Chapter 4 (PART A)

Equations of Motion

11/01/15

Chapter 4 - PART A

Level Flight

So far we have reviewed some applied

aerodynamics and propulsion all
intended to provide a background in
airplane performance and design. We are
now ready to start airplane performance
The first thing to do is to develop the
equations of motion of the airplane.
Remember there are always four forces of
flight; these are

(i) Lift, L
(ii) Drag, D
(iii) Thrust T, and
(iv) Weight, W

These four forces will always be present

in any kind of flight. We shall now develop
the equations of motion for a general
orientation of the airplane in flight

11/01/15

First consider an airplane in level flight

shown in Fig 4.1.

In this situation, the flight path, and

therefore V , are always horizontal
In fig 4.1 the airplane moves from left to
right. Hence the free stream V moves
from right of left (i.e., opposite to the
direction of flight)

Chapter 4 - PART A

Longitudinal Plane of Symmetry

L and D in Fig 4.1 represent the lift and

drag of the complete airplane (not just any
specific part)
The weight W always acts towards the
center of the earth; in level flight, W is
vertically down
The thrust T is not necessarily in the free
stream direction; and so it is shown at an
angle with respect to the flight path (i.e.,
the free stream direction)
Sometimes an engine is gimballed which
means it is capable of rotating about some
axis, thus changing its thrust direction
independent of the orientation of the
airplane for example, the Space
Shuttles engines

11/01/15

For level flight, all four forces are in the

same plane , which is also the
longitudinal plane of symmetry. This
plane splits the airplane into two
symmetrical parts
Level flight is by far the simplest
orientation of the airplane to analyze
Lets look at something a little more
complex

Chapter 4 - PART A

Climbing (or Descending) Flight

Now lets consider a slightly more general

orientation climbing (or descending)
flight shown in Fig 4.2, and examine the
four flight forces again
The flight path here is generally curved as
shown in Fig 4.2. Therefore, V will
always be tangent to the flight path (and,
of course, in the opposite direction)
The angle that the flight path makes with
the horizontal direction is denoted by
and is called the climb angle of the
airplane. Hence, V is also inclined at an
angle wrt the horizontal direction
As always, L is perpendicular to V and D
is parallel to V
The thrust T is again shown at an angle
wrt the flight path

11/01/15

The weight W always acts towards the

center of the earth, i.e., vertically down
The vertical plane is still the plane of
symmetry
We shall again assume that the curved
flight path is always in one plane the
vertical plane

Chapter 4 - PART A

General Flight in a Vertical Plane

Now lets consider an even more general

orientation flight in a vertical plane as
shown in Fig 4.3, and examine the four
flight forces again
Start with the orientation of Fig 4.2 and
rotate the airplane about the longitudinal
axis (i.e., the axis along the fuselage from
the nose to the tail) through an angle
is called the roll angle or bank angle
Fig 4.3 shows this more general orientation of the airplane in 3-dimensional
space at an instantaneous climb angle
and an instantaneous roll angle
Examine Fig 4.3 more closely; the side
view (on the left) shows the airplane
rolled towards you, the reader. Hence, the
plane of symmetry is no longer vertical

11/01/15

Chapter 4 - PART A

General Flight in a Vertical Plane

From the Fig on the right you can see that

the plane of symmetry is now inclined to
the local vertical at the roll angle This
view is called the head-on front view and
is the view along arrow AA
In the fig on the left, you will see that the
thrust T can be broken into two
components one along V of magnitude
T cos, and the other
, of to V
magnitude T sin,
When you look along arrow AA, you will
not see the T cos component because
its projection on plane AA is a point; but
you will see the perpendicular component
T sin
Clearly, a rotation about the roll axis will
cause the component T sin to rotate out
of the vertical plane through angle as
shown in the head-on front view.

11/01/15

Thrust component

This component is still in the plane of

symmetry
In the side view, W acts downward, but in
the front view, the weight projects as the
component W cosacting vertically
downward

Chapter 4 - PART A

EOM for Flight in a Vertical Plane

The drag D in the side view, is in the

plane of the paper. In the front view, D is
parallel to V and therefore does not
appear in the picture because its component projected on plane AA is zero.
To develop the equations of motion for this
general orientation, we shall assume that
the earth is flat
Generally speaking, an airplane has two
kinds of motion translational and
rotational. In the translational motion we
are only interested in the flight path (i.e.,
the trajectory) of the airplane with no
regard to its orientation. In the rotational
motion we are interested in the orientation
of the airplane; i.e., how much it is tilted, &
whether the passengers are upside-down,
etc. Flight Performance is the study of
translation motion. Flight Stability is the
study of rotational motion

11/01/15

Thrust component

In this course we are interested only in the

translational motion of the airplane, not
rotational. So the airplane can be replaced
with a single point mass placed at its
center of gravity as shown in Fig 4.4 on
the next slide

Chapter 4 - PART A

EOM for Flight in a Vertical Plane

Fig 4.4 is essentially a side view of the airplane

trajectory in the vertical plane which is formed by
the local free stream velocity V and the local
vertical.
Components of L, D, and T are shown in this
plane in two directions:
(i) parallel to V and
(ii) perpendicular to V

W is shown acting towards the center of the

earth; i.e., vertically down
Clearly, both W and D are completely in the
vertical plane
In this plane, the thrust has a component T cos
along the tangent to the flight path and a component T sin cos perpendicular to the flight
path

11/01/15

Chapter 4 - PART A

The total force and acceleration components parallel to the flight path are
respectively
F// T cos D W sin [4.3]
dV
a//
[4.4]
dt
8

EOM for Flight in a Vertical Plane

Applying Newtons 2nd law in the flight path

direction, gives
dV
m T cos D W sin
[4.5]
dt
Similarly, in the direction perpendicular to the
flight path, we have

F L cos T sin cos W cos

V2
a
r1

where r1 is the radius of curvature of the flight

path
Again, applying Newtons 2nd law in the perpendicular direction, gives

V2
m
L cos T sin cos W cos
r1
!__________ [4.6]

11/01/15

Chapter 4 - PART A

The