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Surfaces Checklist
General Tips

Save often:
Although you have probably heard this more often than you care to remember; save your work
frequently. Errors in Surfaces are not trapped globally, but rather locally (inside subroutines). This is
done to increase computational speed (which is slowed down by global trapping). The software has very
powerful features and, thus, is programmatically complicated. If the program crashes frequently when
you are using it, you may have discovered a bug, but you may also have discovered that your operation
of the program is at fault. Report the bug to the lab monitors and show them how to reproduce it. Also,
have them show you a workaround.

File recovery:
Users are often good at discovering bugs the programmers did not foresee. This pertains to all
programs. For this reason, programs often crash when you least suspect. If this happens when using
Surfaces, there is no need to become frantic; your work is not necessarily lost. Surfaces creates undo
files after each geometric change and these files can be used to recover your work. Generally, these
undo files are deleted once the program is properly closed. However, if the program crashes they
remain intact on the disc (by design), allowing the model to be recovered. Make sure your Surfaces
trainer shows you how to recover your model using the undo files. Naturally, this does not replace
frequently saving your work. It is a terrible feeling to spend an entire day in the lab, only to lose
everything to an unexpected crash because you did not save your work.

Start early:
Starting early allows you to perform more design iterations of your aircraft. If you dont iterate you
design you are doing something wrong. It also allows more time to get help for any errors that may
happen.
Tips on Creating Geometry

Surface Creation:
a. All vectors must have a component pointed in the streamwise direction (i.e. along positive x-axis).
b. All surfaces must have 4 sides, with the top and bottom sides parallel to each other and parallel
to the x-axis. See Figure 1.
c. Adjacent surfaces must have the same number of panels.
d. Aim to make the panels in the surfaces approximately square shaped.
e. Do not make panels too small. If too many panels are bunched together, Surfaces may not be able
to find a solution, or worse, may give an incorrect one.


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CORRECT


INCORRECT
Figure 1: Correct and incorrect alignment of surface vectors.

Using the Repair Tool:
a. Always use the repair tool after changing the aircrafts geometry (especially after using the mirror
tool). The repair tool can check for coincident points, vectors, and surfaces, which would otherwise
cause errors or crashes.
b. Once you have repaired, inspect formulas containing references to the geometry to confirm no
changes. Therefore, it is best to complete the model, then implement the repair (make sure you
check carefully which options you select to prevent the operation from accidentally deleting
geometry you do not want to lose (e.g. reference points or nodes to which no vectors are
connected).




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Using Airfoils:
a. Check if Surfaces already has your airfoil datapoints: Double-click a vector to be turned into an
airfoil, then select the Parametric curve tab. Click on Use Existing Shape File, then the Shape
Files tab. If no files show up in the right window, check to make sure that the left window is
accessing C:\Program Files (x86)\Surfaces\Shape Files.
b. You can also import your own shape files. They are typically in the same format as airfoil .dat files
(which can be found online for most airfoils) but with a .SHP file extension. If you cannot find an
already existing file, then create a text file in the following format:

Name of airfoil
(x-coord in percent chord from 1000) (y-coord of upper surface in percent chord)
(x-coord in percent chord from 0100) (y-coord of lower surface in percent chord)

Application of Tuning Factors:
Rule of thumb: Fuselages usually have lower tuning factors than wing or tail sections. Tuning factors
should also be 0.5~0.75. Strictly speaking, this tuning factor depends on the geometry of the fuselage
and, thus, is hard to specify. Generally, the closer a fuselage resembles an airfoil, the higher is the
tuning factor.

Geometry Definition:
Always check the values of defined objects. Different methods for geometry definition will overwrite
values for chord lengths and wing area.
Tips on Model Solution
Flight Conditions:
Check the flight conditions of the aircraft in the Objects panel (left side of the main window) and make
sure they match your own. These include the altitude and airspeed of the aircraft, both of which will
have an effect on trim and stability.

Neutral Point:
Generally, the neutral point is estimated with all control surfaces neutral. Therefore, reset all controls
using the Reset button on the Controllers tab on the VLM Console (see Figure 2). Also, remember
that Surfaces only determines the stick-fixed neutral point, since at this stage in the design of the
aircraft the hinge moment coefficient for the elevator remains unknown. Use classical methods from AE-
413 to estimate the location of the stick-free neutral point.

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Figure 2: Press the Reset button before running the Neutral Point task.

Aircraft Trim:
Check axes: Make sure that the aircraft has the proper control surfaces before trimming about a certain
axis. For example, the aircraft cannot be trimmed about the z-axis (yaw) without a rudder.
Check weight: If the weight is incorrect, then the aircraft will trim to the incorrect lift value, which may
cause it to trim pitch incorrectly as well.
Check the CG location: The AOA and control surface deflection required to trim a statically stable
aircraft depends on the location of the CG. MAKE SURE YOUR CG-LOCATION IS CORRECT. Where should
it be for the flight condition you are investigating? Also, make sure you check forward and aft positions
of the CG envelope. If youre convinced your CG-location is indeed correct, and you are getting excessive
control surface deflection to trim, then the program is telling you (1) there is something wrong with your
model, or, worse, (2) your model has serious flaws that requires a serious redesign effort to fix. Option
(2) is precisely why you want to check your design using software like Surfaces.

Stability Derivatives:
Check control deflection directions: If they are not selected, then the program will not calculate control
derivatives. Alternately, if the designated deflections are reversed, then the sign on the resulting value
will be negative and incorrect.
Check derivative values: Just because Surfaces was able to complete the analysis does not mean the
inputs are correct. Use other sources (e.g., Professor Greiners stability and control notes) to verify that
your values are reasonable. Also, some values are not calculated by Surfaces, require another input, or
may use different equations for different flight conditions. This can be checked and changed by double-
clicking on the value in the information box on the left.



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Virtual Wind Tunnel:
Drag: Make sure drag does not go to zero. If it does, check the value of CDo, which should be a non-zero
value. It also should not cross the lift axis (i.e., negative drag).