MAE 4242 AIRCRAFT STABILITY & CONTROL

Directional Control
(Nelson: 2.7)
Yongki Go

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Primary Directional Control
Primary directional control: rudder
Rudder deflection change side force on vertical tail
change yawing moment about the CG

Convention:
Positive r generates positive Yvt
N due to
r (+)
lvt Consequently:
Positive r generates
Yvt due
to r (+)
Rudder Requirements (1)
Rudder must be designed to provide sufficient control
authority under these circumstances:
Adverse yaw: yawing moment in the opposite direction of the
turn
Mainly due to drag difference on the wing
Effect usually small except for
Rudder Requirements (2)
Crosswind takeoff and landing
Rudder must be able to counter the yawing moment due to
crosswind to maintain
Rudder Requirements (3)
Asymmetric power
Rudder must be sufficient to counter yawing moment due to
asymmetrical

Spin recovery
Rudder is the major recovery control to get out of spin
In spin, often rudder is the only effective control surface
Rudder Control Effectiveness (1)

Change in aircrafts yawing moment due to rudder

deflection r is mainly due to change in side force acting on
the vertical tail:

Yvt qvt Svt CLvt dCLvt

N lvt qvt Svt r
dCLvt d r
CLvt r
d r
N qvt lvt Svt dCLvt
Cn r
qw Sb qw Sb d r
Rudder Control Effectiveness (2)
By using vertical-tail volume ratio and efficiency definitions:
dCLvt dCn
Cn vtVvt r r
d r d r
Rudder control effectiveness/rudder power:
dCLvt
Cn vtVvt
r
d r
Indicates rate of change of yawing moment due to rudder
deflection typically for conventional aircraft
dCLvt dCLvt d vt d vt
CL where
d r d vt d r vt
d r
can be estimated the same way as for
elevator, using the same chart
Rudder Angle to Sideslip
If contribution of other control surfaces is neglected, total
yawing moment in aircraft :
Cn Cn Cn r
r

During steady sideslip: Cn 0

Cn rudder angle required to

r
Cn maintain
r

Aircraft with higher degree of static directional stability

requires larger rudder deflection angle to maintain a given
sideslip
Example: Takeoff Under Crosswind (1)
Data of an aircraft:
wing loading (W/S) = 2500 N/m2 wing span (b) = 25 m
unstick speed = 1.2 Vstall wing area (S) = 70 m2
max lift coefficient = 1.8 fin efficiency (vt) = 0.9
fin lift-curve slope = 0.08 /deg Cn 0.012 /deg
fin volume ratio (Vvt) = 0.25
Assume 1 deg of rudder deflection changes the fin angle of attack

by 0.4 deg vt 0.4
r

The aircraft is ready for takeoff at sea level under a crosswind

of 8 m/s perpendicular to runway from right-wing direction
Determine the rudder angle required to maintain heading along
the runway at its unstick speed
Example: Takeoff Under Crosswind (2)
Solution: To find the sideslip angle:
2 W 1 2 1
Vstall 2500 47.62 m/s
Vunstick
S CLmax 1.225 1.8
Vtotal Vunstick 1.2Vstall 57.14 m/s
Vcrosswind 8
tan 1 tan 1
Vunstick 57.14
Rudder control power:
dCLvt
CL 0.08 0.4 0.032 /deg
d r vt

dCLvt
Cn vtVvt 0.9 0.25 0.032
r
d r
Rudder angle required:
Cn
r 13.28 deg
Cn
r
 Example: Asymmetric Flight (1)
Data of a twin jet engine aircraft:
thrust per engine = 10,000 N wing area = 50 m2
max rudder deflection = 20 deg wing span = 10 m
spanwise distance between the two engines = 10 m
rudder control effectiveness = 0.001 /deg
Determine rudder deflection to maintain zero sideslip at 100 m/s in
steady level flight at sea level with one engine completely out.
Solution: Yawing moment due to asymmetric thrust:
NT 10, 000 5 50, 000 N
For maintaining steady level flight with zero sideslip:

N r NT
Example: Asymmetric Flight (2)
Expanding yawing moment due to rudder expression:
1
2 V 2 SbCn r NT
r

NT
r 1
2 V 2
SbCn
r

50, 000
1
2 1.225 100 2
50 10 (0.001)
16.32 deg
Rudder Hinge Moment
Linear model for rudder hinge moment (assuming no
residual hinge moment and no tab):
Ch Ch Ch r
r r

where: Ch ; Ch
r

For conventional aircraft:

Ch 0 Ch 0
r
Free Floating Rudder
When rudder pedal is released (stick-free), rudder is free
floating Ch 0 r

Floating angle of the rudder in a side-slipping motion:

Ch Ch C h r
r r

Ch
r stick rfree
free Ch
r

Since typically: Ch
Ch 0; Ch 0 0
r Ch
r

Rudder floating angle has the same sign as sideslip

Rudder floats to the left when aircraft sideslips to the right
and vice versa
Floating rudder tends to
Stick-Free Static Directional Stability (1)
The difference between stick-fixed and stick-free directional
stability is due to rudder floating angle
Yawing moment contribution from vertical tail (+ rudder):
N vt stick-free lvt (Yvt Yvt )

N vt stick-free lvt qvt Svt CL vt

rfree

Ch
C nvt
stick-free
Vvtvt CL
vt

Ch


Nvt

r
lvt
Contribution to directional stability:
Lvt

d
Ch Yvt
Cn Vvtvt CL 1
vt
stick-free d Ch
vt
r
Stick-Free Static Directional Stability (2)
dCLvt
Using previous result: Cn vtVvt vtVvt CL
r
d r vt

C
Ch
nvt Cn Cn
stick-free vt stick-fixed Ch r
r

Since typically:

C nvt
stick-free
Cn vt
stick-fixed

Lower contribution from vertical tail to directional static

stability in stick-free situation
Total aircrafts stick-free directional stability (ignoring
wing-alone contribution and power effects):
C
n
stick-free
Cn Cn
wf
vt
stick-free
Rudder Lock
At low sideslip angles, rudder floating angle is usually
lower than the angle required for steady sideslip
Pilot needs to supply pedal forces for steady sideslip
At high sideslip angles, rudder floating angle overshoot the
angle required for steady sideslip
Need to supply opposite pedal forces to operate rudder
Due to flow separation and stall at vertical tail

Rudder floating angle = rudder angle

required for
Pedal forces must be
Phenomenon undesirable:
supplied for steady sideslip
rudder control is not intuitive
beyond rudder lock point
may require considerable pedal
force to break the rudder lock
Rudder Lock Prevention
Aerodynamic balancing
Using tabs to alter hinge-moment coefficients and the floating
characteristics of the rudder
Dorsal fin
Shed vortices from dorsal fin energize the flow around the
vertical tail