AE-341 Report

Prepared by:
Aditya Kumar
Atul Krishna
September 2024

Department of Aerospace Engineering

AE-341 Report

Contents

1 Team Members 2

2 Density and Weight of A4 size paper 2

3 Wing and it’s Important Parameters 2

3.1 Wing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3.2 Position of CG (from Leading Edge) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3.3 Position of AC (from Leading Edge) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.4 Tip Chord Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.5 Root Chord Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.6 Mean Aerodynamic Chord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

4 Cl and Cd of Wing 3
4.1 Sample Calculation for δe = -3.1462◦ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

5 Drag Polar 4

6 How CG position affects Longitudinal Stability? 5

6.1 CG ahead of AC(Stable Configuration) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6.2 Estimation of CG for Unstable Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

7 Moment of Inertia 6
7.1 Timescales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

8 Estimation of CLα 6

9 Estimation of Cδe 7

10 Estimation of static margin and Cmα 7

11 Reference 7

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Team Members
• Aditya Kumar - 22b0053
• Atul Krishna - 22b0071

Density and Weight of A4 size paper

• Density, ρ = 70 GSM
• Length of Paper, L = 29.6 cm

• Width of Paper, W = 21 cm
• Weight, m = ρ * (LW ) = 4.3512 g

Wing and it’s Important Parameters

3.1 Wing
Here is the top view of Wing along with its important part:

Figure 1: Top View of Wing

Flaps are made by considering 0.25c distance from trailing edge.

3.2 Position of CG (from Leading Edge)

For the calculation of Xcg , we consider the wing into section: One is folded section and other is Unfolded
one. CG of both the section will lie on the XB axis. And then the resultant CG will also lie on the XB axis.
m1 (folded) = 3.0282 g

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Xcg1 (folded) = 1 cm

m2 (Unfolded) = 1.323 g

Xcg2 (Unfolded) = 6.5 cm

m1 ∗Xcg1 +m2 ∗Xcg2
Xcom = m1 +m2 = 2.6724 cm

3.3 Position of AC (from Leading Edge)

c 11
Xac = 4 = 4 = 2.75 cm

3.4 Tip Chord Length

ct = 10.3 cm

3.5 Root Chord Length

cr = 11 cm

3.6 Mean Aerodynamic Chord

 Z b
1 2
c= c2 (y)dy
S −b
2
 Z b
1 2
=2∗ c2 (y)dy
S 0
  Z 7.5   Z 8.5 
1 1
=2∗ c2 (y)dy + c2 (y)dy
S 0 S 7.5
  Z 7.5 Z 8.5 
1 2
=2∗ ∗ 11 dy + (16.25 − 0.7y) dy
S 0 7.5
= 10.56 cm2

Cl and Cd of Wing

V∞ (m/s) q∞ ∗ S(N ) γ(radian) L (N) D (N) Cl Cd δe (degree)

3.90 0.1640 0.1983 0.004266 0.000857 0.02602 0.00523 -3.1462
3.20 0.1104 0.1621 0.004294 0.000702 0.03890 0.00636 -2.7647
2.63 0.07456 0.1280 0.004316 0.000556 0.05788 0.00745 -2.3851
2.52 0.06846 0.1329 0.004313 0.000577 0.06300 0.00842 -2.2827

Table 1: Aerodynamic Data Table

4.1 Sample Calculation for δe = -3.1462◦

We already know:
• Weight, m = 4.3512 g

• Horizontal distance(dh ) = 7.256 m

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• Vertical distance(dv ) = 1.5 m

• time, t = 1.9 s
• ρ = 1.225 kg/m3

• Wing Area, S = 0.0176 m2

• Wing Span, b = 0.18 m
• Aspect Ratio, AR = 1.84
• γ = 0.1983 radian
NOTE: Glide angle is calculated using image-j software.
Calculated:
p
distance(d) = d2v + d2h = 7.41 m
distance
Velocity, V∞ = time = 3.9 m/s
1 2
q∞ ∗ S = 2 ∗ ρ ∗ V∞ ∗ S = 0.1640 N

Lift, L = W*Cos(γ) = 0.004266 N

Drag, D = W*Sin(γ) = 0.000857 N

L
Lift Coefficient, Cl = q∞ ∗S = 0.02602
D
Drag Coefficient, Cd = q∞ ∗S = 0.00523

Drag Polar

Figure 2: Drag Polar

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How CG position affects Longitudinal Stability?

The center of gravity (CG) position plays a crucial role in determining the longitudinal stability of an aircraft.
Longitudinal stability refers to the aircraft’s ability to maintain or return to a steady pitch attitude after a
disturbance, such as turbulence or control input.
Now we know the following equations from theory:
w
Cm = CmAC + CLw (hcg − hw
AC ) (1)
w
Cmα = CLα (hcg − hw
AC ) (2)

For trim condition, Net Pitching Moment (Cm ) must be zero and for stability Cmα must be negative i.e.,

Cm = 0

Cmα < 0

6.1 CG ahead of AC(Stable Configuration)

To find CG, we used approach that we have done earlier in Section 3.
m1 (folded) = 3.0282 g

Xcg1 (folded) = 1 cm

m2 (Unfolded) = 1.323 g

Xcg2 (Unfolded) = 6.5 cm

m1 ∗Xcg1 +m2 ∗Xcg2
Xcom = m1 +m2 = 2.6724 cm
c
Xac = 4 = 2.75 cm
w
Here (Xcg − XAC ) < 0 and hence (hcg − hwAC ) < 0, the aircraft will have positive longitudinal stability.
Any pitch disturbance will cause the aircraft to naturally return to its original attitude. If the aircraft is
perturbed (e.g., nose goes up or down), it will correct itself without much pilot input.

6.2 Estimation of CG for Unstable Configuration

To bring the center of mass behind the aerodynamic center we put some glue at the back of the wing.
m1 (folded) = 3.0282 g

Xcg1 (folded) = 1 cm

m2 (Unfolded) = (1.323 + 0.5) g = 1.832 g

Xcg2 (Unfolded) = 6.5 cm

m1 ∗Xcg1 +m2 ∗Xcg2
Xcom = m1 +m2 = 3.4192 cm
c
Xac = 4 = 2.75 cm
w
Here (Xcg − XAC ) > 0 and hence (hcg − hw AC ) > 0, the aircraft will become longitudinally unstable. Even
small pitch disturbances can grow uncontrollably. After a disturbance (e.g., nose up or down), the aircraft
will not return to level flight naturally, and may oscillate or dive down.

Here is a short video demonstrating how CG position affects the longitudinal stability of wing - click here

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Moment of Inertia
We have to calculate Iyy about YB axis passing through CG. So we have considered the wing into two
sections. One section is on the left of the YB axis and one is on the right side as shown in the figure below.
We calculated the mass of each of the section. And using Parallel axis theorem, we calculated Moment of
inertia YB axis passing through CG of the wing.

m1 l12 m2 l22
   
Iyy = m1 r12 + + m2 r22 +
12 12
3.0282 ∗ 1.67242 1.323 ∗ 3.82762
   
= 3.0282 ∗ 1.67242 + + 1.323 ∗ 3.82762 +
12 12
= 30.1732 g − cm2

Figure 3: CG Location

7.1 Timescales
q q
Iyy 27.8522∗10−7
1. T1 = q̄Sc = 0.08985∗0.1056 = 0.0196 ≈ 0.01 s
 
V 2.52


2. T2 = g = 9.81 = 0.256 ≈ 0.1 s
H 1.36



3. T3 = V = 2.52 = 0.539 ≈ 1 s
As we can see that the order of the time scale T3 is 100 times that of time scale T1 which aligns with our
theoretical knowledge.
NOTE: We threw our glider from a height of 1.5 m but it started gliding from a height of 1.36 m. So we
took 1.36 m for T3 calculation.

Estimation of CLα
We know from Thin airfoil theory:
 
Clα
CLα = 1 (3)
1 + πϵAR

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Using Equation (3):

 
Clα
CLα = 1
1 + πϵAR
 
2π
= 1
1+ π∗0.7∗1.84
◦
= 0.0879/

Where Clα = 2π/rad and ϵ = 0.7 (Assuming the wing is approximately Rectangular)

Estimation of Cδe
Taking Cδe to be half of the CLα :
CLα
Cδe = = 0.04395/◦
2

Now we know from the theory:

CL = CLα α + CLδe δe
When we flew our wing without any elevator deflection, we got CL = 0.15822 and CLα = 0.0879/◦ . Therefore,
Angle of Attack, α = 1.8◦ . Now let’s take the 4th point from the table where Cl = 0.063, δe = -2.2827◦ .
Now using the above formula, δe = -2.167◦ .
Using the rough estimate of CLδe ≈ 21 CLα , we calculated the elevator deflection for the given trim state to be
δe = −2.167◦ . This closely matches the experimentally observed elevator deflection of δe = −2.2827◦ , with a
minimal difference of only 0.1157◦ . The near agreement between these values suggests that the assumption
of CLδe being half of CLα holds well in this scenario.

Estimation of static margin and Cmα

We know the following from theory:
w
Cmα = CLα ∗ (hcg − hnp )
where the non-dimensional distance (hnp − hcg ) is called Static Margin (SM). In our case hnp approximately
coincides with hac . There is slight difference due to the presence of elevator but it will be approximately
same.
We have non-dimensional quantities:
Xcg
hcg = = 0.253
c
Xac
hnp = hac = = 0.261
c
Therefore, Static Margin = (hnp − hcg ) = 0.008
And, Cmα = 0.0879*(-0.008) = -0.0007032 /◦ . Since Cmα comes out to be negative which is the necessary
condition for airplane stability.

Reference
• Value of efficiency factor, ϵ: Click Here
• Elementary Flight dynamics Book