Basic Flight Mechanics: A Simple Approach Without Equations

144 Pages·2016·2.151 MB·English

by  Ashish Tewari

Ashish Tewari
Basic Flight
Mechanics
A Simple Approach Without Equations
Basic Flight Mechanics

Ashish Tewari
Basic Flight Mechanics
A Simple Approach Without Equations
123
AshishTewari
DepartmentofAerospaceEngineering
IndianInstituteofTechnology
Kanpur,UttarPradesh,India
ISBN978-3-319-30020-7 ISBN978-3-319-30022-1 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-30022-1
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016934681
©SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2016
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Actionicontrariamsemperetæqualemesse
reactionem.—IsaacNewton

Preface
This book addresses an important gap in the aerospace literature by presenting
flightmechanicsinanaccessiblemanner.Itcoverstheflightmechanicsofaircraft,
spacecraft, and rockets in simple terms and purely on physical principles. Those
readers who have no training in engineering mathematics, yet would like to
understand how the various flight vehicles operate, will find this book especially
useful.
The book contains neither any mathematical equations, data tables, nor refer-
ences to technical literature. The focus is on explaining the important physical
principlesthroughsimpleexamplesandillustrations.
When the Wright brothers designed, tested, built, and flew the first heavier-
than-air powered machine more than a century ago, they had little knowledge of
the mathematical concepts such as the Laplace equation, integral calculus, vector
algebra, and so on. But they did have the proper understanding of the physical
principlesbehindflightmechanics,whichtheysuccessfullyputintopractice.This
book is written mainly to help a reader without an engineering education to grasp
thefundamental aspectsofairplane,rocket,andspaceflight.Itisnotnecessaryto
takeanengineeringcourseortoreadanengineeringtextbookforunderstandingthe
basic flight concepts. However, it is hoped that this book can serve as a “primer”
in motivating a reader to study flight mechanics as a formal subject. For a formal
mathematical and computational coverage of most of the topics covered here, the
readercanrefertotheauthor’stextbook(AtmosphericandSpaceFlightDynamics–
ModelingandSimulation,Birkhaüser,Boston,2007).
Iamgratefultotheeditorialand production staffatSpringer fortheircoopera-
tion. I would also like to thank my family for their patience during the writing of
thisbook.
Kanpur,India AshishTewari
December2015
vii

Contents
1 Introduction .................................................................. 1
1.1 ClassificationofFlight ................................................ 1
1.2 BasicDefinitions....................................................... 2
1.3 ArchimedesPrincipleandBalloonFlight ............................ 6
1.4 AerodynamicFlight ................................................... 7
1.5 BasicLawsofMotion................................................. 8
1.6 TranslationinaCurve................................................. 10
1.7 CoriolisAcceleration.................................................. 12
1.8 Rigid-BodyDynamics................................................. 15
1.9 FlightStabilityandControl ........................................... 20
2 Aerodynamics ................................................................ 23
2.1 RelativeAirFlow...................................................... 23
2.1.1 Compressibility................................................ 24
2.2 LiftandDrag........................................................... 25
2.2.1 ViscousFlow .................................................. 27
2.2.2 StreamlinedShapes............................................ 28
2.3 HowIsLiftCreated? .................................................. 30
2.3.1 Downwash..................................................... 31
2.3.2 PitchingMoment.............................................. 32
2.3.3 PressureDistribution.......................................... 33
2.4 VorticityandCirculation .............................................. 35
2.4.1 EffectsofAngle-of-Attack.................................... 37
2.4.2 Finite-WingEffect............................................. 38
3 FlightofAirplanesandGliders:VerticalPlane .......................... 43
3.1 Introduction............................................................ 43
3.2 StraightandLevelFlight.............................................. 44
3.2.1 FlightEnvelope................................................ 46
3.3 CruisingFlight......................................................... 49
3.4 ClimbingFlight........................................................ 52
3.5 DescendingandGlidingFlight ....................................... 53
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