Prof. Dr. Mustafa Cavcar, 2004.

1
Aerodynamic Forces and Drag Polar

Prof. Dr. Mustafa Cavcar
Anadolu University, School of Civil Aviation
Eskisehir, Turkey

The resultant or vector aerodynamic force is produced by the motion of the
aircraft through the atmosphere. The resultant aerodynamic force is resolved into
two components along the wind-axes as shown in Figure 1. The component in the
opposite direction to the aircrafts velocity vector is called the drag and given the
symbol D. The drag resists the motion of the aircraft. The component
perpendicular to the aircraft velocity is called lift and given the symbol L . It is the
lift that keeps the aircraft in the air [1].


Figure 1 Aerodynamic forces acting on an aircraft.
Lift

Dimensional analyses and experiments have shown that the lift

S V C L
TAS L
2
2

= (1)

where

=
L
C lift coefficient,
= air density,
=
TAS
V true airspeed,
= S wing area.

The lift coefficient,
L
C , is a function of the angle of attack ( ), the Mach number
( M ), the Reynolds number ( Re ) and the aircraft configuration. The lift can also
be defined in terms of the Mach number instead of true airspeed, thus

Resultant
Aerodynamic
Force
Lift
Drag
Relative
Wind
Prof. Dr. Mustafa Cavcar, 2004. 2
S pM C L
L
2
7 . 0 = (2)

where p is the ambient air pressure.
Drag

The drag function is, in general, similar to the lift function, but instead of lift
coefficient, drag coefficient,
D
C , is introduced in the function, thus

S V C D
TAS D
2
2

= (3)

The drag coefficient,
D
C , is also a function of the angle of attack ( ), the Mach
number ( M ), the Reynolds number ( Re ) and the aircraft configuration. Similar
to the lift, the drag can be defined in terms of the Mach number instead of true
airspeed, thus

S pM C D
D
2
7 . 0 = (4)
Drag Polar

Both the lift coefficient and the drag coefficient are functions of the angle of
attack, thus the drag coefficient can be interpreted that it depends on the lift
coefficient. Figure 2 shows typical variations of the
L
C and
D
C with the angle of
attack. The drag coefficient related to the lift coefficient as shown in Figure 3 is
called the drag polar of the aircraft.


Figure 2 Typical variations of the lift and drag coefficients with the angle of attack.
Prof. Dr. Mustafa Cavcar, 2004. 3


Figure 3 Drag polar
As seen from Figure 3, the drag coefficient never becomes zero, and can be
divided into two components


i
D D D
C C C + =
min
(5)

The minimum drag coefficient,
min
D
C , is called the parasite drag coefficient [1],
and depends on the Mach number ( M ), the Reynolds number ( Re ) and the
aircraft configuration.
i
D
C is called the induced drag coefficient and depends on
the lift coefficient.


2
) (
0
L L D
C C K C
i
= (6)

where K is dependent on the aircraft wing dimensions, the Mach number ( M ),
the Reynolds number ( Re ) and the aircraft configuration.
0
L
C is the lift
coefficient at zero angle of attack. Therefore the drag polar of a modern cambered
wing transport aircraft can be represented with


2
) (
0 min
L L D D
C C K C C + = (7)

The drag polar is very important to performance analyses and can often be very
difficult to obtain from an aircraft manufacturer [1]. For the aircraft with
symmetrical wing sections the drag polar
Prof. Dr. Mustafa Cavcar, 2004. 4


2
0
L D D
KC C C + = (8)

where
0
D
C is the zero-lift drag coefficient. Because of the simplicity of the drag
polar equation given by equation (8), sometimes this representation is used even
for performance analyses of the cambered wing aircraft.

References

[1] Hale, F.J., Aircraft Performance Selection and Design, Wiley, New York,
1984.