CARLETON UNIVERSITY

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Mid Term Exam
Aircraft Stability and Control (AERO4308) & Aerodynamics and Flight Dynamics (MECH5101)
Monday, February 27, 2006
Prof. J. Etele
Time: 1hr, 20 min

Total Marks: 100

This exam is closed book, one personally hand written cheat sheet (both sides) is allowed
Only non-transmitting calculators may be used (programmable calculators are allowed)
Please read all questions before starting! GOOD LUCK!

Question 1 (40 marks)

(a)
If the static margin is increased by 10%, by how much, if at all, does an aircraft's pitch stiffness
change?
(b)
Under what condition would the aircraft (as a whole) and the wing/body angles of attack be the
same?
(c)
Is it possible for a statically stable and conventionally controllable aircraft at sea level to
experience control reversal as altitude is increased? Explain.
(d)

What is the maximum bank angle for an aircraft if the pilot is not to exceed 2 g's?

Question 2 (60 marks)

Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, you realize with horror that the Canadian
men's Olympic hockey team is really going to lose without even making it into the medal round! It's bad
enough that you've had to watch the game with your Uncle, who was already grumpy with the recent
cancellation of the Bombardier C-series aircraft for which he was the program Vice-President! However,
seeing your Uncle get even more upset brings a small bit of pleasure to the loss, given the events of three
days ago.
In an effort to cheer his brother up over the employment situation (you're not allowed to say he
was fired), your Dad had invited you, your Uncle, and several of their friends out snowmobiling.
Unfortunately, your Uncle accidentally ran over one of his friends on the trail, managing to run over his
face with the left ski before stopping. After it became clear that no one was seriously hurt, you let slip
something about the dangers of doing sporting activities with Vice-Presidents, to which everyone but your
Uncle laughed! Ever since then your Uncle has had a bit of a chip on his shoulder towards you and has
been trying to find some subtle means by which he can embarrass you a bit. With the game now over and
your Uncle eying you suspiciously, your spider-sense starts tingling...... So, your Uncle starts, how's the
Aerospace degree going over there are Carleton?. This is it you think to yourself, he's got a plan. You
know, we just hired a kid from my old alma mater, the U of T. Really bright. He's been showing me some
interesting aircraft concepts that he designs in his spare time. Fascinating stuff, there was even a slick
looking canard aircraft. Do you guys over there at Carleton even look into that kind of thing, or is that
considered a bit too advanced? So it's a battle of wits that he wants, eh? No problem. In fact, you're a
little surprised that you aren't more angry at your Uncle's last comment, until you realize that you've been
listening to that same arrogant tone all semester in your Stability and Control class. You remember that
your professor was from the U of T, and you recall thinking several times during the lectures that he must
think he's the next Einstein the way he goes on! However, getting back to the main event you reply No,

we haven't seen any canard aircraft yet, but I'd love to have a look at this great 'concept' you're talking
about. As your uncle sketches the design he starts explaining to you the purpose of a conventional
horizontal tail, and how on a canard you don't have a conventional tail. Before he gets too far along you
notice something odd and quickly interject (with only the slightest hint of sarcasm) this is all very
interesting, but where did you say the centre of gravity was located?. Below is a schematic of the layout
drawn by your Uncle (all quantities shown in their positive directions),

lc
c

a.c.
V'

lw

a.c.

c.g.

wb

Derive an expression for both cL and cM (for the entire aircraft) as a function of wb and c stating
all your assumptions. You may assume that the upwash can be expressed as

=o

and that
wb

the magnitudes V' = V. Include all the relevant forces and moments. Using these results find the
following:
(i) The ratio of the aircraft to wing/body lift curve slopes (i.e. a/awb). Is this greater or less than
unity?
(ii) Any restrictions on the placement of the wing/body aerodynamic centre with respect to the
centre of gravity.
(iii) Any restrictions on the value of the canard volume ratio, defined as Vc = (Sc lc) / (S c)
How does this compare with the restrictions on a traditional aircraft's tail volume ratio, VH?
(iv) If the U of T fellow's design is stable with a canard arm length (lc) of 5 times the wing/body arm
length (lw) using a canard that has the same airfoil profile as the main wing but half the span and
half the chord (you may assume awb = aw and that / = 1/5).
Clearly taken aback by your stellar analysis, your Uncle concedes the contest and actually seems
genuinely interested in what you are saying. In fact, he recalls hearing some people at work mentioning
that you could tell if an aircraft was stable or not simply by the value of
(a)

wb

.
c trim

Explain why this value should be positive or negative for a canard aircraft to be stable.

(b)
Using the matrix formula below and your results for both cL and cM, write an expression for each of
the terms shown (use the conventions from the class notes),

[
(c)

cL
cM

cL
cM

][ ] [
wb
c

trim

c L c L
c M
trim

From this system of equations, show that the derivative

c M
wb
=
c trim c M

Does this result match with your explanation in (a)?

wb

can be expressed as,

c trim