PERFORMANCE

Hernán Amaya BEng. MSc. PhD.

 Presentation Overview

• Aerodynamics on aircraft performance.

 Aerodynamic force
Aerodynamic force exerted on a body immersed in an
airflow is due to:
• Pressure: acts locally perpendicular to the surface.
• Shear stress: acts locally parallel to the surface.

𝑅 = − න 𝑝𝑛𝑑𝑆 + න 𝜏𝑘𝑑𝑆
𝑠 𝑆

*Anderson, J., Aircraft Performance and Design, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, 2010 1
 Aerodynamic lift, drag,
and moments
α = 𝐴𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑡𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝐴𝑜𝐴 .
𝑉∞ = 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑒 − 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 .
𝐿 = 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑉∞ .
𝐷 = 𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑔 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑉∞ .
𝑀𝑐 = 𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑑.
4
𝑀 (𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒) 𝑀− (𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒)
+

*Anderson, J., Aircraft Performance and Design, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, 2010 2
 Aerodynamic lift, drag,
and moments
Centre of pressure (body centroid): the c.p. of the
distributed load on the body is the point through
which the equivalent concentrated force acts.

*Anderson, J., Aircraft Performance and Design, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, 2010 3
 Aerodynamic
coefficients
The aerodynamic coefficients are a non-dimensional
values that simplifies the use of aerodynamic forces.
𝐿 𝐷 𝑀
𝐶𝐿 = 𝑞 ; 𝐶𝐷 = 𝑞 ; 𝐶𝑀 =
∞𝑆 ∞𝑆 𝑞∞ 𝑆𝑐
1 2
𝑞∞ = 𝜌𝑉∞
2
𝑞∞ = 𝐷𝑦𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒.
𝑆 = 𝑅𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎.
𝑐 = 𝑅𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑑.

*Anderson, J., Aircraft Performance and Design, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, 2010 4
 Aerodynamic
coefficients

*Anderson, J., Aircraft Performance and Design, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, 2010 5
 The aerodynamic centre
(neutral point)
Is the point on a body about which the moments are
independent of the AoA.
𝑥𝑎.𝑐 𝑎0
=
𝑐 𝑚0
∆𝑐𝑙
𝑎0 = (𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡)
∆𝛼
∆𝑐𝑚𝑐/4
𝑚0 = (𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡)
∆𝛼

*Anderson, J., Aircraft Performance and Design, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, 2010 6
 Aerodynamic lift
𝑏2 • High AR (straight wing) :
𝐴𝑅 = (𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔) choice for relatively low-speed
𝑆
subsonic airplanes (gliders).
𝐴𝑅 = 𝐴𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜, 𝑏 = 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑛 , 𝑆 = 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 Produce less induced drag
𝑐𝑡 (vortex downwash).
𝑇𝑅 =
𝑐𝑟 • Low AR (straight wing): has
low supersonic wave drag.
𝑇𝑅 = 𝑇𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜, 𝑐𝑡 = 𝑡𝑖𝑝 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑑, 𝑐𝑟 = 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑑 Poor aerodynamic efficiency at
low speeds. Stability problems.
• Swept wings: reduce wave
drag at transonic and
supersonic speeds. Lower lift
coefficient tan a straight wing.
• Delta wings: are employed for
supersonic flight. Low lift and
unstable.

*Anderson, J., Aircraft Performance and Design, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, 2010 7
 Aerodynamic drag
1. Pressure drag: due to a net imbalance of surface pressure acting in the drag
direction (pressure drag due to flow separation / pressure drag due to tip
vortices).
2. Friction drag: due to the net effect of shear stress acting in the drag direction
(skin-friction drag).
Profile drag (2D): skin-friction drag + pressure drag due to flow separation.
𝑐𝑑 = 𝑐𝑓 + 𝑐𝑑𝑝
Induced drag (3D): pressure drag imbalance cause by the downwash associated
with the vortices created at the tips of the wings.
Parasite drag: total drag associated with skin-friction and pressure drag due to
flow separation, integrated over the complete airplane surface.
Zero-lift drag: The parasite drag that exists when the airplane is at its zero-lift AoA
(zero lift) (𝑐𝑑𝑜 ).
*Anderson, J., Aircraft Performance and Design, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, 2010 8
 Aerodynamic drag
Induced drag Parasite D. at zero L.

*Anderson, J., Aircraft Performance and Design, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, 2010 9
 Aerodynamic drag
𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑡
𝑐𝑑𝑜 = 𝑐𝑓
𝑆

*Anderson, J., Aircraft Performance and Design, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, 2010 10
 The Drag Polar
The drag polar is the equation and the graph that relates 𝑐𝑑
and 𝑐𝑙 , in other words, is the resultant aerodynamic force
plotted in polar coordinates. All the aerodynamic information
about an airplane necessary for performance analysis is
wrapped up in the drag polar.

𝑐𝑑 = 𝑐𝑑𝑜 + 𝑘𝑐𝑙2
𝑘 = 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡

*Anderson, J., Aircraft Performance and Design, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, 2010 11
 The Drag Polar
• The length and angle of the dashed
line from 0-1correspond to the
resultant force coefficient 𝐶𝑟 .
𝑐𝑙
• The slope of the line 0-1 is equal to
𝑐𝑑
(lift to drag ratio).
• The tangent line to the drag polar
drawn from the origin locates the point
of max. lift to drag ratio for the
airplane.
• The AoA associated with the tangen
point corresponds to that AoA for the
𝐿
airplane when it is flying at
𝐷 𝑚𝑎𝑥.

*Anderson, J., Aircraft Performance and Design, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, 2010 12
 The Drag Polar
Lockheed C-141 military jet transport drag polar,
low speed 𝑴∞ < 𝟎. 𝟒 :

*Anderson, J., Aircraft Performance and Design, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, 2010 13
Thank You