Fluid Mechanics Project:

How Airplanes Generate Lift

Instructor’s Name: Dr. Monther Nimri

Student Name: Ahmad Shahbandar

Student Number: 1510197

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 Introduction

This paper will be an application on a topic we took in class. My

explantation is going to be based on the Bernoulli Principle.
There is more than one way to explain how airplanes fly, but I
chose the Bernoulli Principle, as it is simple and easy to
understand.

Almost everyone nowadays has went on an airplane. Many of us

question “How do airplanes fly”? The common misconception is
people think engines are the key to making an airplane fly, but
this is wrong. Basically on an airplane wings are what allows it to
fly while the propeller or jet engine drive it forward. This is a good
base of knowledge for an average person. Engines are not the
main component of flight for example paper planes and gliders
can fly quite well without the need of them.

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 Body

What is it that allows an around 200 tons plane climb thousands

of meters into the air. Is it the big engines that provide large
amounts of thrust or could it be its massive wings. So what is it
about an airplane that allows it to fly. Well you are about to find
out.

Bernoulli’s Principle states that when the speed of a moving fluid

increases, the pressure decreases and when the speed of a
moving fluid decreases, the pressure increases.

In total there are four forces that act on an airplane while in flight.
These forces are lift, thrust, weight and drag. We will start with lift
and work our way from there.

Lift:
The wing itself does not generate lift, it is more about the shape
of the wing. The wing is shaped like an airfoil. In normal forward
flight wind passing over the wing helps the airfoil generate lift. Air
moving across the airfoil is forced to move faster on the top than
it is on the bottom. The slow moving air on the bottom puts more
pressure upwards on the wing than the faster moving air on the
top, therefore this causes lift. This is know as Bernoulli’s Principle.

Figure 1: Airfoil

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Thrust:
While the wings create the force of lift which is pushing the
airplane up we also have the force of thrust pushing the aircraft
forward. This is created by the propeller or engine. So you can
say that lift and thrust are two forces helping the airplane fly. Now
lets look at the other side of that, the two forces that counteract
these two. Those forces are weight and drag.

Weight:
The weight of the structure of the plane, people riding and
baggage along with the gravity act as weight pulling down. In
order for an airplane to fly the lift generated by the wings must be
equal to or greater than the weight of the airplane. If wings
cannot create enough lift to overcome the weight the plane would
not fly.

Drag:
Opposite of thrust is drag which is created simply by the
airplanes existence. It is an objects natural desire to resist
moving through a fluid such as air or water. Just like with lift and
weight, thrust must be equal or greater than drag in order for an
airplane fly. Airplanes always retract their landing gear after take
off to reduce drag.

Airfoil is the shape of an airplane’s wing as show in Figure 1. It is

primarily responsible for lift due to the difference in pressure on
it. If you want to know why air is faster on the top surface of an
airfoil here is a simple example: If you've ever pinched a water
hose, you would observed this principle in action. By pinching
the hose, you narrow the path of the fluid flow, which speeds up
the molecules. Remove the pressure and the water flow returns
to its previous state. Since the top of the airfoil is curve it has the
same effect as pinching a hose.

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 The shape of the airfoil is different for different aircrafts. It is
designed to give the best trade off between lift and drag for each
aircraft. On many airplanes, the bottom of the wing will curve
downwards slightly instead of being flat. On other aircraft, such
as gliders, it will curve upwards. On a stunt plane, which is likely
to fly upside down has the curve on the bottom of the wing the
same as it is on the top.

Figure: 2

Airfoil 1

Airfoil 2

Airfoil 3

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Regarding Figure 2:
In Airfoil 1 the distance traveled is the same. Equal distances in
equal times means the air is traveling at the same speed. There
is no net force therefore no lift.

In Airfoil 2 the curved shape is longer so the air is traveling faster.

Equal distances traveled in equal times. Also there is no net force
therefore no lift.

In Airfoil 3 the air on top is traveling faster than the air on the
bottom. The force exerted on top is less so the net force is
upward. Therefore there is lift.

Conclusion

It is easy to take the physics of flight for granted. We often take a

look at a plane in the sky with no good understanding of the
principles involved. At first glimpse this huge and heavy aircraft
flying might seem like work of magic. The basis of flight physics
is quite simple, but there is so much more to it than what is
explained in this paper.

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 Sources

http://web.mit.edu/16.00/www/aec/flight.html

https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/UEET/StudentSite/
dynamicsofflight.html

http://www.explainthatstuff.com/howplaneswork.html

http://www.diracdelta.co.uk/science/source/a/e/aerofoil/
source.html#.WHFavbZ95p8

http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/
airplanes2.htm