How things fly?

Basic Insight into the Aerodynamics and

Flight Mechanics
 Areas we will cover during this session

Force of Flight
Bernoullis Principle
How Lift is produced ?
Some Basic Aircraft components
Aircraft Principal axes
Four Forces of Flight

As an aircraft fly through the air it is

under the action of 4 major forces.

Weight
Lift
Drag
Thrust
 Bernoullis Principle

According to Daniel Bernoulli, an

increase in the speed of a fluid occurs
simultaneously with a decrease in the
pressure exerted by the fluid.
 HOW LIFT IS PRODUCED ?

The airplane generates lift using its wings.

The two-dimensional cross-sectional shape
of the wing is called an Airfoil.

The wings provide lift by creating a

situation where the pressure above the
wing is lower than the pressure below the
wing. there is a net force upwards.
 HOW LIFT IS PRODUCED?

To create a lift, a surface of the wing must

satisfy one of the following conditions.
Wing surface must be:

(i) Cambered (curved); or

(ii) Inclined Relative to the airflow direction

 AIRFOIL
NOMENCLATURE
An airfoils shape is defined by
several parameters, which are
shown in the figure.
 TERMINOLOGIES RELATED TO
AIRFOIL
Chord Line: Straight line drawn from the
leading edge to the trailing edge.

Chord Length (c): Length of the chord

line.

Mean Camber Line: Curved line from the

leading edge to the trailing edge, which is
equidistant between the upper and lower
 TERMINOLOGIES RELATED TO
AIRFOIL
Maximum Camber: Maximum distance between
the chord line and the mean camber line.

Maximum Thickness: Maximum distance

between the upper and lower surfaces of the
airfoil normal to the chord line.

Angle of Attack (AOA): Angle between the

chord line and the streamwise flow direction
 TERMINOLOGIES RELATED TO
AIRFOIL
Pitching Moment (M): Moment created
on an airfoil due to net Aerodynamic forces
(lift and drag).

Aerodynamic Center: Aerodynamic

Center is the point for which the pitching
moment does not vary with angle of
attack.
 TERMINOLOGIES RELATED TO
AIRFOIL
Leading Edge Radius: The leading edge
is the point at the front of the airfoil that
has a maximum curvature means minimum
radius. This minimum radius of the leading
edge is called the leading edge radius.

Zero Lift Angle of Attack: Angle of

Attack that will produce no lift.
 Centre of Pressure
It is the point on the airfoil (or wing) where the resultant
vector (of lift and drag force) acts.
It can also be defined as the average location of all of the
pressure forces acting upon a body moving through a fluid.
 CLASSIFICATION OF
AIRFOILS
(i) Symmetrical Airfoil
Upper and lower surfaces are mirror
images, which leads to the mean camber
line to be coincident with the chord line.

(ii) Asymmetrical Airfoil

An asymmetric airfoil for which the mean
camber line will be above the chord line.
 STALL

Lift increases with increase in angle of

attack but if the angle of attack is too large
stalling takes place.

Stallis a drastic reduction in the lift

generated by an airfoil asangle of
attackreaches critical value.

The phenomenon responsible for stalling is

flow separation.
 FUSELAGE

It is the main body of an aircraft that

supports all the other parts.

It can be made of various materials such

as Aluminum Alloys, Wood, or composites
etc.
 WINGS
They act as main lifting surfaces for aircraft.
They also consist of ailerons and flaps.

They have various design sizes and shapes

depending upon the role of aircraft.

Wings can be attached at the top, mid or

lower position of fuselage.

Number of wings may also vary on an aircraft.

Various wing Shapes
WING POSITIONS
NUMBER OF WINGS
 EMPENNAGE

It is also known as Tail-section and it helps

in maintaining the stability of the aircraft
during flight.

It consists of horizontal stabilizer, elevator,

Vertical stabilizer and Rudder.
 POWERPLANT
The combination of propeller, aircraft engine
and related components is often referred as
power plant.

The propulsion system or power plant

produces thrust to propel the aircraft.

In piston Engine, the propeller is driven at high

speed to produce thrust by converting the
available torque of an Engine shaft.
MODEL AIRCRAFT ENGINES
 LANDING GEAR

It is usually located underneath the

fuselage with shock strut to provide means
of landing, taxiing and takeoff.

Landing gear can be retractable or fixed.

TYPES OF LANDING GEAR
 AIRCRAFT PRINCIPAL
AXES
Aircraft is free to rotate around three axes

Vertical axis (Yaw)

Lateral Axis (Pitch)

Longitudinal Axis (Roll)