AE 301: Aerodynamics I

Lecture 3: Forces, Moments, Cofficients

01/10/2014
Dr. Mark Ricklick, Assistant Professor

Aerodynamic Forces & Moments

Aero Forces come from two contributors:
Air pulling on a body (Shear Stress, )
Tangential to a surface
Function of velocity gradient &

Air pushing on a body (Pressure, P)

Normal to a surface
Function of global & local velocity profiles

Result in a net force & moment on a body

Lets start to consider the effects on an airfoil

Example: RAE2822 transonic Airfoil

Flight Mach Number = 0.725

Example: RAE2822 transonic Airfoil

Flight Mach Number = 0.725

Example: RAE2822 transonic Airfoil

Flight Mach Number = 0.725

Example: RAE2822 transonic Airfoil

Flight Mach Number = 0.725

Example: RAE2822 transonic Airfoil

Flight Mach Number = 0.725

Example: RAE2822 transonic Airfoil

Flight Mach Number = 0.725

Lift (net): 19.049 kN/m-span
Lift (pressure): 19.05 kN/m-span
Lift (shear): -0.32N/m-span

Visualization Example
AERODYNAMICS - FORCES ACTING ON AN AIR
FOIL - Department of Defense 1957 - PIN
27274 - DEPICTS THE AERODYNAMIC THEORY
AND PRINCIPLES OF FORCES ACTING ON AIR
FOILS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY3daNK1
Tek

Lift and Drag

Resulting Aerodynamic force and moment on a body

Lift and Drag

R= resultant aero foce
N= Force component Normal to chord
A= Force component in Axial Direction
(along chord)
L= Lift Component (Normal to Flow
direction)
D= Drag Component (In direction of
flow)

Lift and Drag

Consider the airfoil is at some arbitrary angle of

attack
We will predominantly be interested in Lift and
Drag (Normal and parallel to effective airflow
direction)
We use normal and axial, since it is easiest to take
the Coordinate system in the N-A directions (body
profile defined about x-y & invariant w/ alpha, which
will change), then easily convert to L & D

L=N*cos() A*sin()
D=N*sin() + A*cos()

Lift and Drag

Resultant Aerodynamic forces are due to pressure
distribution and shear stress distribution over the body

Lift and Drag

Integrating these forces over the complete body yield

N & A (and in effect L & D)
Typically integrated on upper and lower surfaces
separately consider ds (an elemental surface)

Lift and Drag

As shown in the text, the total Normal and
Axial forces (per unit span)
+ve when clockwise

Aerodynamic Forces and Moments

Now where do we apply these forces?
LE? TE? Center? Some other location?

We in fact can place it anywhere

Need to include the moment when not taken through
the center of forces (center of pressure)

Lets consider placing the force vectors on the

leading edge, and calculate the resulting moment
Take a similar, discretized, approach as to calculating
the Axial and Normal Forces

Moment- Leading Edge

Taking a similar approach to Axial & Normal
force components
Integrate elemental contribution to moment
about leading edge
Normal Force * X
Axial Force * Y

Moment Arms

Moment- Leading Edge

Arrive at the Moment (per unit length) about
the leading Edge:

Moment- Leading Edge

We now have equations for force components
and moment
Will typically know the body profile ahead of time,
thus we know x,y, and theta (slope of body)

Morphing Wings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZpAHxMj
5lU&feature=html5_3d

Non-dimensional Coefficients
We will see that it is convenient to work with
non-dimensional forms of Lift and Drag
Allows for easy comparison between bodies of
different scales
Testing at reduced scales

Easily change between units (English vs Metric)

More readily get a feeling for numbers

Important to remember to use a length scale

that is physically consistent

Dynamic Pressure
Consider the fact that Lift/Area = F/A = Pressure
We can therefore non-dimensionalize with a
representative area (typically the planform area), and a
representative pressure

Representative pressure:
We are interested in bodies moving through the air, hence
we have a consistent freestream density and velocity
Let us define the freestream dynamic pressure as:

1
2

2

Non-dimensional Coefficients
Lift Coefficient:

Drag Coefficient:
;

Normal Force Coefficient:

Axial Force Coefficient:

Moment Coefficient:
;

2

With l=a characteristic length, typically the chord length, c

Pressure Coefficient:

Skin Friction Coefficient:

Non-dimensional Coefficients
Non-dimensional integrals

Example
Consider a half wedge, similar to ex 1.2

Center of Pressure
So far weve assumed we were placing the
forces at the LE, hence we had a MLE
Where can we place the forces such that the
moment is zero?

With small angles of attack N L

Center of Pressure
To account for variations in L and N, the
quarter chord length is often used instead:

= + =
4