Exercises Lecture 6

Stability & Control

Prof. dr. ir. Jacco Hoekstra Tim van Leeuwen
Delft University of Technology

A. Sifre - CC - BY - NC - ND

AE1110x - Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering

Exercise 1
According to who was the issue of stability the nal hurdle to overcome before ight could take place? A) B) C) D) Samuel Langley Theodore von Karman The Wright brothers The Montgoler brothers

Exercise 2
Why do we see modern planes still having diculty with stability and control? A) B) C) D) The pilots may do manoeuvres the designers did not think of. It is impossible to make a perfectly controllable and stable aircraft. Control surfaces are very hard to design properly, due to complex aerodynamic eects. The control system of the aircraft does not match the pilots sensory and processing capabilities.

Exercise 3
What was the main dierence between the controls of the Wrights Flyer I and the controls of most European early planes? A) B) C) D) The Flyer had a horizontal tail in the front, rather than at the back The Flyer had larger ailerons The Flyer had a smaller vertical tail The Flyer was less stable than European planes

Exercise 4
Below you see a picture of a Condor Boeing 767. Three of its control surfaces have been highlighted in a yellow triangle, a green rectangle and a pink circle.

Figure 1: A Condor aircraft, with control surfaces highlighted. Image courtesy of Aero Icarus, CC - BY - SA 1) What is the name of the control surface in the yellow triangle? 2) What is the name of the control surface in the green rectangle? 3) What is the name of the control surface in the pink circle?

Exercises Lecture 6 - Stability & Control

AE1110x - Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering

Exercise 5
Early aircraft used wing warping to bank, modern aircraft use ailerons. Why dont modern aircraft use wing warping? A) B) C) D) Banking using ailerons is more aerodynamically ecient Banking using ailerons allows for faster banking Modern aluminium wings are not capable of warping Ailerons are easier to control than wing warping mechanisms

Exercise 6
A pilot wants to bank his aircraft to the left. What will he do?

Figure 2: A Delta aircraft banking to the left. Image courtesy of Pieter van Marion, CC - BY - SA A) B) C) D) E) F) Push the control column away Pull the control column towards him Turn the control column clockwise Turn the control column counter-clockwise Push his right pedal Push his left pedal

Exercise 7
Modern aircraft usually have two sets of ailerons: one inboard aileron (close to the fuselage) and one outboard aileron (further up the wing). Why is this?

Figure 3: A set of double ailerons. Image courtesy of Nelson Cunnington, CC - BY - NC - ND 2 Exercises Lecture 6 - Stability & Control

AE1110x - Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering

A) B) C) D)

The outboard ailerons serve as a backup, to still achieve banking during for example gusts. Two sets of ailerons allow for redundancy: if one set fails the other set is used. The two sets of ailerons are used for dierent weather conditions. The two sets of ailerons are used for dierent ight speeds.

Exercise 8
For most conventional aircraft the line of action of the engine thrust is situated below the aircraft centre of gravity. This means that in case the engine thrust is altered, the pitching moment of the aircraft will be aected. To prevent the aircraft from pitching, the elevator can be deected a bit. Suppose the pilot of a conventional aircraft decides to increase the thrust of this aircraft, but wants to keep the pitch angle (and angle of attack) the same. What kind of elevator deection should he give to prevent his aircraft from pitching: a positive or negative one?

Exercise 9
Suppose an aircraft ies under an angle of attack of 5.6 degrees, and at a pitch angle of 8 degrees. Determine the climb angle of this aircraft, in degrees.

Figure 4: A British Airways Boeing 747. Image courtesy of Aero Icarus, CC - BY - SA

Exercise 10
Suppose a passenger aircraft ies with a course of 80 degrees and a heading of 84 degrees (both according to the compass). Determine the angle of sideslip it then experiences.

Exercise 11
Below you see a picture of a deected rudder. If the pilot would deect his rudder in this way during ight, what yaw angle will the aircraft get: a positive or a negative one?

Figure 5: A British Airways Boeing 747. Image courtesy of Mark Jones Jr, CC - BY Exercises Lecture 6 - Stability & Control 3

AE1110x - Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering

Exercise 12
As an aircraft ies across the globe, it must continuously pitch (with respect to an inertial frame of reference) to keep following the curvature of the Earth. From that point of view, what must the sign of this continuous (though extremely small) pitch rate be?

Exercise 13
Below you see a picture of a mass m attached to a spring. By what kind of stability is this system characterised?

Figure 6: A mass-spring system. A) Positive static stability B) Neutral static stability C) Negative static stability

Exercise 14
Consider a statically stable aircraft in the yaw direction. What direction will the aircraft straight away yaw to after the pilot has pushed his left foot pedal? A) The positive yaw direction B) The negative yaw direction

Exercise 15
In a car, you basically have two controls in the forward direction: the throttle and the brake pedal. Consider this type of control system. How many integrators are there in this control system?

Exercise 16
Which of the following actions is not a way to make an aircraft (more) longitudinally statically stable? A) B) C) D) Increasing the horizontal tail surface area Increasing the wing lift coecient gradient Placing the horizontal tail out of the downwash of the wing Decreasing the wing surface area

Exercises Lecture 6 - Stability & Control

AE1110x - Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering

Exercise 17
Below you see a gure of a ying wing, so an aircraft without a tail. Its centre of gravity is situated behind the aerodynamic centre of the wing, with lcg = 0.05c .

Figure 7: Image courtesy of indianadinos, CC - BY - NC - SA

If you are given that the wing ies with CL = 0.8 and given that Cm = 0.02 , determine the moment coecient of the moment around the aerodynamic centre.

Exercise 18
Again consider the ying wing of the problem above. Is this ying wing longitudinally statically stable?

Exercise 19
Below you see a picture of an Airbus A340-600.

Figure 8: Image courtesy of indianadinos, CC - BY - NC - SA

Of this aircraft you are given the following parameters: lw ing = 34.9m ltail = 67.8m S = 437m2 SH = 93m2 c = 8.35m a = 4.8/rad at = 5.2/rad Furthermore we will assume that the downwash angle is equal to 10% of the angle of attack of the wing. Given that the centre of gravity of this A340-600 is situated 39.2 metres from the nose, nd the static margin (in metres) of this A340. Exercises Lecture 6 - Stability & Control 5

AE1110x - Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering

Exercise 20
In the picture below you see a King Air 200, an aircraft with a so-called T-tail. One of the primary reasons of placing the tail higher up is to keep the tail out of the wake and downwash of the wing.

Figure 9: Image courtesy of Mark Jones Jr., CC - BY For this aircraft, we will in this exercise investigate the required position of the centre of gravity to guarantee static, longitudinal stability. The rst step in this analysis is to set up the moment equation around the centre of gravity of this aircraft. 1) Derive the moment equation around the centre of gravity of this King Air 200, as a function of the total lift L, the tail lift LH , the centre of gravity distance lcg , the tail arm lH and the aerodynamic centre moment Mac . Tips: Use the sign convention "Pitch up = positive" and take a positive moment in the aerodynamic centre. 2) Non-dimensionalise the equation just derived and give the result below. You are allowed to use the quantities c , lcg , lH , S , SH , Cmac , CL and CLH . Tip: Dont introduce the tail volume yet. 3) Derive this equation with respect to the angle of attack and give your result for Cm . You are allowed to use the quantities c , lcg , VH (the tail volume), a (the wing lift coecient gradient) and at (the tail lift coecient gradient). 4) What is the requirement on the position of the centre of gravity? You are allowed to use the quantities c , lcg , VH (the tail volume), a (the wing lift coecient gradient) and at (the tail lift coecient gradient).

Exercises Lecture 6 - Stability & Control