A STUDY OF THE EXPERIMENTAL DETERMINATION OF

LIFT AND DRAG FORCES FOR DIFFERENT ANGLES OF

ATTACK ON AN AEROPLANE MODEL

Under the guidance of

Prof. Rajesh Gupta
Performed by
P.T.Prasanna (081116076)
Gautham C (081116065)
K.T.Rao (081116026)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are immensely thankful to Prof.

Rajesh Gupta for guiding us in this
project. We also thank the Director, all
Deans and the HOD, mechanical
department, for providing us with a
good and healthy environment for
performing this project.
OBJECTIVE

 To study the measurement of the different

forces i.e. lift and drag for different angles
of attack on an aero-plane model.
 This experiment is done in an open cycle
wind tunnel.
 The plot of the various coefficients of lift
and drag versus angle of attack is to be
studied.
INTRODUCTION

 Airplanes are one of the most amazing things that we

see on a daily basis.
 An airplane rolls down the runway ,lifts itself into the air
and can fly up to 7,000 nautical miles without stopping.
 Bernoulli's principle states that for an in viscid flow, an
increase in the speed of the fluid occurs simultaneously
with a decrease in pressure.
 Hence, due to the pressure difference at a high speed,
the airplane is lifted from the ground.
 The basic aerodynamic forces: lift, weight, thrust and
drag.
Drag is an aerodynamic force that resists the motion of an object
moving through a fluid (air and water are both fluids).
Lift is the aerodynamic force that holds an airplane in the air.

Weight is the force of attraction between the plane and earth.

Thrust is an aerodynamic force that must be created by an airplane in

order to overcome the drag.
APPARATUS USED
 An open-cycle type wind tunnel
 Aero plane model with a wingspan of 45cm
 A calibrated sting-balance
 Angle of attack indicator with LSR of 0.1 degrees
 Data Precision Multimeter 3600 with LSR of one
microvolt
 Common Mercury Thermometer/ Barometer
 A 40HE35 model slant manometer
 AN OPEN-CYCLE WIND TUNNEL
Open circuit wind tunnels do not directly re-circulate
air. Rather, air is drawn in from the laboratory
environment, passes through the test section and is
returned back to the lab through the tunnel exhaust.
 AN AERO PLANE MODEL
The above model is then assembled by mounting the
wings and the tail on the fuselage using dowels and
adhesive. It then becomes ready for testing.
 STING BALANCE
 An internal balance is a carefully designed and
precisely machined cantilever beam of complicated
cross-section equipped with electrical-resistance
strain-gage sensors.
 This type of internal balance is most commonly known
in the aerodynamic field as a sting balance.
 Wind tunnel testing requires a balance system capable
of accurately measuring the forces on the model.
 Some important factors that must be taken into
consideration during this selection process are the
number and arrangement of the strain gages on the
internal sting balance.
STING BALANCE
Airplane mounted on a sting balance
 WORKING OF A STING
BALANCE
 The electrical resistance strain gage is a strain-sensitive
component bonded to the surface of a balance to
measure strain.
 When the strain gage is stretched (or strained), its
resistance changes in direct proportion to the strain.
 The gage factor, K, of a strain gage, relates the change
in resistance (DR) to the change in length (DL). The
gage factor is constant for a given strain gage, and R is
the non deformed resistance of the strain gage, so the
equation is
 K = (DR/R)/ (DL/L)= (DR/R)/e
where e is the strain.
 ANGLE OF ATTACK INDICATOR
Angle of attack is defined as the angle between the chord line of
the wing and the direction of the relative wind. The angle of
indicator is used to measure the angle of attack.
DATA PRECISION MULTIMETER
Data precision multimeter displays the
output voltages from the sting balance.
 SLANT MANOMETER
 Dynamic pressure is the component of fluid pressure
that represents fluid kinetic energy.
 It can be measured using a slant manometer.
 The slant tube manometer contains some type of liquid
that is contained in a reservoir.
 The liquid is displaced up a slanted tube, which is
calibrated using a ruler.
 The ruler reads the liquid displacement in inches of
whatever fluid that is inside the tube.

where P = density , u = flow speed.

SLANT MANOMETER
A MERCURY THERMOMETER

A thermometer is a device that measures temperature or

temperature gradient using a variety of different principles
MERCURY BAROMETER
A barometer is a scientific instrument used in meteorology to
measure atmospheric pressure. It can measure the pressure
exerted by the atmosphere by using water, air, or mercury.
PROCEDURE
 INITIAL SETUP
 The sting balance is calibrated.
 The test-model is mounted on the sting balance and
is taken to the wind tunnel.
 The sting balance is connected to the angle of
attack indicator and the data precision multimeter.
 The atmospheric temperature and pressure is
measured by the thermometer and barometer.
 The slant manometer is used to measure the flow
speed.
 The wind tunnel is made clear of any obstructions
 THE PROCESS

1. Known weights are added to the calibrated sting balance and their
corresponding voltages are recorded in the data precision
multimeter.
2. Next, the calibration is removed from the sting balance and the
strut attaching the aircraft is now attached to the sting balance
without the air-craft.
3. The normal and axial forces for various angles of attack ranging
from -8 degrees to 18 degrees, in increments of 2 degrees up to
10 degrees and one degree from 10 to 18 degrees is measured.
4. The wind tunnel is turned on with the wind speed at 30mps, which
is verified by the slant manometer with a dynamic pressure of
2.77 inches of water and step 3 is repeated.
5. Now the aircraft is attached to the sting balance and the step 3
and step 4 are repeated.
 WIND TUNNEL ANALYSIS
 The data is collected and transferred into an excel spread
sheet.
 A calibration curve between the forces added on the sting
balance and the voltages is plotted.
 The following equation converts voltages into direct
forces.

 Similarly, axial forces are also found.

 The drag and lift are calculated by the following
equations.

where a is the angle of attack, N is normal force, A is

axial force , D is drag and L is lift.
 COEFFICIENTS OF LIFT AND
DRAG
 Using the measured temperature and pressure,
density of air is calculated.

 The dynamic pressure is calculated by the equation

given below using the flow speed.

 The coefficients of lift and drag are then found using

the equations:
 RESULTS
 The sting balance was calibrated to find a conversion factor
between volts and pounds for normal and axial forces. The
conversion factor is based on the slope of the resulting
curve of the voltage plotted against calibration load.
 The resulting lift and drag coefficients versus angle of
attack found from the wind tunnel experiment is shown in
the graph.
 As lift increases with angle of attack, the induced drag of
the aircraft also increases.
 A comparison of CFD and wind tunnel yields that error in
case of wind tunnel analysis has more errors.
Sting balance calibration plot
Lift Coefficient versus Angle of
Attack
Drag Coefficient versus Angle of
Attack
Wind Tunnel and CFD Lift Curve
Comparison for lift coefficient
Wind Tunnel and CFD Drag Curve
Comparison for drag coefficient
 CONCLUSION
 The work presented in this project
provides a method for using industry
practices to populate a flight simulator
database with accurate lift, drag, and
moment coefficients.
 Future studies could utilize the programs
used in this study and develop many new
methods for updating flight simulator data
bases.
 REFERENCES
1. “Introduction to fluid mechanics” by Fox and McDonald.
2. A thesis on “Flight Simulator Database Population from
Wind Tunnel and CFD Analysis of a Homebuilt Aircraft” by
Robert P. Little.
3. “Comparison of Strain Gage and Fibre Optic Sensors On A
Sting Balance In A Supersonic Wind Tunnel” by Alex
T.Edwards.
4. A video on “Alpha systems AOA indicator”, Youtube.com.
5. Wikipedia and Howstuffworks.com.
6. Mechanical engineering labs, MANIT.
THANK
YOU