Introduction to Aerospace Engineering - Facultatea de Inginerie

302 Pages·2013·44.4 MB·English

by  Octavian Thor Pleter

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Introduction to Aerospace Engineering
2nd Edition

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Copyright  Octavian Thor Pleter 2009, 2013

Toate drepturile asupra acestei cărţi sunt rezervate autorului.

Reviewer:

Peter Stastny

"Introducere în ingineria aerospaţială" (în limba engleză)

2nd Digital Edition published by:
Brainbond, București, România, 2013
[email protected] www.brainbond.ro

1st Edition published by:
Editura Universităţii Româno-Britanice
Bucureşti, 2009
Spl. Independenţei 319B
060044 Bucureşti (România)
tel. [phone], fax. [phone]
[email protected] www.theU.ro

Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Naţionale a României

PLETER, OCTAVIAN THOR

Introduction to Aerospace Engineering / Octavian Thor Pleter

Bucureşti: Editura Universităţii Româno-Britanice, 2009

Bibliogr.

ISBN: 978-606-8163-00-0

629.7

Printed in ROMANIA by Monitorul Oficial R. A. Printing House
Vol. 1.- 2009. - Bibliogr. - Index

65:336

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Contents

1. Introduction - Why Aerospace Engineering? 5
1.1. What is Engineering? 5
1.2. What is Aerospace Engineering? 6
1.3. Remarkable Romanian Aerospace Engineers 8
2. Flight Principles. Classification of Aircraft and Spacecraft 15
2.1. The Laws of Newton 15
2.2. The Ballistic “Flight” 17
2.3. The Reaction Flight 23
2.4. Atmospheric Flight 27
2.5. Lighter-than-air Atmospheric Flight 27
2.6. Heavier-than-air Atmospheric Flight 32
3. Airplane Structure and Geometry 39
4. Aircraft Classes and Categories 54
4.1. International Law in Aviation 54
4.2. Class / Category / Type for Airworthiness Certification 54
4.3. Category for Speed 56
4.4. Wake Turbulence Category for Separation 58
5. Airplane Flight 64
5.1. Aerodynamic Forces 64
5.2. Airplane Flight Dynamics 74
5.3. Airplane Controls 75
5.4. Maneuvers and Load Factor 86
5.5. Airspeed, Speed Envelope, Stall 95
5.6. Airplane Stability and Oscillation Modes 105
6. Helicopter Controls and Dynamics 110
7. Aerostat Controls and Dynamics 129
8. Flight Instruments 133
8.1. Verticals, Gravity, and Latitudes 140
8.2. Baro Instruments 153
8.3. Gyro Instruments 169
8.4. Magnetic Instruments 175
9. Aerospace Engines and Systems 183
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9.1. Piston Engines 183
9.2. Jet Engines 198
9.3. Fuel System 203
9.4. Engine Instruments 207
9.5. Rocket Engines 211
10. Air Navigation 213
10.1. Horizontal Navigation 228
10.2. Vertical Navigation 253
10.3. Flight Management System 262
11. Air Traffic Management 267
11.1. Aerodromes and Airports 267
11.2. Phases of Flight and Air Traffic Control 274
References 292
Index 294

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1. Introduction - Why Aerospace Engineering?
1.1. What is Engineering?
Nothing compares to engineering, as the most practical, creative, and useful profession. But what is
engineering? The name comes from the word “engine”, and originally it was a man responsible for
running a technical installation. The word “engine” draws from Latin, and it means an invention, a
technical creation, based on ingenuity. I will try to explain engineering by using the following six
concepts:
 science: engineering is based on mathematic and algorithmic representations and models of
the world, like a science; actually it relies on many disciplines of pure science;

 creativity: engineering is sheer creativity, aiming at creating all useful artificial objects
known; not all sciences are creative, some are descriptive, as geology, anatomy, biology,
astronomy, and history; from this perspective, engineering is not far from art sometimes;

 practicality: as opposed to fundamental or pure sciences, engineering is an applied science,
relying on both theory and experiments to solve practical problems; engineering solves real
life problems, and nothing is more complex than reality;

 utility: as opposed to art, engineering is directly useful, creating the artificial world we live
in; a work of engineering always serves a practical purpose, it is useful in some way,
whereas a work of art is created to be admired, to generate certain emotions;

 wide scope: engineering is a rich mix of disciplines, covering a broad scope of knowledge, as
opposed to specialized sciences; when an engineer designs an artificial object, he needs to
integrate many disciplines and to think in multidisciplinary terms; for instance, when an
engineer builds a house, he needs to integrate the knowledge of materials (stone, concrete,
steel), with various other disciplines, like mechanics, geometry, chemistry, geology, even
with some remote disciplines, like meteorology (to calculate the need of insulation),
aerodynamics (to assess the effects of the wind), geophysics (to evaluate the effects of a
probable earthquake on the house), and many others; engineering is a multidisciplinary
activity, searching for the best solution to all aspects of a given problem;

 realism: sometimes engineering is considered the “art of compromise”; as it is a
multidisciplinary science, the optimal solution does not exist, and many trade-offs have to
be carefully chosen; for instance, when designing a boat, there is an optimal shape for the
best forward speed through water, and another optimal shape for the stability on the
waves; a good engineer would chose the best trade-off between the two; in this,
engineering opposes idealism, and pure abstract thinking.

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1.2. What is Aerospace Engineering?
Aerospace engineering is a juxtaposition of aeronautical engineering (engineering of aircraft) with
astronautical engineering (engineering of spacecraft). The two fields of engineering differ
considerably when it comes to the environment and the conditions of flight, but there is something
which brings them together: the complexity of the task, the adversity of the environment, the
substantiality of the challenge. Both branches of engineering have been developed together in the
last century.

The astronautical engineers have been converted from aeronautical engineers, and the astronauts
have always been aircraft pilots first. Now, most institutions keep this tradition, and address both
fields together, in what is known as “aerospace engineering”. For instance, the most prestigious
American institution engaged in the development of this science is the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). In Romania, there is a small scale equivalent, the Aeronautical
and Astronautical Association of Romania (AAAR).
Studying aerospace engineering makes sense for a number of reasons:
 it is easy to be addicted to; it is entertaining and lovable like no other field of activity;
passion for aviation is widespread and deep; in life, it is very important to choose a
profession that you are capable to love for many years to come, and to avoid the boredom
and the apathy from an activity you get fed up with; one needs to perform in his or her
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profession; the passion and the enthusiasm aviation is capable of inspiring are paramount
ingredients of performance;
 it is most demanding and challenging, for the aforementioned reasons: the complexity of
the flight and the adversity of the flight environment push the limits of the sophistication
needed to fly safely; people with challenging activities make a better and more interesting
living;
 aerospace engineers are different from all other engineers, and from all other intellectuals;
in life, we need our own strategy, and differentiation is a good one; most people avoid
matters of extreme complexity like aerospace engineering, so this is a niche left open to the
few with the ambition and the courage to take this different and rather challenging road;

 in aerospace engineering, there are better jobs, with better pay; most people in this field
earn more money, but what makes them happy is not that (strangely enough, you get used
to a better pay very quickly, and drop it from your mind); the true desirability of these jobs
comes from the frequent and consistent professional satisfactions these jobs can provide;
 for the Romanian readers, it is worth noticing that Romanians make excellent aerospace
engineers; nobody knows if this is genetic, empowering us with a native talent, or it is just
the competitive and traditional school in aerospace engineering, making us one of the
nations with the most efficient education system in this field;
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 there is an increasing shortage of aerospace engineers worldwide in the years to come; a
profession on short supply becomes more valuable, and the choice of a profession needs a
long term perspective.

1.3. Remarkable Romanian Aerospace Engineers
In the past century, a number of Romanian aerospace engineers made important contributions to
the world of aviation. Henri Coanda and Elie Carafoli had the greatest impact on the aerospace
research community, as their biographies demonstrate.

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This gallery of remarkable Romanian aerospace engineers is far from complete. Other great figures
will be mentioned or presented throughout this book, like Hermann Oberth and Dumitru-Dorin
Prunariu. Others did not make it here, but have already enjoyed public attention: Traian Vuia, Aurel
Vlaicu, Radu Manicatide, and Iosif Silimon.
Important personalities contributed to the success of the Romanian aerospace engineering school:
Nicolae Tipei, Virgiliu Nicolae Constantinescu, Radu Voinea, Victor Pimsner, Augustin Petre, Nicolae
Racoveanu, Ioan Aron, and Mihai M. Nita, to name just a few. Given the tough political and
economical conditions, important professors abandoned the school and emigrated, but their
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