THE INITIAL STALL IN SPAN WISE DIRECTION

It has been shown that stalling is due to separation of airflow. This is generally true, but
there are aspects of aircraft behaviour and handling at or near the stall which depends
on the wing design and planform. Hence, distribution of pressure and location of centre
of pressure (CP).

THE EFFECT OF AEROFOIL SECTION

Shape of aerofoil will influence the manner of the stall. With some sections stall
happens very suddenly and lift lose is very marked. With others, the approach to stall is
more gradual, and the lift loss is less disastrous.
In general, an aircraft should stall too suddenly, if a particular wing stall too suddenly,
it will be necessary to provide some sort-of artificial stall warning device or even stall
prevention device.
A given aerofoil section will always
stall at the same angle of attack

Features of which aerofoil section design will affect behaviour near the stall:
 Leading edge radius,
 Thickness-chord ratio,
 Camber, particularly the amount of camber near the leading edge, and
 Chord wise location of points of maximum thickness and maximum camber.
Generally sharper the nose (small leading edge radius), the thinner the aerofoil section,
the more sudden will stall. I.e. an aerofoil section designed for efficient operation at
higher speed. Fig below.

Figure 1
INFLUENCE OF PLAN FORM
On basic plan forms, airflow separation will not occur simultaneously at all span wise
locations.

THE RECTANGULAR WING

Fig 2. On rectangular wing, separation tends to begin at the root, and spreads out
towards the tip. Reduction in lift initially occurs inboard near the aircraft CG, loss of lift
is felt ahead of Centre of Gravity and the CP moves rearward, so the nose drops and
reduces the angle of attack. Thus, there is natural tendency for the aircraft to move
away from the high angle of attack which gave rise to stall, and aerodynamic buffet can
be provide a warning of the approaching stall. Being located outside of area of
separated airflow, the ailerons tend to remain effective when the stalling process starts.
All of these factors give the most desirable kind of response to a stall.
 Aileron effectiveness
 Nose drop,
 Aerodynamic buffet, and
 Absence of violet wing drag

Figure 2 rectangular wing

Unfortunately, a rectangular wing has unacceptable wing bending characteristics and is
not very aerodynamically efficient, so most modern aircraft have and/or swept
planfom.

THE TAPERED WING

Figure 3. Separation tends to occur first in the region of wing tips, reducing lift in those
areas. If wing allowed to stall at tips, stalling would give aileron buffet, and perhaps
violent wing drop and may cause to spin. There would be no buffet on the tail, no strong
nose down pitching moment, and if any aileron effectiveness is there it’s very little.
 Figure 3 Tapered wing
To give favorable stall characteristics, a tapered wing must be modified using one or
more of the following: -

SWEEPBACK
Figure 7. A swept wing fitted to allow a higher maximum speed, but it has an increased
tendency to stall tip first. Loss of lift at the tips moves the CP forward, giving a nose up
pitching moment.

Figure 7

GEOMETRIC TWIST (wash out)/AERODYNAMIC TWIST

A decrease in incidence from root to tip. This decreases the angle of attack at the tip,
will cause root to stall first.
 Greater the thickness and camber are located near the tip will cause higher
CL MAX at wing tip will cause to delay wing tip stall and tend to root will start
first.
LEADING EDGE SLOTS
Figure 4, towards the tip re-energize the boundary layer. They increase local CL MAX ,
hence delaying separation at the tip, and retaining aileron effectiveness. Will discuss
deep in later topics

Figure 4. Leading edge slot

STALL STRIP
Another method for improving the root to stall first. An aerofoil section with smaller
leading edge radius at the root would promote airflow separation at root first but
decreases overall wing efficiency. The same result can be occur by attaching stall strips
(small triangular strips), figure 5.
 Figure 5. Stall Strip
At higher AOA stall strips promote separation, but will not effect the efficiency of the
wing in the cruise.

VORTEX GENERATORS
Figure 6, are rows of small, thin aerofoil shaped blades which project vertically into
airstream. Each vortex generator generates small vortex which causes the free stream
of high energy air to mix with and add kinetic energy to the boundary layer and tends
to delay the separation.
 Figure 6. Vortex Generators

PITCH-UP
Figure 8. As soon as a swept wing begins to stall, both forward CP movement and
increased down wash at the tailplane (due to more lift in inboard of the wings) causes
the aircraft nose to rise rapidly, further increasing angle of attack. This phenomena is
known as pitch-up, and is a very dangerous characteristic of many high speed, swept
wing aircraft.
 Figure 8. Pitch – Up
The tendency of swept back wing to stall at tip first due to the induced span wise flow
of the boundary layer from root to tip. The following design features can be improved
to stall wing at root first and more acceptable stall characteristics: -

WING FENCES (boundary layer fences)

Figure 9, are thin metal fences which generally extended from the leading edge to trailing on
the top surface and are intended to prevent outward drift of the boundary layer.

Figure 9.

VORTILONS
Figure 10, are also thin metal fences, but are smaller than a full chordwise fence. They
are situated on the underside of the wing leading edge. The support pylons of pod
mounted engines on the wing also act in the same way. At high angles of attack a small
but intense vortex is shed over the wing top surface which acts as an aerodynamic wing
fence.
SAW TOOTH
Leading edge, figure 11, will also generate a strong vortex over the wing upper surface
at higher angles of attack, minimizing spanwise flow of the boundary layer. (Rarely used
on modern high speed jet transport aircraft).

Figure 10. Vortilon figure 11. Saw Tooth

Stall recovery
To recover from the stall or prevent to stall, the angle of attack must be decreased to
reduce the adverse pressure gradient. It may be necessary to smoothly the pitch
control forward. Excessive forward moment of pitch control may impose a negative load
on the wing and delay recovery.
On straight wing aircraft the rudder should be used to prevent wing drop during stall
and recovery. On swept wing aircraft it is recommended that the ailerons be used to
prevent wing drop, with small amount of smoothly applied co–ordinated rudder.
(Excessive rudder can give too much roll, leading to pilot induced oscillation – PIO).
Allow airspeed to increase and recover lost altitude with moderate back pressure on
the pitch control. Pulling too hard could trigger secondary stall, or worse, could exceed
the limit load factor and damage the aircraft structure. As angle of attack reduces below
critical angle, the adverse pressure gradient will reduce and airflow will re-attach, lift
and drag will return their normal values.