NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

School Of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering AY 2013-2014 E3.6AE FLIGHT DETERMINATION OF AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE AIRCRAFT HANGAR
(AEROSPACE ENGINEERING DIVISION)

N3.2-B4-01

Likith Krishnappa Name of Student: ______________ Matric No.: ____________________ G1303051C

Lab Sub-Group: Group 3 Date: ______ 30/ 10/ 2013

Name of Supervisor: ______________________________________________ Grade: _____________________

Objective
The aim of the experiment was to understand the effect of forces and effects of them on the performance of the C-130 aircraft in steady level.

Theory
There are four main forces acting on an aircraft body during its flight and they are Lift (L), Drag (D), Thrust (T) Weight (W) In a steady level flight the sum of all these forces acting on the aircraft must be zero. Then the aircraft is said to be balanced. Hence under the steady condition: Tcos T = D L + Tsin T =W Where T is the angle at which the thrust is produced with respect to the flight direction. But for conventional flights the angle is small. Hence, T=D L=W The amount of thrust required to maintain the flight in its course of direction is dependent on the drag. But the drag is dependent on air density (varying with altitude) and the air speed and therefore the variation in thrust which is required by the aircraft is not linear with respect to the air speed and the density. The coefficient of Drag is given below:

Where S Wing planform area - Steady state speed - Air density.

Similarly the coefficient of Lift can also be calculated using the following formula:

Calculations:
Coefficient of lift: Lift is the force generated by propellers and wings to propel aircraft and keep them in the air. It is a very important aerodynamic factor. The lift coefficient (CL, Ca or Cz) is a dimensionless coefficient that relates the lift generated by a lifting body to the density of the fluid around the body, its velocity and an associated reference area. CL is a function of the angle of the body to the flow, its Reynolds number and its Mach number. The lift coefficient relates the angle between shape of the wing and the direction of wind which is called as angle of attack. As angle of attack increases CL as increases up to a particular point but after that point lift is lost quickly and the wing stalls. The lift equation can be used to calculate how much weight a given wing can carry. In order to determine the lift coefficient at an altitude of 3000ft flight simulation is carried and the data obtained from the simulation are used to calculate CL ,CD and KCL2 and it is tabulated as shown.

Table 1
True Airspeed 363.48 340.92 320.60 300.71 280.48 242.25 221.29 200.84 193.73 189.28 Lift = weight (N) 506041.98 505332.72 504318.37 507343.77 506588.40 506756.15 506068.47 504609.72 504157.48 504226.15

Mass 51584.30 51512.00 51408.60 51717.00 51640.00 51657.10 51587.00 51438.30 51392.20 51399.20

TAS - m/s 162.48 152.39 143.31 134.42 125.38 108.28 98.92 89.77 86.60 84.61

CD 0.031 0.035 0.038 0.038 0.039 0.050 0.055 0.062 0.074 0.078

CL 0.22 0.24 0.28 0.32 0.36 0.49 0.58 0.70 0.75 0.79

CL2 0.05 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.13 0.24 0.34 0.49 0.57 0.62

KCL2 0.003 0.004 0.006 0.007 0.010 0.017 0.025 0.036 0.042 0.046

CL / CD 6.969987 6.966397 7.247401 8.344223 9.231965 9.661442 10.49584 11.35802 10.244 10.14435

Now, if we plot a graph between CD vs. CL2 and match the curve obtained to the nearest straight line, then, by the equation of drag polar,

0.070 0.065 0.060 0.055

CD Vs CL2
y = 0.0738x + 0.0303

CD

0.050 0.045 0.040 0.035 0.030 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70

CL

Fig.1. Drag co-efficient Vs. Lift coefficient square (CD VS CL2 )

The equation of the line is y= 0.0738x + 0.0303.

The intercept of the above graph gives us the parasite drag CD0 i.e. the zero lift drag. The slope of the above graph K can be used to find out the Oswalds efficiency.

The value of CD0 and Oswalds efficiency are given by

CDO = 0.0303 e = 0.4281

From our calculations, we have sufficient information to draw the drag polar i.e.

Table 2
CD Cal 0.0337 0.0347 0.0359 0.0376 CL 0.2159 0.2442 0.2762 0.3126

0.0400 0.0477 0.0552 0.0667 0.0723 0.0764

0.3603 0.4247 0.4907 0.5868 0.7070 0.7826

The main purpose of this tabulation is to plot the Cd vs. Cl graph which is the drag polar graph. From Table 1, it is found that the maximum aircraft speed (i.e) true air speed is 162.48m/s

Drag polar
0.9000 0.8000 0.7000 0.6000

CL

0.5000 0.4000 0.3000 0.2000 0.1000 0.0000 0.0300 0.0350 0.0400 0.0450 0.0500 0.0550 0.0600 0.0650 0.0700

CD

Fig. 2. Drag polar

Discussion:
1. How will your CL and CD results be affected if you dont make the necessary correction for the flight test condition? The lift and drag coefficients are affected by the angle of attack. Thus corrected angle of attack for getting the optimum steady level flight is necessary for correct calculation of the coefficients. Also necessary corrections are required in the airspeed calculations and must be calibrated for the flight conditions

2. Is your drag polar realistic? Comments on what may affect the accuracy of the results.

Drag polar is not completely realistic however The graph obtained in fig ii is close to realistic as a drag bucket is obtained which is in correlation with the theory. However there might be small error as only ten data points are considered and it also depends on the skill of the pilot in maintaining steady flight conditions.

3. Theoretically, the maximum L/D ratio and the speed at which the maximum L/D ratio differs from the calculated values, why? This is due to the fact that high speeds can increase the Reynolds number of the flow over the wings and can cause separation effects and pressure drags that can increase the drag and decrease the lift thus, the maximum L/D as shown by the formula is not achieved. Theoretical maximum lift to drag ratio = sq.rt (1/4CDoK) = 11.5 Theoretical V (L/D) max = sq.rt [(2W/S) sq.rt (K/CDo)] = 89.53 m/s From table 1, Experimental maximum lift to drag = 11.35 Experimental V (L/D) max = 89.77m/s From the above values it can be seen clearly that the theoretical and experimental values comply with each other. The theoretical thrust value is greater than the experimental value which may be due to certain losses and it can also be due to curve fitting which gives only an approximate value of CD0 which in-turn affects the value of the slope K.