑝ሶ + 𝐼𝑦 𝑞ሶ − 𝐼𝑦𝑧 𝑟ሶ + 𝝎 × −𝑝𝐼𝑥𝑦 + 𝑞𝐼𝑦 − 𝑟𝐼𝑦𝑧
𝑁 −𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑝ሶ − 𝐼𝑦𝑧 𝑞ሶ + 𝐼𝑧 𝑟ሶ −𝑝𝐼𝑥𝑧 − 𝑞𝐼𝑦𝑧 + 𝑟𝐼𝑧

𝐿 𝐼𝑥 𝑝ሶ − 𝐼𝑥𝑦 𝑞ሶ − 𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑟ሶ + 𝑞 −𝑝𝐼𝑥𝑧 − 𝑞𝐼𝑦𝑧 + 𝑟𝐼𝑧 − 𝑟 −𝑝𝐼𝑥𝑦 + 𝑞𝐼𝑦 − 𝑟𝐼𝑦𝑧

𝑀 = −𝐼𝑥𝑦 𝑝ሶ + 𝐼𝑦 𝑞ሶ − 𝐼𝑦𝑧 𝑟ሶ − 𝑝 −𝑝𝐼𝑥𝑧 − 𝑞𝐼𝑦𝑧 + 𝑟𝐼𝑧 + 𝑟 𝑝𝐼𝑥 − 𝑞𝐼𝑥𝑦 − 𝑟𝐼𝑥𝑧
𝑁 −𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑝ሶ − 𝐼𝑦𝑧 𝑞ሶ + 𝐼𝑧 𝑟ሶ + 𝑝 −𝑝𝐼𝑥𝑦 + 𝑞𝐼𝑦 − 𝑟𝐼𝑦𝑧 − 𝑞 𝑝𝐼𝑥 − 𝑞𝐼𝑥𝑦 − 𝑟𝐼𝑥𝑧
𝐿 𝐼𝑥 𝑝ሶ − 𝐼𝑥𝑦 𝑞ሶ − 𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑟ሶ + 𝑞 −𝑝𝐼𝑥𝑧 − 𝑞𝐼𝑦𝑧 + 𝑟𝐼𝑧 − 𝑟 −𝑝𝐼𝑥𝑦 + 𝑞𝐼𝑦 − 𝑟𝐼𝑦𝑧
𝑀 = −𝐼𝑥𝑦 𝑝ሶ + 𝐼𝑦 𝑞ሶ − 𝐼𝑦𝑧 𝑟ሶ − 𝑝 −𝑝𝐼𝑥𝑧 − 𝑞𝐼𝑦𝑧 + 𝑟𝐼𝑧 + 𝑟 𝑝𝐼𝑥 − 𝑞𝐼𝑥𝑦 − 𝑟𝐼𝑥𝑧
𝑁 −𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑝ሶ − 𝐼𝑦𝑧 𝑞ሶ + 𝐼𝑧 𝑟ሶ + 𝑝 −𝑝𝐼𝑥𝑦 + 𝑞𝐼𝑦 − 𝑟𝐼𝑦𝑧 − 𝑞 𝑝𝐼𝑥 − 𝑞𝐼𝑥𝑦 − 𝑟𝐼𝑥𝑧

With 𝐼𝑥𝑦 = 𝐼𝑦𝑧 = 0

𝐿 𝐼𝑥 𝑝ሶ − 𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑟ሶ + 𝑞𝑟 𝐼𝑧 − 𝐼𝑦 − 𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑝𝑞
𝑀 = 𝐼𝑦 𝑞ሶ + 𝑟𝑝 𝐼𝑥 − 𝐼𝑧 + 𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑝2 − 𝑟 2
𝑁 −𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑝ሶ + 𝐼𝑧 𝑟ሶ + 𝑝𝑞 𝐼𝑦 − 𝐼𝑥 + 𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑞𝑟
 EQUATIONS OF MOTION
SUMMARY

𝐹𝑥 𝑢ሶ + 𝑞𝑤 − 𝑟𝑣
𝐹𝑦 = 𝑚 𝑣ሶ + 𝑟𝑢 − 𝑝𝑤
𝐹𝑧 𝑤ሶ + 𝑝𝑣 − 𝑞𝑢

𝐿 𝐼𝑥 𝑝ሶ − 𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑟ሶ + 𝑞𝑟 𝐼𝑧 − 𝐼𝑦 − 𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑝𝑞
𝑀 = 𝐼𝑦 𝑞ሶ + 𝑟𝑝 𝐼𝑥 − 𝐼𝑧 + 𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑝2 − 𝑟 2
𝑁 −𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑝ሶ + 𝐼𝑧 𝑟ሶ + 𝑝𝑞 𝐼𝑦 − 𝐼𝑥 + 𝐼𝑥𝑧 𝑞𝑟
 Note about Symmetry
• Note that aircraft symmetry must be carefully
considered before being enforced
• It cannot be enforced if the aircraft itself is
asymmetric
• It cannot be enforced if the external store
configuration is asymmetric
• It cannot be enforced if the thrust (or power)
configuration is asymmetric – e.g. engine out
case
• Strictly speaking, it can’t even be applied when
the ailerons or rudder are deflected