TYPES OF DRAG ON AIRCRAFT

Aircraft Nerds

Types of drag

Drag - Wikimedia

Drag:-
Drag is one of the four aerodynamic forces that act on a plane. For more information on
aerodynamic forces click here. Drag is a restrictive force which opposes the motion of
an aircraft. There are various types of drag depending upon their sources

Types of drag
 Parasite drag
 Form drag or pressure drag
 Skin friction drag
 Profile drag
 Interference drag
 Lift induced drag
 Wave drag
ADetailed explanation of each type of drag is given below

1. Parasite drag
Parasite drag is a drag produced due to the motion of an object through a fluid. With
respect to aviation, the object is an aircraft and the fluid is the atmospheric air. Parasite
drag occurs due to air molecules. Parasite drag is classified as form drag or pressure
drag, skin friction drag and interference drag.

2. Form drag or pressure drag

 Form drag - Wikimedia
Form drag is produced due to the shape of the object moving through the fluid. It
depends on the cross section of an object. An object with a larger cross section and
blunt shape will have a larger form drag whereas an object with a smaller cross section
area and a sharper shape will have a lesser form drag.

How is form drag reduced?

It can be reduced using smaller cross section area for making wings and by using
aerodynamic shape for an aerofoil.
3. Skin friction drag
Skin friction drag is a drag produced due to friction between an object (aircraft) & fluid
(atmospheric air). The rough surface will have high skin friction drag and conversely a
smooth surface will have less skin friction drag.

How is skin friction drag reduced?

Making the aircraft skin smooth will reduce skin friction.

4. Profile drag
Profile drag is a sum of the form drag & skin friction drag.

5. Interference drag
Interference drag is produced due to the interference of two or more airflows having
different speeds. And this drag is produced by the interference of different aircraft parts,
that is, due to a mixture of airflow around wing and the airflow around the fuselage.

How interference drag is reduced?

This can be reduced by keeping the angle between these two below 90 degrees

6. Lift Induced drag

 Lift induced drag
Lift is another aerodynamic force. It is a force which keeps an aircraft in the air and its
magnitude is equal to the weight of the aircraft during stable flight. The direction of lift is
perpendicular to the oncoming airflow towards the aircraft. Lift induced drag, as the
name suggests, is a drag produced due to lift. At slower speed & higher angle of attack,
aircraft will have more lift. But as the angle of attack increases, the air pushes the
aircraft in the backward direction. This backward push is the induced drag. Technically
speaking change in a vector direction of lift of the aircraft results in the formation of this
type of drag.

Other types of induced drag are due to a mixture of airflow above and below the wing.
The air flow mixes at the tips of the aircraft. We know that speed of airflow above the
wing is higher than the speed of an airflow below the wing. Want to know the
reason? Check here!

At the wing tips, these two air flows with variable speed, get mixed with each other
which produces vortices at wing tips. The Reason for production of vortices is that high-
pressure airflow gets pulled toward low-pressure airflow.

How is lift induced drag reduced?

Using winglet or shark-lets at wing tips.

Winglets - Wikimedia

8.Wave drag

Wave drag is generally produced at transonic speed (speed almost equals to speed of
sound) & Supersonic speed (speed greater than speed of sound). Due to high speed of
airflow, shock waves are produced. Shockwaves are nothing but the disturbance in the
air. This disturbance increases drag of the aircraft known as wave drag.

How wave drag is reduced?

 NASA F-15 - Wikimedia
Shock wave drag is one of the reason that at present time there are no supersonic
passenger aircraft. Hence scientists are looking for the way to reduce shock wave drag.
NASA is trying to reduce the shock wave drag by making aircraft noses sharp. NASA's
quite spike F-15 is aircraft somewhat reduced the shockwave drag.

Drag Curve
 Drag Curve - Wikimedia
This drag curve shows the variation of different types of drag with respect to airspeed.

Thanks for reading!

Check out: - How are Boeing planes named?

Lesson 7. Aerodynamic properties of biomaterials

Introduction:
Aero and /or hydrodynamic properties are very important
characters in hydraulic transport and handling as well as hydraulic
sorting of agricultural products. To provide basic data for the
development of equipment for sorting and sizing of agro
commodities, several properties such as: physical characteristics
and terminal velocity are needed. The two important aerodynamic
characteristics of a body are its terminal velocity and
aerodynamic drag. By defining the terminal velocity of different
threshed materials, it is possible to determine and set the
maximum possible air velocity in which material out of grain can
be removed without loss of grain or the principle can be applied
to classify grain into different size groups. In addition,
agricultural materials and food products are routinely conveyed
using air. For such operations, the interaction between the solid
particles and the moving fluids determine the forces applied to the
particles. The interaction is affected by the density, shape, and
size of the particle along with the density, viscosity, and velocity
of the fluid. This chapter discusses briefly with the different
aerodynamic properties and their methods of measurement.
7.1. Drag Coefficient:-
It is used to quantify drag or resistance of an object is a fluid
environment such as air or water. It is a dimensionless quantity.
Drag coefficient is always associated with surface area:
Figure
When fluid flow occurs about immersed objects, the action of the
forces involved can be illustrated as follows. The pressure of the
upper side of the object is less than that of lower side is great than
that of & that of lower side is greater than the pressure p in the
undisturbed fluid stream. In addition to these force normal to the
surface of the object, there are shear stresses, C acting tangential
to the surfaces in the direction of flow & resulting from frictional
effects.
The resultant force for may be resolved into components, FD the
drag & FV the lift force.
\[{F_D} = {f_1}({A_P},{\rho _f},\eta
,E,V)\] \[{A_P}\]=Projected area of the object
\[{F_L} = {f_2}({A_P},{\rho _f},\eta ,E,V)\] rf=Fluid
density, h=Viscosity of fluid
E= modulus of Elasticity
V= Velocity of the object relative to fluid
Employing dimensional analysis.
\[{F_D} = {C_D}\frac{{{A_p}{\rho
_f}{V^2}}}{2}.............................1\]
\[{F_L} = {C_L}\frac{{{A_p}{\rho
_f}{V^2}}}{2}.............................2\]
\[{C_D}\] &\[{C_L}\] are drag coefficient & lift Coefficient
\[{F_r} = \frac{1}{2}C{A_p}{\rho
_f}{V^2}.............................3\]
\[{F_r}\]=resistance drag force Wt. of particles at thermal
velocity
C= overall drag coefficient
In certain cases it is desirable to resolve the resultant force into
components of force into components of frictional drag to
tangential force on the body surface & profile drag due to
pressure distribution around the body. In laminar or low velocity
flow where variation in fluid density is small and viscous action
governs the flow, the profile or pressure drag is negligible. In
thermal or high velocity flow where fluid compression & not
viscous action governs the flow, the frictional drag is negligible.
e.g. Frictional drag:- drag force exerted on one side of a smooth
flat plate aligned with flow.
e.g. Profile drag:- drag force on blunt object.
Frictional Drag: - for Flat laminar boundary layer
\[{C_f} = \frac{{1.328}}{{{{\left( {{N_R}}
\right)}^{0.5}}}}............4\]
For flat plate turbulent boundary layer
\[{C_f} = \frac{{0.455}}{{\log {{\left( {{N_R}}
\right)}^{2.58}}}}............5\]
\[{N_R}\]=Reynolds number \[{N_R} = \frac{{Vdpf}}{\eta
}.....................6\]
d=length or diameter of a sphere (dimension of an object)
η=absolute viscosity,
V= relative velocity
rf= fluid density
For transition region
\[{C_f} = \frac{{0.455}}{{\log {{\left( {{N_R}}
\right)}^{2.58}}}} -
\frac{{1700}}{{{N_R}}}............7\] Drag should be
multiplied by 2 for plates of 2 side.
Profile or Pressure Drag:
When a blunt object, known as sphere is placed in a fluid flow,
the frictional drag can be neglected because of the small surface
area on which frictional effects can work. The exception is the
case of flow at very low Reynolds number is less than unit,
where stokes low is applicable. Here inertia force may be
neglected & those of viscosity alone considered, the flow closes
behind a sphere like object & profile drag is composed primarily
of frictional drag.
Stoke’s law of drag force
\[F\Delta = 3\pi \eta V{d_P}...........8\] \[{d_P}\]= diameter
of sphere, diameter of sphere,
viscosity
Equating (9) equation (1)
\[{F_D} = \frac{{{C_D}{A_P}{\rho _f}{V^2}}}{2} = 3\pi \eta
V{d_p}\]
\[3\pi \eta V{d_p} = \frac{{{C_D}{A_P}{\rho
_f}{V^2}}}{2}\] \[{N_R} = \frac{{\rho V{d_p}}}{\eta }\]
\[3\pi \eta {d_p} = \frac{{{C_D}{\pi ^2}}}{{2 \times
4}}d_P^2{\rho _f}V\] \[{A_P} = \frac{\pi }{4}d_p^2\]
24=CDNR \[24 = {C_D}{\rho _f}\frac{{V{d_P}}}{\eta }\]
\[{C_D} = \frac{{24}}{{{N_R}}}...............9\]
As Reynolds number exceeds unity, the stokes law is no longer
applicable because flow opens up behind the blunt object & the
drag force is a combination of frictional drag as well as pressure
drag in a range up to NR =1000. NR above frictional effect may be
negligible.
Terminal Velocity:
In free fall, the object will attain a constant terminal velocity Vt at
which, where acceleration will be zero.
Net gravitational accelerating net upward equals to the sum of
buoyant force and drag force
Gravitational force acting downward= buoyant force exerted by
the fluid on the body in upward direction+ drag force (frictional
resistance due to motion of the body in the fluid medium)
\[{m_p}g = {m_p}{a_f} + \frac{1}{2}\left(
{{A_p}{P_f}V{t^2}} \right)........10\]
\[{m_p}g\left( {\frac{{{\rho _p} - {\rho _f}}}{{{\rho _p}}}}
\right) = \frac{1}{2}\left( {{A_p}{\rho _f}V{t^2}}
\right)........10\] g= acceleration due to gravity
\[{V_t} = \left[ {\frac{{2W({\rho _p} - {\rho _f})}}{{{\rho
_f}{\rho _p}{A_P}C}}} \right]\] g= acceleration due to gravity
\[{V_t} = \left[ {\frac{{2W({\rho _p} - {\rho _f})}}{{{\rho
_f}{\rho _p}{A_P}C}}} \right]\] \[{m_p}\]= mass of particles,
W=wt. of particles
\[e = \left[ {\frac{{2W({\rho _p} - {\rho _f})}}{{{\rho _f}{\rho
_p}{A_P}C}}} \right]................11\] \[{P_p}\]=mass density of
particles, \[{P_f}\] = mass density of fluids
For spherical Bodies
\[{A_p} = \frac{\pi }{4}d_P^2 = W = \left( {\frac{\pi }{6}}
\right){P_p}gd_P^3\]
\[{V_t} = {\left[ {4g{d_P}({p_P} - {p_f})/3{p_f}}
\right]^{1/2}}..............12\]
For laminar flow, the value of C in calculated from for Reynolds
number L1.0, substituting C in NR.
\[{V_t} = g{d_P}^2({p_P} - {p_f})/18\eta ..............13\]
For turbulent flow 103< NR<2×105 c=0.44
\[{V_t} = 1.74{\left[ {g{d_P}({p_P} - {p_f})/{p_f}}
\right]^{1/2}}..............14\]
Finally for intermediate region 2< NR<103
\[C = \frac{{18.5}}{{({N_R})0.5}}............15\]
\[{V_t} = \frac{{0.153{g^{0.714}}{d_{}}^{0.142}{{({p_P} -
{p_f})}^{0.714}}}}{{{p_f}^{0.286}{\eta
^{0.428}}}}..............16\]
Measurement of terminal velocity:
Most scientists and researchers employ air column to find out
the terminal velocity of grains. The set up usually consists of a
vertical air column, which is blown from the bottom and passes
through the screen. The screen uniformly distributes the air
velocity. The air column is also attached with velocity
measuring device. The blower maintains variable speed. When
grains are allowed to drop into the column, initially they attains
acceleration, once the velocity is adjusted they fall to the bottom
with a constant velocity. This constant velocity is termed as
terminal velocity

Factors affecting aerodynamic properties of biomaterials:

 Frontal area
 Particles size orientation(In turbulent region particles
assumes position of maximum resistance)
L= thickness of disk, length of rod or cylinder length of flat ᶲ
late along director of flow
K=2002/n NR

Grains Terminal velocity, m/s

Wheat 9-11.5

Barley 8.5-10.5

Small oats 19.3

Corn 34.9

Soybean 44.3

Rye 8-5-10.0

Oats 8.0-9.0

Grains Bulk Density Particle density

Wheat 850 1480-1410

Paddy 575 1411-1342

Parboiled rice 522-566 1405-1346

Rice 507-565 946-991

Bean 750

oat grain 1380.0

o In the handling and processing of agricultural products, air is
often used as a carrier for transport or for separating the
desirable products from unwanted materials, therefore the
aerodynamic properties, such as terminal velocity and drag
coefficient, are needed for air conveying and pneumatic
separation of materials. As the air velocity, greater than
 terminal velocity, lifts the particles to allow greater fall of a
particle, the air velocity could be adjusted to a point just
below the terminal velocity. The fluidization velocity for
granular material and settling velocity are also calculated for
the body immersed in viscous fluid.
Application to Agricultural products
o Separation of foreign materials from seeds, grains potato,
blue berry
o Conveying and handling of grains, chopped forage small &
large fruits
o Hydraulic handling of apples, cherries, mango& potatoes etc.
Working principle of Aspirator:- Under steady state condition,
where terminal velocity has been achieved, if the particles
density is greater than fluid density, the particles motion will be
downward. If particles density is smaller than the fluid density,
the particle will be rise.