Aero 322 AIRCRAFT STABILITY & CONTROL for 73rd E.

C
Sqn Ldr Dr.Irtiza

Lecture 3: Static Long Stab & Control

Chapter 2, Section 2.3

Longitudinal Static Stability

We need to have
A restoring moment generated after the disturbance, that tries to bring back the ball to its equilibrium

Equilibrium (or trim)

Resultant forces F=0 Resultant moments about cg M=0 If F0 linear accelerations If M0 rotational accelerations

Consider Cm vs behaviour of two airplanes

Sign convention: Nose up moment: +ve At trim point B: Cmcg=0 Disturbance increases to pt C On airplane 1: restoring nose down (-ve) moment is generated tending to bring it back to pt B: statically stable (1st requirement met) Vice versa for airplane 2

Longitudinal Static Stability

1st requirement for Static Longitudinal Stability: dCm/d < 0 As there is a linear relationship between CL & , we can write:

or CL

Cm = dCm/d = (dCm/dCL) (dCL/d) Since (dCL/d) >0 (recall CL curve till stall) hence to have Cm < 0 we must have (dCm/dCL) < 0 or CmCL < 0 Both with dCm/d < 0 Physical Limitation: We can only trim an aircraft at a positive This is met only if we have (y-intercept) Cm0 > 0

2nd requirement: Consider two airplanes

Hence two requirements for static longitudinal stability are:

Cm < 0 (or CmCL < 0 ) Cm0 > 0
3

Contribution of A/C components: Wing

Wing mean aerodynamic chord is shown xac = distance from wing LE to a.c (a point where
moments become independent of angle of attack)

xcg = distance from wing LE to cg zcg = vertical displacement of cg iw = wing installation angle (angle of incidence)

M = Mcgw = Lwcos(w-iw)[xcg-xac] + Dwsin(w-iw)[xcg-xac] + Lwsin(w-iw)[zcg] Dwcos(w-iw)[zcg] + Macw

Sum of moments about cg: Dividing by V2Sc yields

Cmcgw = CLwcos(w-iw)[xcg-xac]/c + CDwsin(w-iw)[xcg-xac]/c + CLwsin(w-iw)[zcg]/c CDwcos(w-iw)[zcg]/c + Cmacw

We assume that: angle of attack is small (<150), CL>>CD and zcg 0 then
Cmcgw = Cmacw + CLw[xcg-xac]/c

Cmcgw = Cmacw + (CL0w+CLww)[xcg-xac]/c = Cmacw + CL0w[xcg-xac]/c + { CLw [xcg-xac]/c } w

To find Cm0w we put w = 0 to get Cm0w = Cmacw + CL0w[xcg-xac]/c To find Cmw we differentiate wrt w Cmw = CLw [xcg-xac]/c

Since CLw = CL0w + CLw w (from lift curve slope) then

Contribution of A/C components: Wing

For stability we needed: Cm < 0 (or CmCL < 0 ) Cm0 > 0 Hence if we want to derive static longitudinal stability from wing alone (without horizontal tail e.g Mirage) we have to have both requirements met from just the wing. Hence Cm0w = Cmacw + CL0w[xcg-xac]/c > 0 means we need a -ve cambered wing airfoil Cmw = CLw [xcg-xac]/c < 0 means, we need cg forward of a.c
This is not the case for all conventional aircraft with horizontal tail. In fact wing for all such aircraft, has +ve cambered airfoil, as well as cg is located aft of a.c. Hence wing contribution of all conventional aircraft is UNSTABLE We handle this instability by the use of horizontal tail
5