High Speed Flow

Differences between
high and low speed
flows

Sound waves consist of a succession of

weak pressure disturbances
propagate through the air. The speed at
which these disturbances
through the air is called the speed of
sound, and we find that this speed is of
great significance in aerodynamics. The
speed of sound is not constant but
depends upon the square root of the
absolute air temperature. Thus, at low
altitudes, where the temperature
relatively high, the speed of sound is
higher than it is at high altitudes where
the temperature is less.
Figure 3.1 shows the difference between
the flows over a simple airfoil on an
aircraft flying at (a) a speed below the
speed of sound (subsonic) (b) a speed
greater than the speed of
(supersonic). A number of significant
differences are apparent.
which
♦Firstly in the low speed flow the air is
disturbed a long way in front of the airfoil,
advance
while, for the supersonic flow, the area of
disturbance is strictly limited and ahead
of this region the air is totally unaffected
by the presence of the airfoil.
♦ Secondly, the local direction of the flow
varies relatively smoothly at the low
is speed, while at high speed there is a very
abrupt change where the air is first
disturbed.
More detailed examination of the flow
also shows that there are
correspondingly abrupt changes in
speed, temperature and pressure along a
streamline. The line along which these
sound abrupt changes take place is known as a
shock wave. As can be seen in Fig. 3.1,
shock waves form both at the leading and
trailing edges of our airfoil. The formation
of shock waves is of great importance in
high speed flow and we shall be looking
at them in greater detail shortly.
Importance of speed of
sound – Mach number
An aircraft travelling at supersonic speed
does not affect the state of the air ahead
of the aircraft, while at subsonic speed
the disturbance is propagated far
upstream. In order to understand the
reason for this we need to take a look at
how the aircraft is able to make its
presence felt as it travels through the air.
Figure 3.2(a) shows the nose of an
aircraft flying at subsonic speed. As the
flow approaches the nose of the aircraft it
slows and the pressure locally increases.
The influence of this region of increased
pressure is transmitted upstream against
the oncoming flow at the speed of sound
(approximately 343 m/s at sea level). If
the flow approaching the aircraft is
subsonic then the disturbance will be
transmitted faster than the oncoming flow
and the aircraft will be able to make its
presence felt infinitely far upstream.
Figure 3.2(b) shows what happens in
supersonic flight. The disturbance can
only make headway through an area near
the nose where the flow is locally
subsonic. The flow upstream is separated
from this localized region by a shock
wave, and is completely uninfluenced by
the presence of the aircraft.
As the speed of the flow increases, so
the region of subsonic flow at the nose
gets smaller and the shock wave gets
stronger (i.e. the pressure, density and
temperature jumps all become larger).
This is why the speed of the aircraft
relative to the speed of sound is the
important factor in determining the flow
characteristics. This ratio is known as the
flight Mach number.
Flight Mach No. = Aircraft
speed/speed of sound
The different types of high
speed flow
 increasing air speed upstream of the
Shock waves shock wave.

The strength of the shock wave,

We saw how the shock waves formed in
expressed as the ratio of the pressure in
front of it, slowing the air down almost
front of the wave to that behind, depends
instantaneously and providing a subsonic
solely on the Mach number of the
patch through which the pressure
approaching air stream.
information could propagate a limited
distance upstream at the speed of sound Depending on the shape of the object
(Fig. 3.2). It should be noted that the and the speed of the flow, the shock
shock wave itself is able to make wave may be inclined to the flow
headway against the oncoming stream direction. When a shock wave is inclined
above the speed of sound. Only weak to the flow direction it is called an oblique
pressure disturbances travel at the speed shock.
of sound. The stronger the shock wave
is, the faster it can travel through the air.

If the shock wave is perpendicular to the

flow direction it is called a normal shock.

Considering the problem from the point of

view of a stream of air approaching a
stationary aircraft, this means that the
faster the oncoming stream, the stronger
the shock wave at the nose becomes.
Thus the changes in pressure, density,
temperature and velocity which occur
through the shock wave all increase with
 Chord: The distance between the
Subsonic Airflow leading and trailing edges measured
along the chord line.

Angle of Incidence: The angle between

the wing root chord line and the
longitudinal axis of the aircraft. (This
angle is fixed for the wing, but may be
variable for the tail plane).

Mean Line or Camber Line: A line

joining the leading and trailing edges of
an airfoil, equidistant from the upper and
lower surfaces.

Maximum Camber: The maximum

distance of the mean line from the chord
line. Maximum camber is expressed as a
percentage of the chord, with its location
as a percentages of the chord aft of the
leading edge. When the camber line lies
above the chord line the airfoil is said to
have positive camber, and if the camber
line is below the chord line it is said to
have negative camber. A symmetrical
airfoil has no camber because the chord
line and camber line are coincidental.
Figure 3.3
Thickness/Chord ratio: The maximum
thickness or depth of an airfoil section
Airfoil Terminology
expressed as a percentage of the chord,
with its location as a percentages of the
Airfoil : A shape capable of producing lift
chord aft of the leading edge. The
with relatively high efficiency.
thickness and thickness distribution of the

Chord Line: A straight line joining the airfoil section have a great influence on

centers of curvature of the leading and its airflow characteristics.

trailing edges of
Leading edge radius: The radius of
an airfoil.
curvature of the leading edge. The size of
the leading edge radius can significantly
effect the initial airflow characteristics of
the airfoil section.
Relative Air Flow (Relative Wind or
Free Stream Flow): Relative Air Flow
has three qualities.
DIRECTION - air parallel to, and in the
opposite direction to the flight path of the
aircraft, in fact the path of the CG; the
direction in which the aircraft is pointing is
irrelevant.
CONDITION - air close to, but unaffected
by the presence of the aircraft; its
pressure, temperature and velocity are
not affected by the passage of the aircraft
through it.
MAGNITUDE - The magnitude of the
Relative Air Flow is the TAS.
If airflow does not possess all three of
these qualities, it is referred to as
EFFECTIVE AIRFLOW.
Total Reaction: The resultant of all the
aerodynamic forces acting on the airfoil
section.
Centre of Pressure (CP): The point on
the chord line, through which Lift is
considered to act.
Lift: The aerodynamic force which acts at
90° to the Relative Air Flow.
Drag: The aerodynamic force which acts
parallel to and in the same direction as
the Relative Air Flow (or opposite to the
aircraft flight path).
Angle of Attack (α or alpha) (can also
be referred to as Aerodynamic Incidence)
The angle between the chord line and the
Relative Air Flow.
The angle between the chord line and the
effective airflow is referred to as the
EFFECTIVE ANGLE OF ATTACK
Basics about
Airflow
When considering airflow velocity, it
makes no difference to the pressure
pattern if the aircraft is moving through
the air or the air is flowing over the
aircraft: it is the relative velocity which is
the important factor. To promote a full
understanding, references will be made
to both wind tunnel experiments, where
air is flowing over a stationary aircraft,
and aircraft in flight moving through
‘stationary’ air.
Three dimensional airflow: Three
dimensional flow is the true airflow over
an aircraft and consists of a hypothetical
two dimensional flow modified by various
pressure differentials. Three dimensional
airflow will be examined later.
Two dimensional airflow: Assumes a
wing with the same airfoil section along
the entire span with no spanwise
pressure differential or flow.
TWO DIMENSIONAL
Figure 3.7 shows the same airfoil section
AIRFLOW
at the same angle of attack, but subject
to a higher dynamic pressure (IAS). “If
This CONCEPT, Figures 3.4 and 3.5, is
the dynamic pressure (IAS) is increased,
used to illustrate the basic principles of
the pressure differential will increase”.
aerodynamic force generation.

As air flows towards an airfoil it will be

turned towards the lower pressure at the
upper surface; this is termed upwash.
After passing over the airfoil the airflow
returns to its original position and state;
this is termed downwash.

Figure 3.6

Figure 3.4

Figure 3.7
Figure 3.5
The pressure differential acting on the
Influence of Dynamic Pressure: Figure
surface area will produce an upward
3.6 shows an airfoil section at a
acting force. “If the dynamic pressure
representative angle of attack subject to
(IAS) is increased, the upward force will
a given dynamic pressure (IAS). “If the
increase”
static pressure on one side of a body is
reduced more than on the other side, a
pressure differential will exist”.
Overview
Aircrafts that are in supersonic flow have
different wing planforms, we see that some
Supersonic Airfoils
wings are straight, some are swept, some are
small and some are large. All have provided
There are some similarities in supersonic flow.
successful solutions to the problem of flight at
The lift is produced by a difference in pressure
supersonic speeds.
between the top and bottom surfaces, and this
As in most engineering design problems, the requires a high speed on the top surface and a
answer is to be found in the fact that the reduced speed on the lower surface whether
design process is one of compromise. the flow is subsonic or supersonic.
Although an aircraft may be designed for high
However, although the two cases have this
speed, unless it is an air launched missile it
much in common, there are considerable
still needs to land and take off and so has to
differences between the flow patterns of the
fly at low as well as high speed.
high and low speed cases.
As well as the speed range required of the
For example shock wave generation is an
aircraft, other considerations such as the
important factor at high speed, and suitable
degree of manoeuvrability required may have
design to minimize the drag caused by the
an important influence on the overall
formation of these shock waves is extremely
configuration.
important. With these points in mind, it is likely
that the airfoil sections which perform best in

Figure 3.8 Highly swept wings (Lightning supersonic conditions may look considerably

aircraft) different from their low speed cousins.

The flow is characterized by the development

of shock wave systems at the leading and
trailing edges. In the supersonic flow regime,
the flow field is entirely supersonic, with the
exception of a small patch of subsonic flow on
the blunt leading edge in the region of the
stagnation point.

The wave drag associated with this type of

airfoil is high because of the strong bow shock
wave. Such an airfoil is therefore not suitable
Figure 3.9 Canard and Delta wings for use in supersonic flow unless the wing is
(Eurofighter Typhoon)
swept to reduce the effective approach Thus we find that airfoils with sharp leading
velocity. edges and abrupt changes in surface slope,
factors which would lead to disastrous
In order to reduce the strength of the bow
performance at low speed, perform quite well
shock wave it is desirable to make the leading
in the supersonic speed range.
edge of the airfoil sharp. This will remove the
region of near normal shock associated with Compared to a typical low speed airfoil, for
the blunt leading edge, with a consequent which L/D ratios in the order of 40 can be
reduction in wave drag. obtained, their performance does not look all
that exciting. The comparatively poor
When we increase the angle of attack that the
performance is, of course, due to the wave
biggest surprise occurs, however. We already
drag which has to be overcome.
know that, for low speeds, thin airfoils and,
even worse, those with sharp leading edges, This penalty may, however, be acceptable in
will stall at relatively low angles of attack. Even many military applications where speed is of
if the flow were to successfully negotiate the prime importance. For civil transport aircraft,
sharp leading edge we would not do all that too, the poor lift-to-drag ratio may be
well. The sudden change in surface direction acceptable. The increased cruising speed
at the junction between the front and rear allows better utilization of the aircraft and a
surface would again lead to separation; this better measure of overall efficiency may be
time over the rear part of the airfoil. See the cruising speed times the lift-to-drag ratio.
Figure 3.9

If we want to take off or land our aircraft from

conventional runways and to have a
reasonable subsonic performance, as well as
operate at supersonic speeds, we need to
employ a wing with acceptable low speed and
high speed performance and which does not
have any violent change in flow characteristics
as the aircraft accelerates through its speed
range. It is the precise nature of this
compromise which is responsible for the large
variety of solutions which are found in
practice.
 The transition from supersonic to
Planforms for hypersonic flight is not sudden and

supersonic flight dramatic as is the transition from

subsonic to supersonic conditions.
Hypersonic flight exhibits the same basic
Unswept wing flow phenomena that are found in the
supersonic regime but the problems of
If the wing is unswept a sharp leading flow analysis become more difficult
edge is required to reduce the wave drag because of the breakdown of some of the
and, since such wing sections have poor assumptions we made at lower Mach
low speed performance, they are not numbers, and because of the increased
employed when this aspect is important. importance of kinetic heating.

Hypersonic flight has been the province

mainly of missiles and re-entry capsules,
together with what is really a hypersonic
glider; the American space shuttle.

F-104

Swept wing

wing sweep could be used to reduce the

component of velocity approaching at
right angles to the wing leading edge. If
the wing is swept back sufficiently to
make this velocity component less than
the velocity of sound then the wing will
behave as though in a subsonic air
stream.

Hypersonic aircraft
 and we will examine some particularly
important applications of this principle
when we look at hypersonic aircraft
shortly.

Engine installation is another area in

which careful attention to such
interference effects can bring great
returns. An example of this is the
positioning of the engines and intake
system on the Concorde. The influence
of the local flow field generated by the
under-surface of the wing in the region of
the intakes plays a very important role in
this design.

Unit 4 Flight
Stability
Control
requirements
An aircraft is free to move in the six
different ways illustrated in Figure below.
These are known as the six degrees of
freedom, and several aspects of each
Favorable interference degree may need to be controlled. For
effects example, we need to be able not only to
set the pitch angle, but also to control the

In supersonic flight the lift-to-drag ratio rate at which the angle changes. We may

can be further refined by paying careful even wish to be able to regulate its rate

attention to the favorable interference of acceleration, so there can be eighteen

which can be obtained between or more different aspects to control.

components such as wings and fuselage,

Nowadays, it is possible to design very On most other aircraft, some form of
complex control systems with a fair handlebars or spectacle grip is provided,
degree of confidence. The most either protruding from the instrument
important cross-coupling factors can be panel as in Fig. 4.2, or mounted on a
predicted, simulated and verified by movable control column.
wind-tunnel experiments, or by test-flying
modified aircraft. The introduction of
digital electronics into the control system
has made it possible to modify and adjust
the control response of the aircraft.

Figure 4.2

With the introduction of completely

electronically operated fly-by-wire
systems (described later), where the
control column provides no direct
mechanical operation of the control
Pilot's Controls surfaces, a new form of control called a
sidestick has been introduced.
Since the very earliest days, the three
primary control actions available to the
pilot of a conventional aircraft have been
those of pitch, roll, and yaw, as defined in
Figure above.

On most military interceptor aircraft, the

controls are
operated by the same type of control
stick or joystick as used on early aircraft.
 Yaw control is provided by foot-operated
pedals. Pushing on the pedal bar with the
right foot causes the aircraft to yaw to the
pilot’s right. Most people find this pedal
action natural, which is curious, because
unlike the other controls, the pedals work
in the opposite sense to the turning
direction required. On a bicycle, pushing
the right handlebar would turn the bicycle
left.
Note, that the amount of rotation of the
handlebars affects the rate of roll, rather
than the angle to which the aircraft rolls.
Indicating
Instruments
The pilot is effectively part of the aircraft’s
control system, and he needs to have a good
indication of the results of his action. Figure
4.2 shows the primary instruments available
on a typical light aircraft. In some aircraft,
many of the individual instruments are now
replaced by a display on a form of computer
screen, as seen in Fig. 4.3.
FIGURE 4.4
Yaw control
On conventional aircraft, the yaw-control
pedals are connected to a movable rudder,
which is attached to the vertical stabilizer or
fin, as illustrated in Fig. 4.4. Operation of the
rudder effectively produces a camber of the
vertical stabilizer surface, and this hence
generates a sideways force. Less commonly,
the whole fin surface is turned so that it is
inclined to the flow. Since the side-force is
applied well behind the center of gravity, it
produces a yawing moment.
Yaw control is not used as the primary means
of changing direction, except when
maneuvering on or very close to the
ground.
On large aircraft, several independently driven
rudders may be provided (on a single fin),
mainly for reasons of safety. The use of
multiple rudders can also enable the balance
between yaw and roll action to be controlled,
according to whether an upper, or a lower
rudder is used. On multi-finned aircraft, two or
more rudders may be used, operating in
parallel.
Pitch control
Figure 4.4 also shows the pitch-control
surfaces of a conventional aircraft. In the
traditional arrangement, the rear portion on the
tailplane (horizontal stabilizer) is hinged to
form an elevator. The same arrangement may
be seen on the old Auster in Fig. 4.5. By
deflecting the rear of the elevator upwards, the
tailplane is given a negative camber, resulting
in a downward (negative lift) force. As the tail
is pulled down, the angle of attack of the wing
is increased, so that the final result of
up-elevator is to cause a nose-up pitching
moment, and an increase in overall lift.
difference in effective camber on the two
wings causes a difference in lift, and hence, a
rolling moment.
On the Wright Flyer and other early aircraft,
ailerons were not used. Instead, the whole
wing was warped differentially, by using an
ingenious arrangement of wires. Wing warping
is an efficient method of control, as there is no
discontinuity in the wing geometry. Its use was
discontinued when the speed of aircraft
increased, and they began to encounter
problems due to unwanted distortion of
surfaces, as described later. Recently, there
has been a renewed interest in the use of wing
warping, because composite materials enable
the stiffness to be controlled accurately

FIGURE 4.5
As the tailplane is required to produce both
downward and upward forces, with little force
during cruise, it is normally given a near
symmetrical or uncambered section.

Roll control
FIGURE 4.6
Roll control has traditionally been provided by
means of ailerons on the outboard section of
the wings, as illustrated in Fig. 4.6. The
ailerons are operated differentially; that is one
goes up as the other goes down. The
 excellent diagram showing the complex
Indicating arrangement used in the Boeing 747.

Instruments On very large aircraft there may be as

Unconventional control
surfaces
The use of multiple roll-control surfaces is
advantageous, partly for reasons of
safety, but also because conventional
outboard ailerons may become just too
effective at high speed, and can induce
unacceptable wing bending and twisting
moments. On many aircraft, including
large airliners, a set of high speed
ailerons may be fitted inboard of the
usual low speed ones, as seen in Fig.
4.6.
many as four separate systems, each
driven by a separate engine, and each
with an auxiliary air-turbine driven backup
supply. Most surfaces are powered by
more than one system, and there may be
alternative surfaces for each function.
Unfortunately, no system is totally
fail-safe and one fatal accident occurred
when a fin was lost, because all four
systems were used to operate rudder
surfaces. Although the aircraft was flown
successfully for some time with no fin, a
total loss of hydraulic fluid finally resulted
in disaster. Such fluid leakage can be
prevented by means of limiter valves,
which seal when excessive fluid flow

This reduces the amount of span occurs.

available for installing flaps, however, and
one method of overcoming this problem,
is to arrange at least one of these sets of
control surfaces as so-called flaperons,
where differential movement has the
same effect as ailerons, and collective
movement produces the effect of flaps.
Flaperons are used on the F-16.
Mechanical devices are not necessarily
any safer, however, and many accidents
have been caused by control cables
breaking or jamming. Hydraulic tubing
and electrical wiring have the added
advantages that they can follow much
more tortuous and convenient paths.

Aircraft control
Safety of powered controls
Control harmonization
For safety in the event of power failure,
duplicate, triplicate or even quadruple
For an aircraft to be comfortable and easy to
systems are provided on aircraft with
fly, all of the primary control actions should
power controls. Davies (1971) gives an
require roughly the same amount of effort to
operate them.
The correct harmonization of controls is often
difficult to achieve with manual controls, but
with the powered systems they can normally
be tuned with precision.
Engine control
The power output of an aircraft piston engine
is controlled in much the same way as a road
vehicle engine, by means of a throttle, which
varies the amount of air/fuel mixture admitted
to the engine. A mixture control lever is used
to give a rich fuel/air mixture for an extra, but
inefficient boost of power for takeoff and to
adjust for air density changes.
It is important to note that on a reciprocating
engine, the rate of fuel consumption depends
mainly on the power output. The pilot’s
primary control of the power is by means of
the throttle lever.
In gas-turbine systems, the primary engine
control operated by the pilot is the fuel flow
control. This serves a similar purpose to the
throttle on a piston engine, except that in the
gas turbine, it controls the thrust produced.
The thrust and engine speed of a gas-turbine
system cannot be separately varied to any
significant extent, and any movable vanes,
nozzles or surfaces are primarily used to
fine-tune the operation of various components.
Aircraft control at low
speed
Control problems at low speed stem from
three major factors;
● Weak aerodynamic control forces.
● The danger of provoking a stall, and
● The immersion of control surfaces in
a slow-moving separated or wake
flow, which may be highly turbulent.
Aircraft Stability
An aircraft must have sufficient stability to
maintain a uniform flightpath and recover
from the various upsetting forces. Also, to
achieve the best performance, the aircraft
must have the proper response to the
movement of the controls. Control is the
pilot action of moving the flight controls,
providing the aerodynamic force that
induces the aircraft to follow a desired
flightpath. When an aircraft is said to be
controllable, it means that the aircraft
responds easily and promptly to
movement of the controls. Different
control surfaces are used to control the
aircraft about each of the three axes.
Moving the control surfaces on an aircraft
changes the airflow over the aircraft’s
surface. This, in turn, creates changes in
the balance of forces acting to keep the
aircraft flying straight and level.
Three terms that appear in any balance a ball on the end of your finger, it
discussion of stability and control are: may temporarily be perfectly balanced,
stability, maneuverability, and but it is certainly not in a stable position.
controllability. Stability is the
In general, the more stable we make an
characteristic of an aircraft that tends to
aircraft, the less maneuverable it
cause it to fly (hands off) in a
becomes. A very stable aircraft always
straight-and-level flightpath.
tends to continue on its existing path, so
Maneuverability is the characteristic of an
excessive stability must be avoided.
aircraft to be directed along a desired
flightpath and to withstand the stresses
imposed. Controllability is the quality of
the response of an aircraft to the pilot’s
commands while maneuvering the
aircraft.

The requirements for trim

and stability

For steady flight, the forces acting on an FIGURE 4.7

aircraft must be in balance, and there
must be no resultant turning moment
about any axis. When this condition is Static stability
achieved, the aircraft is said to be
trimmed. In Fig. 4.7 we show an aircraft An aircraft is in a state of equilibrium when the
that is trimmed about its pitching axis. sum of all the forces acting on the aircraft and
all the moments is equal to zero. An aircraft in
An aircraft is said to be statically stable if
equilibrium experiences no accelerations, and
it tends to return to its initial flight
the aircraft continues in a steady condition of
conditions; attitude, speed etc., after
flight. A gust of wind or a deflection of the
being disturbed by a gust or a small
controls disturbs the equilibrium, and the
impulsive input from the controls.
aircraft experiences acceleration due to the
Normally, for steady flight, we require the
unbalance of moment or force.
aircraft to be both trimmed and stable.
The three types of static stability are defined
There is frequently considerable
by the character of movement following some
confusion about the difference between
disturbance from equilibrium. Positive static
balanced or trimmed, and stable. If you
stability exists when the disturbed object tends
to return to equilibrium. Negative static
stability, or static instability, exists when the
disturbed object tends to continue in the
direction of disturbance. Neutral static stability
exists when the disturbed object has neither
tendency, but remains in equilibrium in the
direction of disturbance. These three types of
stability are illustrated in Figure 4.8
FIGURE 4.8
Dynamic Stability
While static stability deals with the tendency of
a displaced body to return to equilibrium,
dynamic stability deals with the resulting
motion with time. If an object is disturbed from
equilibrium, the time history of the resulting
motion defines the dynamic stability of the
object. In general, an object demonstrates
positive dynamic stability if the amplitude of
motion decreases with time. If the amplitude of
motion increases with time, the object is said
to possess dynamic instability.
Any aircraft must demonstrate the required
degrees of static and dynamic stability. If an
aircraft were designed with static instability
and a rapid rate of dynamic instability, the
aircraft would be very difficult, if not
impossible, to fly. Usually, positive dynamic
stability is required in an aircraft design to
prevent objectionable continued oscillations of
the aircraft.
Longitudinal Stability
When an aircraft has a tendency to keep a
constant AOA with reference to the relative
wind (i.e., it does not tend to put its nose down
and dive or lift its nose and stall); it is said to
have longitudinal stability. Longitudinal stability
refers to motion in pitch. The horizontal
stabilizer is the primary surface which controls
longitudinal stability. The action of the
stabilizer depends upon the speed and AOA of
the aircraft.
Directional Stability
Stability about the vertical axis is referred to as
directional stability. The aircraft should be
designed so that when it is in
straight-and-level flight it remains on its course
heading even though the pilot takes his or her
hands and feet off the controls. If an aircraft
recovers automatically from a skid, it has been
well designed for directional balance. The
vertical stabilizer is the primary surface that
controls directional stability. Directional
stability can be designed into an aircraft,
where appropriate, by using a large dorsal fin,
a long fuselage, and sweptback wings.
Lateral Stability
Motion about the aircraft’s longitudinal (fore
and aft) axis is a lateral, or rolling, motion. The
tendency to return to the original attitude from
such motion is called lateral stability.
Dutch Roll
A Dutch Roll is an aircraft motion consisting of
an out-of-phase combination of yaw and roll.
Dutch roll stability can be artificially increased
by the installation of a yaw damper.
Limitations
OPERATING LIMIT
SPEEDS
In service an aircraft must observe certain
speed limitations. These may be maximum
speeds or minimum speeds, but in each case
they are set to give safe operation in the
prevailing conditions.
The limits may be set by various
considerations, the main ones being:-
● strength of the aircraft structure
● stiffness of the aircraft structure
● adequate control of the aircraft
Strength is the ability of the structure to
withstand a load, and stiffness is the ability to
withstand deformation.
LOADS AND SAFETY
FACTORS
● Limit load: The maximum load to be
expected in service
● Ultimate load: The failing load of the
structure
● Factor of safety: The ratio of
ultimate load to limit load
For aircraft structures the factor of safety is 1.5
The safety factor on aircraft structures is much
lower than the safety factors used in other
forms of engineering because of the extreme
importance of minimum weight in aircraft
structures. To keep the weight as low as
possible the safety factor must be kept to a
minimum. Because of this it is extremely
important not to exceed the limitations set on
the operation of the aircraft, as the safety
margin can easily be exceeded and structural
damage occurs.
LOADS ON THE
STRUCTURE
The airframe structure must obviously be
strong enough to take the loads acting upon it
in normal level flight, that is the forces due to
lift, drag, thrust and weight. However the
aircraft is also required to maneuver and to fly
in turbulent air. Under these conditions the
loads on the aircraft will be increased so it
must also be strong enough to withstand
whatever maneuvers are specified for the
aircraft and by the gusts which are required to
be considered.
The structure should also have sufficient
stiffness to ensure that phenomena such as
aileron reversal, flutter, and divergence do not
occur within the permitted speed range of the
aircraft.
will reach this load at a load factor of 2.5.
However, if the aircraft weighs 5,000 lb the
failing load is reached at a load factor of 2.0,
i.e. it takes less ‘g’ to overstress a heavy
aircraft than a light one.
Limit load factors are based
on the maximum weight of
the aircraft.

Limitations

LOAD FACTOR

The loads which must be considered are given

in the design requirements of an aircraft. They
are given in terms of load factor (n),
colloquially known as ‘g’.

In level flight, since lift equals weight, the load

factor is 1.0 (1g). If the aircraft is performing a
maneuver such that, for example the lift is
twice the weight, the load factor is 2.0 (2g).

The limit load is given in terms of load factor to

make the requirement general to all aircraft.
However, it should be appreciated that failure
of the structure will occur at some particular
applied load. For example, if the structure fails
at 10,000 lb load, an aircraft weighing 4,000 lb