INTRODUCTORY ENGINEERING NOTES

Y. Dai, J. Waranyuwat, A. Burkit

1. Aerospace Engineering
1.1. Introduction. Aerospace Engineering is a branch of engineering that deals with design, building
and testing of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into several subdisciplines, from which the main
ones are listed below:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)

Aerodynamics
Propulsion
Structural technology
Materials technology
Stability and Control

At UIUC, all of these areas of specialization are covered during the course of an AE Baccalaureate
program, which gives students an opportunity to get introduced to each of these disciplines and to
choose the area of specialization they want to pursue.
1.2. Aerodynamics.
1.2.1. Introduction. Aerodynamics is a subset of Fluid Dynamics and is a study of the flow of air
around objects. Aerodynamics is applied in a variety of industries, ranging from aircraft and automobile design to wind turbine and bicycle equipment design. Since we will study aerospace engineering,
we will be primarily concerned with aerodynamics of aircraft and spacecraft.
Aerodynamics explains the physics behind the flight, defines the forces acting on an aircraft and
enables us to find out performance parameters of the aircraft and flow parameters of the flow around
it. Aerodynamics relies on governing laws of physics, such as principle of mass conservation, Newtons
second law and principle of energy conservation.
We will cover the following topics in this section:

Wing terminology
Principle of continuity
Bernoullis equation
Lift and Drag, Thrust and Weight
Performance parameters
Flow similarity parameters

1.2.2. Wing terminology. When deriving equations later in this section, we need to be familiar with
wing terminology.

In the figure above, a top view of the wing is on the left, and a side view of the wing is on the right.
A side view of the wing shows a side cut of the wing, which is called an airfoil.
Aerospace engineers utilize the following conventions:
b - wingspan
S - wing area
LE - leading edge, the edge of the wing going in the flow of air first
T E - trailing edge, the edge of the wing that the air reaches last
c - chord
- angle of attack
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Question 1.2.1 Aspect ratio is a ratio of the square of the wing span to the wing area, or, AR = bS .
It is a useful wing parameter that allows to understand the purpose of the aircraft. F-16 fighter jet
has wingspan of 32.8 ft and wing area of 300 sq.ft. Boeing Phantom Eye HALE aircraft has 150 ft
wingspan and approximately 4 ft chord length. You can assume a rectangular wing. Calculate the
aspect ratios of both these aircraft and think about the reasons for why they are different.
1.2.3. Principle of continuity. In aerodynamics, the flow of air is considered a continuum flow since
the scale at which aerodynamics studies the forces and stresses around the aircraft is much larger
than the scale of a separate air molecule. That is, aerodynamics does not study forces between the
molecules, but rather the forces between the air as a whole and the aircraft, particularly its wings.
Thus, the air can be considered a continuous mass.
Another assumption that is made in aerodynamics to simplify the study of flowing air is a notion of a
control volume . The control volume, or V , is an imaginary volume that encloses a finite volume of
air and in which the laws of aerodynamics can be applied. Generally, it is assumed that the control
volume is fixed in space and the air flows through the control volume. It makes it easier to derive and
apply the equations of aerodynamics. The surface of the control volume is called a control surface,
and is denoted as S. The principle of continuity is derived from the principle of mass conservation,
that states that mass is conserved. That is, the mass that enters the control volume should be the
same mass that exits it. In equation form, the principle of continuity looks as follows:
Z
Z

~=0
dV +
~v dS
(1)
t V
S
where V is the control volume of interest, S is the surface of this control volume, is the density of
air, and ~v is velocity of the flow through the control surface. The first integral in the equation denotes
the rate of change of mass inside the control volume and the second integral is the net amount of mass
that flows in and out of the control volume through its surfaces. Equation (1) is called the continuity
equation.
Note that density, , of the flow can change with time, that is why it is inside the time derivative. If
density is not changing with time, the flow is said to be incompressible, otherwise it is compressible. Generally, compressible flow occurs at high speeds of air flow. In this section we will assume
incompressible flow in order to derive a simplified version of the continuity equation.
So, assuming that density is constant, and Rthat the control volume does not change with time, the
~ = 0.
first integral becomes zero, and that leaves S ~v dS
Assuming a control volume like in Figure 1, where the air flow cannot exit through upper, lower or
side surfaces, we can derive by calculating the dot product between the velocity and the surface area:
(2)

1 A1 v1 = 2 A2 v2

where A1 and A2 are respective surfaces of the control volume. Since we assumed that the flow is
incompressible, 1 = 2 , and we know that A1 = A2 .
2

Figure 1. Control volume.

Hence, v1 = v2 from equation (2). This means that the speed with which the air enters the control
volume as shown in Figure 1, will remain the same when the air exits this control volume.
Now define mass flow rate as:
(3)

m
= Av

where m
is the mass flow rate, that is, the change of mass per unit time. Thus, restating equation (2):
(4)

m
1=m
2

Now, if we assume an airfoil in a wind tunnel, as shown in Figure 2, and define a control volume as
the volume inside the wind tunnel from inlet 1 to outlet 3, the principle of continuity will still hold,
yielding:
(5)

m
1=m
3

(6)

1 A1 v1 = 3 A3 v3

Figure 2. Airfoil in a wind tunnel (schematic).

And assuming incompressible flow:
(7)

A1 v1 = A3 v3

Since we know that A1 > A3 , we conclude that v1 < v3 . That is, the speed of the air flow in a narrow
section of the wind tunnel is greater than that in a wide section.
Question 1.2.2 Consider a convergent duct with an inlet area A1 = 5 m2 . Air enters this duct with
velocity v1 = 10 m/s and leaves the duct exit with a velocity v2 = 30 m/s. Assuming incompressible
flow, what is the area of the duct exit?
3

1.2.4. Bernoullis equation. Bernoullis equation is derived from Newtons second law, that states that
force = mass acceleration, or more generally, force is equal to time rate of change of momentum.
That is,

(8)
F~ = (m~v )
t
Applying it to a control volume, we obtain:
Z
Z
Z
Z

~
~
(9)
f~dV + F~viscous
~v dV + (~v dS)~v = pdS +
t V
V
S
S
where p is the pressure exerted on the surfaces of the control volume, f~ is the body force on the air
inside the control volume, and Fviscous are the forces resulting from friction on the surfaces of control
volume. Equation (9) is called the momentum equation in integral form. When expanded to x, y
and z coordinates, the previous equation becomes a set of differential equations. This set of equations
is called the momentum equation in differential form. We present the equation for only one of
the dimensions: x-direction, since the other two are analogous.
(u)
p
+ (u)~v =
+ fx + (Fx )viscous
t
x
where u is the velocity component in x-direction, and
u
u
u
is gradient, or u
x + y + z , and only x is non-zero.

(10)

In our case, we assume an inviscid flow, which makes (Fx )viscous = 0. Moreover, we can assume
that the body force is negligibly small compared to pressure forces acting on the surfaces, so we can
ignore body forces, that is fx = 0. Also, as before, the flow is incompressible, so (u)
becomes
t
u
zero. Integrating u x and p, and getting a constant from integrating 0 on the right hand side of the
equation, we obtain:
1 2
u + p = const = p0
(11)
2
or more generally,
(12)

1 2
~v + pstatic = ptotal
2

Equation (12) is called Bernoullis equation, and states that the total pressure at a point in the
control volume equals to the sum of static and dynamic pressures, where
(13)

q = 1/2v 2

is dynamic pressure.
For our control volume,
(14)

pt1 = ps1 + q1 = ps3 + q3 = pt3

Now, using the previous conclusion that v1 < v3 , and knowing from Bernoullis equation that pt1 = pt3 ,
we can conclude that when velocity increases at point 3 (i.e. q3 increases), the static pressure ps3
decreases to conserve the total pressure. Thus, the static pressure above the airfoil is less than the
static pressure below it, which will induce an upward force, called lift.
Question 1.2.3 Consider an airfoil in a flow of air, where far ahead of the airfoil, the pressure,
density and velocity are 1.01105 N/m2 , 1.225 kg/m3 , and 150 km/h respectively. At a given point A
on the airfoil, the pressure is 9.95 104 N/m2 . What is the velocity at point A?
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1.2.5. Lift and Drag, Thrust and Weight. Lift is an aerodynamic force that enables the aircraft to
fly. Lift results from pressure and stress distribution on the airfoil. The other aerodynamic force
that results from pressure distribution on the airfoil is drag. Drag opposes the motion of the aircraft
forward. For a well designed airfoil, drag is much less than lift. The force that enables the motion
of the aircraft forward is called thrust. It is produced by engines of the aircraft. And the last main
force acting on the aircraft is weight. The forces acting on the are summarized in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3. Main aerodynamic forces acting on aircraft.

1.2.6. Performance parameters. Lift can be calculated using formula:

(15)

L = qScL

where L - lift force,

q - dynamic pressure,
S - wing area,
and cL - lift coefficient . It is a dimensionless number, and is an important performance parameter
in aircraft design.
Drag is calculated using a similar formula:
(16)

D = qScD

where D - drag force,

cD - drag coefficient, and is also an important dimensionless performance parameter.
As mentioned earlier, for a well designed airfoil cL >> cD , that is drag coefficient is usually an order
of magnitude less than lift coefficient. Lift and drag coefficients allow us to evaluate the performance
of different airfoils without knowing their shapes or sizes. These coefficients are one of the main
deliverables in aircraft design reports.
Question 1.2.4 For a Boeing 747-200 in cruise flight at an altitude of 40,000 ft with the wing area
of 5,500 ft2 , the following flight conditions have been reported:
air density = 0.00058735 slug/ft3 ,
true airspeed = 871 ft/s,
lift coefficient = 0.52,
drag coefficient = 0.022.
Calculate the lift force on the aircraft. What is the maximum weight at takeoff for Boeing 747-200?
What is the required thrust power?
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1.2.7. Flow similarity parameters. When tests on designing new airfoils are conducted, they take place
in wind tunnels, in which the sizes of wing models are much smaller than the full size aircraft wings.
What enables aerospace engineers to use the results from wind tunnel tests to predict full size wing
performance? The flow similarity parameters. There are many parameters that are reported from
wind tunnel tests, but we will focus on two main ones in this section. They are Mach and Reynolds
numbers. These numbers are also dimensionless, but can deliver plenty of information about the flow
of air around the wing. These numbers are used to mimic the conditions under which the wind tunnel
tests were performed. Moreover, they can predict the performance of a full size model based on the
tests on the scaled model.
Mach number is defined as the ratio of the speed of the air flow to the speed of sound.
v
(17)
M=
a
where M - Mach number,
v - speed of air flow,
a - speed of sound at that attitude.
The speed of sound varies with altitude, according to a formula:
p
(18)
a = RT
where - specific heat, (usually equal to 1.4),
R - universal gas constant, equal to 287 J/kg/K (1716 ft-lb/slug/o R),
T - temperature at the altitude of interest.
Depending on Mach number, the flow can be:

Subsonic M < 1
Transonic 0.8 < M < 1.2
Supersonic M > 1
Hypersonic M > 5

Reynolds number is a measure of the viscosity of the flow and is defined as:
vc
(19)
Re =

where Re - Reynolds number,

- density of the flow,
v - speed of the flow,
c - chord length,
- viscosity of the flow. Reynolds number is usually of the magnitude of 106 for an inviscid flow, and
about 104 and lower for a viscous flow.
Question 1.2.5 An aircraft flies at speed of 800 km/h at an altitude of 35,000 ft. The temperature
of the surroundings is -51o C. What is the Mach number at which the aircraft is flying?
Lift and drag coefficients depend on both Mach and Reynolds numbers and also on an angle of attack,
i.e. cL = f (M, Re, ) and cD = g(M, Re, ), and the exact expresisons for cL and cD are difficult
to obtain. However, during wind tunnel tests, the values of lift and drag forces can be obtained
experimentally, and the lift and drag coefficients can be calculated from Equations (15) and (16)
respectively. A visual representation of how lift coefficient varies with angle of attack as shown in
Figure 4 below:
6

Figure 4. Angle of attack vs. lift coefficient

It can be seen that lift coefficient increases as the angle of attack increases, however only to some
point. That point is called a critical angle of attack, or stall . After this point, stall occurs, that is
no more lift can be generated at that angle of attack. This is a dangerous condition for aircraft flight,
that is why there are plenty of instruments onboard the aircraft that warn the pilot of the approaching
of the angle of attack that will cause stalling.
Question 1.2.6 If the section lift acting on a two-dimensional wing of chord 2 m, flying at 250 km/h
in sea level altitude is 3000 N/m, when the angle of attack is 4o and section lift curve slope is 0.11,
determine the zero lift angle of attack of the wing.
*Note that =1.225 kg/m3 at sea level altitude and lift coefficient varies with angle of attack according to cL = k ( 0 ), where k - slope of lift curve, - angle of attack (in degrees), 0 - zero
lift angle of attack (in degrees).

1.3. Propulsion.
1.3.1. Introduction. Propulsion is what enables the aircraft and spacecraft propel forward. Most of the
propulsion systems work on the same principle that will be discussed later in this section. Propulsion
systems are divided into two categories, the ones typically used in aircraft and the ones used in rockets.
The engines that use air as their working fluid are called air breathing engines. Rocket engines, on
the other hand, work on chemical reaction principles.
The basic parts of a typical airbreathing engine are shown in Figure 5 below.

Figure 5. Main parts of an air breathing engine.

The air enters the engine through the inlet and goes into compressor, where the pressure and the
temperature of the air is increased. Next, this air gets into a combustion chamber, where the fuel
is added and starts burning under high-pressure high-temperature conditions. Then, this mixture
proceeds to a turbine section of the engine, where it cools and enables the turning of the turbine
blades, that enable the turning of the shaft that is connected to the compressor blades. After that the
air exits through the nozzle and creates momentum on the aircraft.
Newtons third law that states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That
means, the force generated by the air exiting the engine will act on the aircraft in the opposite direction,
that is forward. Thus, propulsive force is generated on an aircraft.
1.3.2. Basic Equations on Thrust. Thrust equations will be derived using a generic propulsive device
as described below:

Figure 6. Generic schematic of a propulsive device.

8

The reference frame is placed on the propulsion device moving at a constant speed of V1 traveling in
the X direction. The purpose of this propulsion device is to produce thrust T , acting to the left of the
device. The thrust produced is a result of the net pressure and shear forces distributions acting on
the surface areas at each point where air contacts the propulsive device. Using Newtons third law,
the propulsion device will exert on the air an equal and opposite force T 0 acting to the right.
The propulsion device will be bound by a control volume. Air will enter the control volume at inlet 1
and leave at outlet 2, as seen in the figure. The force T 0 that the propulsion device exerts on the air
can be found using Newtons second law, which can be expressed as follows:
X

(20)

F~ =
t

Z
~v dV +

~
(~v ~v ) dA

The above equation can be simplified using the following assumptions:

(1) The flow is steady inside the propulsion device.
(2) The effects of pressure and shear stress acting on the side walls of the stream tube are
ignored.
Using the above assumptions and taking into account that the flow travels in the X-direction, the
previous equation becomes:
T 0 + p1 A1 p2 A2 = m
2 v2 m
1 v1

(21)

where m
= mass flow rate
p = pressure
v= air velocity
A = areas of the inlet and outlet sections of the control volume
Remembering the conservation of mass principle, m
1=m
2+m
f uel , where m
f uel is the mass flow rate
of fuel that is added in the combustion chamber. However, the fuel rate can be neglected, since it
is relatively low compared to the air flow rate. Thus, we can conclude that m
=m
1 =m
2 and the
thrust equation becomes:
T 0 = m(v
2 v1 ) + p2 A2 p1 A1

(22)

In rocket engine propulsion systems, air will never enter the system. Hence, the air mass flow rate
at the inlet m
1 = 0. That makes the thrust produced by a rocket equal to:
T 0 = m 2 v2 + p2 A2 p1 A1

(23)

Question 1.3.1 A jet engine on an airplane moving at 950 km/h has an exit area of 0.5 m2 . If
the gas exiting the engine has a speed of 1950 km/h (with respect to the engine) and a density of 0.5
kg/m3 , how much thrust does the engine produce?
If the airplane has two identical engines producing the same thrust, what is the total drag on the
airplane? You may assume equal cross sections for the inlet and the outlet of the engine.
1.3.3. Turbofans, Turboprops, and Turbojets. Airbreathing engines can be grouped into three categories:
Turbofan
Turboprop
Turbojet
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All of these categories of engines have a common component called core. The core is composed of the
compressor, the combustion chamber, and the turbine.
In a turbofan, thrust is produced by a fan that is located inside the casing, called duct. This fan is
driven by the shaft connected to the turbine, as explained in the beginning of the section. A basic
schematic of the turbofan is shown in below:

Figure 7. Turbofan.
In a turboprop, thrust is produced by a propeller that is located outside of the engine casing, in front
of the core. The propeller is also driven by the shaft connected to the turbine. A basic schematic of
the turboprop is shown below:

Figure 8. Turboprop.
In a turbojet, the thrust is produced by a high-speed jet resulting from the expansion of high-pressure
hot gas, coming from the turbine to the nozzle. A basic schematic of a turbojet engine is shown below:
10

Figure 9. Turbojet.
In both turbofan and turboprop engines, the large flow rate of air at the exit of the nozzle has speeds
only slightly faster than the aircraft speed. In turbojet, the rate of air flow is faster, but the amount
of flow is smaller. So, in turbofans and turboprops the smaller velocity increment of the flow leads to
a higher propulsion efficiency. Thus, it can be concluded that: Turbofan and turboprop engines have
higher propulsion efficiency and, in turn, a better fuel efficiency than turbojets.

1.3.4. Afterburners. During short periods of time during take-off, climb, and high thrust demanding
maneuvers of military aircraft, additional thrust may be required. This demand in thrust is provided
by afterburners. The figure below shows the location of the afterburners in the engine.

Figure 10. Afterburners schematic.

Afterburners work by providing an additional increase to the temperature and pressure of air that
comes out of the turbine. The fuel is injected into this air by use of additional nozzles and is burned
using an igniter. Thus, the needed thrust is increased.

1.3.5. Ramjet. A special type of jet engine is a ramjet. It does not have any moving parts, as can be
seen from its schematic:
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Figure 11. Ramjet.

In a ramjet, the air from the inlet is compressed by the forward motion of the engine ramming the air
through the engine. Hence the term, ramjet.
Ramjets are capable of operating at subsonic speeds, but are inefficient. The best efficiency is achieved
at speeds ranging from Mach 3 to Mach 5. Above Mach 5, the ramjet efficiency decreases due to high
losses in the compression cycle. In order to have an efficient propulsion system at these speeds,
supersonic combustion needs to take place. Ramjets that operate under supersonic combustion are
referred to as scramjets.
1.3.6. Rocket Propulsion. As seen in the figure below, a chemical rocket consists of a combustion
chamber connected to a converging-diverging nozzle.

Figure 12. Rocket engine.

The rocket engines are subdivided into two main categories: solid propellant and liquid propellant
rockets. The thrust is produced as the result of burning of the propellant under a chemical reaction.
Energy produced from the combustion of propellant heats up the reaction gases to very high temperatures ranging from 2800 K to 4000 K. The pressure of those gases increases significantly. So, when
these gases exit through the nozzle, they are accelerated to high velocities. Thus, the large amount of
thrust is produced.
1.3.7. Rocket Thrust Equation. As derived in one of the previous sections,
(24)

T 0 = m 2 v2 + p2 A2 p1 A1

Substituting T 0 = F , m
2 = m,
v2 = ve , p2 = pe and p1 = pa we get:
(25)

F = mv
e + (pe pa )Ae

where ve = velocity at the nozzle exit

pe =pressure at the nozzle exit
12

Ae = area of the nozzle exit

pa = ambient pressure (pressure outside the nozzle exit)
At the exit of the nozzle, the exhaust velocity is not uniform over the entire cross-sectional area.
For simplicity, a uniform velocity will be assumed to allow a one-dimensional analysis. An average
simplified velocity at the nozzle exit is denoted as the effective exhaust velocity, c. It is given by:
F
Ae
= ve + (pe pa )
(26)
c=
m

1.3.8. Rocket Propulsion Parameters. In rocket propulsion, a very important parameter is the specific
impulse, Isp . It is of the same importance in rocket engine design as lift coefficient in airfoil design. It
is measured in seconds and it is the thrust generated per unit weight-flow-rate of the propellant. Isp
is given by:
Rt
F dt
(27)
Isp = 0R t
go 0 mdt
where go is the gravitational acceleration at sea-level (9.81 ms2 ). Assuming constant propellant mass
flow rate and constant thrust, the equation can be simplified to:
F
(28)
Isp =
mg
0
This equation also assumes pa = 0. Rockets operating at very high altitudes frequently encounter
near-vacuum conditions, or close to zero ambient pressure, and thus Equation (28) for specific impulse
would hold.
Two additional parameters are used in rocket propulsion. The first is the characteristic exhaust
velocity c . The characteristic exhaust velocity is easily determined experimentally and is used often
to compare the performance of various different chemical rockets. The characteristic exhaust velocity
is defined as:
p o At
(29)
c =
m

where At is the throat area of the nozzle, that is, the most narrow part of the nozzle,
and p0 is the pressure outside of the nozzle
The second additional parameter is the thrust coefficient, Cf . This parameter can be used to study
how pressure and altitude changes can affect the nozzle performance. Thrust coefficient is given as:
F
mc

(30)
Cf =
=
p o At
po At
The specific impulse can be written in terms of characteristic exhaust velocity and thrust coefficient
as:
Cf c
(31)
Isp =
go
In order to achieve space travel and exploration, rockets are required to launch space vehicles to
orbit. The use of rockets provide the necessary velocity, called escape velocity, to overcome the
gravitational force present on earth. The formula for escape velocity can be found by equating the
kinetic energy of a moving body to the work necessary to overcome gravity, and is given by:
p
(32)
ue = 2go (Ro + h)
where R0 is the radius of the Earth, and h is the altitude of the orbit.
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1.3.9. Multi-Staging in Rockets. In a rocket vehicle, the total mass is composed of structural mass,
payload mass, and propellant mass. Because an increase in mass demands higher thrust required
during the mission, it is not efficient to carry all the initial structural mass of the rocket throughout
the length of the entire mission. A single stage rocket is limited by the payload it can carry during
the mission. In multistage rockets, separate fuel tanks are commonly grouped with their own engines,
called a stage.
After the propellant for a particular stage is burned out, the remaining empty structural mass of that
stage is dispensed from the vehicle, and the next stage is ignited. The last stage of the rocket will
carry the payload for the mission. Decreasing structural mass of the vehicle with each stage allows
for a more efficient flight. In general, the benefits of having multistage rockets are higher velocities,
increase in payload, and improved performance for long range missions.

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