Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T19:06:07.328Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On the influence of atmospheric disturbances on aircraft aerodynamics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

L. M. B. C. Campos*
Affiliation:
Institute Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal

Extract

We consider the effects of atmospheric disturbances, such as wind, shears, turbulence and wakes, on the aerodynamics of aircraft, in order (§1) to quantify the phenomena in question, and provide a basis for future application to problems of performance and stability. The present method of description of the effects of non-uniformity and unsteadiness of the incident flow on aircraft aerodynamics, is presented in some detail for a head- or tailwind sheared vertically (§2), and its extension to all three components of velocity and six shear derivatives is outlined (§11). The starting point (§3) is the relative life change due to a uniform or sheared wind; in the latter case we introduce (§6) a dimensionless shear number S, which plays with regard to vorticity, a role similar (§6) to the Mach and Reynolds numbers respectively in connection with compressibility and viscosity. The aerodynamics of a body or aerofoil in an incident stream containing vorticity, is specified (§7) by a shear coefficient Cs, playing a role similar to the lift, drag and moment coefficients for aerodynamic forces and torques. The present theory is consistent with the formulas of theoretical aerodynamics, the results of wind tunnel tests and observation of atmospheric disturbances involving shear flows. The use of the concepts of shear number S and shear coefficient Cs allows the calculation (§10) of the uniform wind equivalent to a given shear, ie, the wind velocity which would cause the same lift change as the shear. This equivalent wind may be useful in the calculation of the aerodynamic effects of sheared flows, eg, forebody vortices on a wing, wing in a propeller slipstream, tailplane in a wing’s wake, an aircraft landing, behind another, or flight through storms or microbursts.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1984 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Milne-Thomson, L. M. Theoretical Aerodynamics, MacMillan 1958, Dover 1973.Google Scholar
2. Prandtl, L. and Tietjens, O. Hydro- and Aeromechanik, Springer 1929–1944, Dover 1957.Google Scholar
3. Glauert, H. The elements of Aerofoil and Airscrew Theory, Cambridge, UP. 1947.Google Scholar
4. Durand, W. F. Aerodynamic Theory, Springer 1934–6, Dover 1963.Google Scholar
5. Abbot, I. H. and Doenhoff, A. E. Theory of Wing Sections, Dover 1939.Google Scholar
6. Carafoli, E. Wing Theory in Supersonic Flow, Pergamon 1969.Google Scholar
7. Krasnov, N. F. Aerodynamika, NASA TT F-756, 1965.Google Scholar
8. Kucheman, D. Aerodynamic Design of Aircraft, Pergamon 1978.Google Scholar
9. Schlichting, H. and Trucknenbrodt, E. The Aerodynamics of the Aeroplane, McGraw-Hill 1979.Google Scholar
10. Vidal, R. J. The Influence of two-dimensional stream on airfoil maximum lift. J Aerosp Sci, 1962, 29, 889904.Google Scholar
11. Brady, W. G. Theoretical and experimental studies of aerofoil characteristics in non-uniform sheared flow. USAAML Tech Rep. 65-17.Google Scholar
12. Brady, W. G. and Ludwig, G. Theoretical and experimental investigation of the aerodynamic properties of aerofoils near stall in a two-dimensional non-uniformly sheared flow. USAAML. Tech Rep. 66-35.Google Scholar
13. Tsien, H. S. Symmetric Joukowsky airfoils in a shear flow, Quart J Appl Math, 1943, 1, 130148.Google Scholar
14. James, D. G. Two-dimensional airfoils in shear flow. Quart J Appl Math, 1951, 4, 407418.Google Scholar
15. Sowyrda, A. Theory of cambered Joukowsky airfoils in sheared flow. Cornell Aeron Res Lab, Rep. A1-1190-A-2, 1958.Google Scholar
16. Murray, J. B. and Mitchell, A. R. Flows with variable shear past circular cylinders. Quart J Mech Appl Maths, 1957, 10, 1323.Google Scholar
17. Nagamatsu, H. T. Circular cylinder and flat plate airfoil in a flow field with parabolic velocity profile. J Math Phys, 1951, 30, 131139.Google Scholar
18. Jones, E. E. The forces on a thin airfoil in a slightly parabolic shear flow. ZAng Math Mech, 1957, 37, 362370.Google Scholar
19. Jones, E. E. The elliptic cylinder in a shear flow with hyperbolic velocity profile. Quart J Mech Appl Math, 1959, 12, 191210.Google Scholar
20. Weissinger, J. Non-uniform steady flow of an ideal fluid past airfoils. Univ Wisconsin, MRC Rep 515, 536, 571, 1964–5.Google Scholar
21. Hancock, G. J. Two-dimensional airfoils in shear flows. Agardograph 136, Sect A14, 1969.Google Scholar
22. Hawthorne, W. R. and Martin, M. E. The effect of density gradient and shear on the flow over a hemisphere. Proc Roy Soc, A232, 184195.Google Scholar
23. Cousins, R. R. A note on the shear flow past a sphere. J Fluid Mech, 1970, 40, 543547.Google Scholar
24. Lighthill, M. J. The image system of a vortex element in a rigid sphere. Proc Camb Phil Soc, 1956, 52, 317.Google Scholar
25. Lighthill, M. J. Drift. J Fluid Mech, 1956, 1, 3153; 1957, 2; 311–312.Google Scholar
26. Lighthill, M. J. Contributions to the theory of the Pitot tube displacement effect. J Fluid Mech, 1957, 2, 493512.Google Scholar
27. Auton, T. R. The lift force and streamline displacement on a sphere in a slightly sheared inviscid flow. Ph D Thesis, Cambridge U, 1983.Google Scholar
28. Zhu, S, and Etkin, B. Fluid-dynamic model of a downburst. Univ Toronto, UTIAS Rep 271, 1983.Google Scholar
29. Gera, J. The influence of vertical wind gradients on the longitudinal motion of airplanes. NASA. TA-D-5430, 1971.Google Scholar
30. Luers, J. K. and Reeves, J. B. Effect of shear on aircraft landing. NASA. CR-2287, 1973.Google Scholar
31. Clodman, J., Muller, F. B. and Morrisey, E. G. Wind regime in the lowest one hundred meters as related to aircraft take-offs and landings. World Heal Org Conf, London 1968, 2843.Google Scholar
32. Glazunov, V. G. and Guerava, V. Z. A model of windshearin the lower 50 metre section of the glide path, from data of low inertia measurements. Math Lend Lib Sci Tech, NLL-M-23036, 1973.Google Scholar
33. Lin, C. C. Theory of hydrodynamic stability. Cambridge, UP, 1955.Google Scholar
34. Drazin, P. G. and Reid, W. H. Hydrodynamic Stability, Cambridge UP, 1978.Google Scholar
35. Schlichting, H. Boundary Layer Theory. 8th Ed, McGraw-Hill, 1979.Google Scholar
36. Owen, P. R. and Zienkewicz, H. K. The production of uniform shear flow in a wind tunnel. J Fluid Mech, 1957, 2, 521531.Google Scholar
37. Vidal, R. J., Curtis, J. T. and Hilton, J. H. The influence of two-dimensional stream shear on airfoil maximum lift. Cornell Aero Res Lab Rep, A1-1190-A-5, 1961.Google Scholar
38. Millikan, C. B. The Dynamics of Airplanes. McGraw-Hill 1943.Google Scholar