Climb Performance In a steady climb, there is no acceleration so the forces must balance.

Resolving forces along the flight path and perpendicular to it gives:

L =W cos T = D +W sin

Note, we have assumed that the thrust acts in the direction of motion, which is not strictly true, but for most aircraft this is a reasonable assumption. We can rearrange the second equation to determine the climb angle . We get:
sin = T D W

To proceed further we must determine the drag D. We can do this if we know the flight conditions and the aircraft drag polar. However, to determine the drag using the drag polar, we must know the lift and to determine the lift, we must know the climb angle. We usually assume that the climb angle is small and that its cosine is very close to 1. In this case, the lift equals the weight and we can determine the drag and then the climb angle. We can then check whether the calculated angle is small as assumed. If the angle is not small, we must repeat the procedure using the calculated climb angle to determine the lift. We then repeat the calculation until the angle used to calculate the lift is the same as the calculated climb angle. Fortunately, this iteration procedure is seldom required. Another quantity of interest is the rate of climb. This is the vertical component of the velocity vector and is given by expression:
RC = V sin = V (T D ) W

An alternative way of deriving this relation is to note that VT is the power delivered to the aircraft by the propulsion system and VD is the power consumed by drag. The difference between these two quantities is called the excess power. We can write: W RC = Excess Power The product of weight and rate of climb is the rate at which work is being done against gravity. This must equal the excess power. We can consider a range of optimisation problems related to climb. Two important problems are maximizing the climb angle and maximizing the climb rate. For these optimisations, we must be able to relate the thrust available to the aircraft speed. We will not consider the problem analytically, but we will sketch simple graphs to consider the major issues involved. The maximum climb angle is obtained at the point of maximum difference between thrust available and thrust required. The maximum climb rate is obtained at the point of maximum difference between the power available and the power required. We typically use the same assumptions about the propulsion system as for cruise calculations. We assume that for a turbo-fan aircraft, the thrust is approximately independent of speed and that for a propeller driven aircraft, the power is independent of speed. This implies that the propeller efficiency is independent of speed. The power available from a turbofan is thrust times P speed and the thrust available from a turboprop is .
V

Turbofan Power Prop

Thrust Speed Turbofan Speed

Prop The thrust required curve is the drag against speed curve that we can determine from the aircraft drag polar, weight, wing area and altitude. The

power required curve can also be determined by multiplying the thrust by the speed. Effect of Altitude Increasing altitude increases the power required to fly the aircraft and also increases the speed for minimum power. The thrust available and power available decrease with altitude. The maximum rate of climb thus decreases with altitude. At some altitude, the maximum rate of climb available is zero and we call this altitude the absolute ceiling of the aircraft. The service ceiling of an aircraft is the altitude at which the maximum rate of climb drops below 100 feet per minute. Note, rates of climb are often quoted in feet per minute because aircraft flight levels are quoted in feet. (1 foot = 0.3401 m) Descent The analysis of descent is the same as for climb except the climb angle and the climb rate are negative. If there is no thrust at all, the aircraft is gliding. We can consider the problem of optimising the glide in the same way as optimising the climb. The two important conditions are the minimum glide angle and the minimum rate of descent. The formula for glide angle is obtained by dropping the thrust from the climb equation and equating lift to weight:
sin = D L

For the minimum glide angle, the aircraft must fly at the speed for maximum lift to drag ratio. Since the glide angle is typically small, the sine of the angle is approximately equal to the angle (in radians). The rate of descent, which is the negative rate of climb is:
RD = VD W

Since VD is the power required, the speed for minimum rate of descent is the minimum power required speed. This speed is less than the minimum drag speed and is difficult to maintain since the aircraft is unstable with respect to speed. Fuel Consumption in Climb For turbofan aircraft, the thrust available drops significantly with altitude. The specific fuel consumption also changes. As a result the fuel flow rate may vary significantly throughout the climb. In order to calculate the total fuel

consumption during a climb you must break down the climb into a series of segments and calculate the fuel consumed in each segment. Manoeuvre Performance Horizontal Turn In a turn, a centripetal force is required to provide the centripetal acceleration. This is usually obtained by rolling the aircraft to ensure that a component of the lift vector provides the centripetal force. It is possible to generate a side force by yawing the aircraft, but this is not very efficient because it creates large drag. We call a turn which has no aerodynamic side force a coordinated turn. In a co-ordinated turn, the vertical component of lift balances weight and the centripetal component provides the necessary acceleration. In a co-ordinated turn, the pilot or passenger perceive and increase in weight, but no side force.

W = L cos

v2 = L sin R

where R v

is the turn radius is the airspeed is the bank angle

We can replace M by W/g to get:

W v2 = L sin gR

We define the ratio of lift to weight as the load factor n. Since n is a ratio, it is a dimensionless quantity. It is often referred to as the number of gs in the turn. Rearranging the equations given above we get:
n= 1 cos

We can also relate n to v and R:

v2 n = 1+ gR
2

and we can relate the bank angle to the turn characteristics

tan = V2 Rg

At low speeds, the maximum value of n is limited by the aerodynamic lift available. At high speeds, n is limited by the structural design of the aircraft. The maximum load factor is a major consideration in the structural design. For transport aircraft, it is stipulated by airworthiness authorities. For military aircraft, the maximum load factor is determined from operational considerations. For modern combat aircraft, it is often the pilot that limits the allowable value of n. We can plot the aerodynamic and structural constraints on a plot of n against v.

Structural Limit

The formulae for the aerodynamic limit is:

S 2 C n = L max V 2W

Aerodynamic Limit

This comes from the definition of lift coefficient and the definition load factor.
V In order to have good low speed turning performance an aircraft must have low wing loading (W/S) and a high value of CLmax. A high value of CLmax can be achieved through high lift devices, but these are usually only used for take off and landing.

The speed at which the aerodynamic limit meets the structural limit is known as the corner speed. It is the speed that gives the maximum possible turn rate. The turn rate, is the rate at which the aircraft heading is changing. In radians per second it is given by the expression:
= v R

and to convert to degrees per second we multiply by 180/ . At high load factors, the induced drag can become quite large. For many aircraft, the drag in a turn may be larger than the thrust available. This causes the aircraft to lose altitude during the turn. We define the maximum sustained turn rate as the maximum turn rate that can be achieved without loss of altitude or loss of speed. This is usually less than the maximum instantaneous turn rate. Vertical Turn An aircraft must also provide extra lift in a vertical turn. For a pull-up from horizontal flight:
n =1 + v2 gR

For a push-over from horizontal flight:

n =1

v2 gR

If n = 0 , the pilot feels weightless during the manoeuvre and if n is negative the initial forces will tend to lift the pilot from his seat. The same limitations on turning performance operate on vertical turns as well as horizontal turns. Energy State Methods
6

For high performance aircraft, the acceleration during climb and manoeuvres may be large. An alternative view of climb and manoeuvre is to define the energy height, he of the aircraft. The energy height is the height it would achieve if all its kinetic energy was converted to potential energy.
he = h + V2 2g

We define the specific excess power (SEP):

SEP = Pav Prew Excess Power = W W

where Pav Preq W

is the power available from the propulsion system(W) is the power required = Drag Speed (W) is the weight for the aircraft (N)

The rate of change of energy height is equal to the specific excess power. The sep depends on the altitude, forward speed and the drag characteristics of the aircraft. For a given aircraft and power plant we can plot contours of specific excess power and energy height and determine the optimal trajectories for minimum time to climb.

Energy Methods Applied to Turning Performance

We can determine the specific excess power (sep) in a specified turn and this defines the climb rate (or sink rate) which would occur in the turn. It may be negative which means that the aircraft must lose altitude during the turn. We can summarise an aircrafts turning performance by plotting the sep as a function of airspeed or Mach number at a given altitude. The sep graph will depend on the altitude since the thrust available will depend on altitude and the relationship between drag and speed depends on altitude. We can plot contours of sep for a specified load factor or alternatively the load factors for zero sep, i.e. the sustained turn limits.