STABILITY

AERODYNAMICS

AIRCRAFT STABILITY

AIRCRAFT STABILITY REFERS TO

HOW THE AIRCRAFT FOLLOWS
A PLANNED STRAIGHT AND
LEVEL COURSE WITHOUT
PILOT ACTION

CONTROLS ON AN AIRCRAFT
A classic airplane has three basic
controls:
ailerons, elevator, and rudder.
They are designed to change and control
the moments about the roll, pitch, and
yaw axes.
These control surfaces are flaplike
surfaces that can be deflected back and
forth at the command of the pilot.

 The ailerons are located at the

trailing edge of the wing.
The elevator is located at the
trailing edge of the horizontal
stabilizer.
The rudder is at the trailing
edge of the vertical stabilizer

Rolling.
The ailerons control the roll or
lateral motion and are
therefore often called the
lateral controls.

Roll Around Longitudinal Axis

Ailerons Control Roll

The AILERONS control
ROLL. On the outer rear
edge of each wing, the
two ailerons move in
opposite directions, up
and down, decreasing lift
on one wing while
increasing it on the other.
This causes the airplane
to roll to the left or right.

 Pitching.
The elevator controls pitch or
the longitudinal motion and
thus is often called the
longitudinal control.

Pitch Around the Lateral Axis

Elevator Controls Pitch

The ELEVATOR
controls PITCH. On
the horizontal tail
surface, the elevator
tilts up or down,
decreasing or
increasing lift on the
tail. This tilts the
nose of the airplane
up and down.

 Yawing.
The rudder controls yaw or the
directional motion and thus is
called the directional control.

Yaw Around the vertical Axis

Rudder Controls Yaw

The RUDDER controls
YAW. On the vertical tail
fin, the rudder swivels
from side to side,
pushing the tail in a left
or right direction. A pilot
usually uses the rudder
along with the ailerons
to turn the airplane.

AIRCRAFT STABILITY

AIRCRAFT STABILITY

I)

There are two types of

stability :
I) static stability
II) dynamic stability.
Static stability
Static stability can be visualized by a
ball on a surface.
Initially the ball is in equilibrium.
The ball is then displaced from the
equilibrium position, and its initial
behavior is observed.

Aircraft Stability
Definition All planes must possess
stability in varying degrees for safety
and ease of operation. Stability is the
inherent ability of a body after its
equilibrium is disturbed , to develop
forces or moments that tend to
return the body to its original
position.

 A stable airplane will tend to return

to the original condition of flight if
disturbed by a force, such as
turbulent air.
Airplanes have varying degree of
stability.

Static Stability
Static Stability of an aircraft is
defined by the initial tendency to
return to equilibrium conditions
following some disturbance from
equilibrium.
If an object is disturbed from
equilibrium and has tendency to
return to equilibrium, positive static
stability exists.

STATIC STABILITY
Positive static stability
-

when the ball is displaced from the centre, it

returns to its original position of equilibrium

STATIC STABILITY
Negative static stability
- when the ball is displaced from the centre, it
moves away from its original position of
equilibrium

STATIC STABILITY
Neutral static stability
When the ball is displaced from the center, it shows
no tendency to roll back to or away from its original
position of equilibrium

Dynamic stability
Dynamic stability refers to how the continuous
motion of a body varies over time.
A body is dynamically stable
if, out of its own accord, it eventually
returns
to and remains at its equilibrium position
over
a period of time.
Dynamic stability only applies if there is positive
static stability

DYNAMIC STABILITY
The graph shows an example of neutral dynamic
stability.
Here we assume there
are no friction forces
acting between the ball
and the surface.
The ball theoretically
oscillates forever after
the initial displacement.
We have undamped
oscillation.

DYNAMIC STABILITY
If there is friction, the motion of the ball damps
out after the initial displacement
When there is damped oscillation the ball is
dynamically stable

An example of
positive dynamic
stability

DYNAMIC STABILITY
If there is another force stronger than friction
acting on the ball, the ball moves further and
further away from the equilibrium.
The ball is dynamically unstable.
An example of negative
dynamic stability

DYNAMIC STABILITY
Another example to illustrate stability. The center
of gravity of the ruler is located at hole no. 4
If the pivot point and the center of gravity are at
the same place, it is neutral static stability. There
is no tendency to return to original position from
displaced position
If the ruler tilts to the
left, it stays in this
position and if it tilts to
the right it stays in that
position

DYNAMIC STABILITY
If the pivot point is below the center of gravity, there is
negative static stability.
When there is a displacement out of the vertical position,
the weight and the moment arm move the ruler away from
the original equilibrium

DYNAMIC STABILITY
If the pivot point is above the center of gravity, there is
positive static stability.
When there is a displacement out of the vertical position,
the weight and the moment arm bring the ruler back to the
original equilibrium position

DYNAMIC STABILITY
The distance between the pivot point and the center of
gravity influences the stability
The longer the distance, the greater the stability

If the pivot is in hole 1, the large

moment arm gives a high
tendency for the ruler to return
to equilibrium

If the pivot point is in hole 3, the

small moment arm gives a lower
tendency for the ruler to return
to equilibrium

DYNAMIC STABILITY
Here, there are 3 aircraft encountering a
disturbance
The aircraft in the middle
has positive dynamic
stability after the
disturbance.

Positive dynamic stability is

usually required in aircraft
design. lt prevents continuous
oscillations of the aircraft
around it's axes.

AIRCRAFT AXIS
The aircraft axes are : longitudinal axis, vertical
axis and the lateral axis

AIRCRAFT AXIS
I.
II.
III.

Lateral Stability roll movement around the

longitudinal axis
Directional Stability yaw movement around
the vertical axis
Longitudinal Stability pitch movement
around the lateral axis

The aircraft has positive static stability when the

sum of all the forces and all the moments are zero

DIRECTIONAL STABILITY
The directional stability of an aircraft is
the stability around the vertical axis
Directional stability depends on :
I) fin of the aircraft (vertical stabilizer)
II) sweepback of the wing

EFFECT OF THE FIN

An aircraft that has been deflected from its flight path

DIRECTIONAL STABILITY
For an aircraft which has been deflected from it's
flight path, this results in a pressure along the
surface of one side of the aircraft.
lf the turning moment behind the centre of gravity
is greater than the turning moment in front of the
centre of gravity, the aircraft turns back to its
original flight path.
The aircraft is directionally stable.

DIRECTIONAL STABILITY
Some aircraft increase the surface area behind
the centre of gravity to improve the directional
stability.
One method of doing this is with a dorsal fin and
another, keel surface (used on military aircraft
and the old Boeing 707).
Both of these features increase the side forces to
produce positive directional stability.

DORSAL FIN AND KEEL SURFACE

SWEEPBACK OF A WING
The sweepback of a wing also improves
directional stability.
When the aircraft is deflected from its original
flight path the forward going wing presents a
larger frontal area to the airflow than the other
wing.
The drag on the forward going wing is therefore
greater than on the other wing
This produces a yawing moment which returns
the aircraft to its original flight path.
The forward going wing also produces higher lift.

DIRECTIONAL STABILITY

LATERAL STABILITY
Lateral stability is the stability of the
aircraft around the longitudinal axis.
It is determined by the :
I) angle of attack
II) dihedral angle
III) sweepback angle

Effect of Angle of Attack

on Lateral Stability
When there is a gust of wind under the right wing,
the gust moves the right wing upwards and the
left wing downwards
The aircraft rotates around the longitudinal axis.
When the gust forces the aircraft to rotate, there
is additional velocity the down going wing
velocity.
The effective angle of attack is now the angle
between the resultant velocity and the cord line

Effect of Angle of Attack

on Lateral Stability

Effect of Angle of Attack

on Lateral Stability
A higher angle of attack produces more lift.
There is a similar but opposite effect on the up
going wing. This wing gets an decrease in lift.
The increase in lift on the down going wing and
the decrease in lift on the up going wing stops
the roll motion but does not bring the aircraft
back to the level

Effect of a Dihedral Angle on Lateral

Stability
In disturbed flight the lift is inclined in the
direction of the lower wing.
In this situation the lift and the weight create a
resultant force.
The resultant force causes a side-slip which
means that the aircraft glides to one side without
changing flight direction.
The side-slip causes a flow of air in the opposite
direction to the relative wind.

Effect of a Dihedral Angle on Lateral

Stability
Because of the dihedral angle the relative wind strikes
the down going wing at a greater angle than the up
going wing.
This increases the lift on the down going wing and
decreases the lift on the up going wing.
This difference in lift turns the aircraft back to its
original flight position and the side-slip motion is
stopped.
The relative wind also strikes the vertical stabilizer and
this assists the turn back motion.

EFFECT OF A SWEEPBACK
ANGLE ON LATERAL STABILITY

 In the previous slide you can see an aircraft flying with

a side-slip.
The side-slip angle is the angle between the aircraft
centreline and the sideslip direction.
The relative wind is opposite to the side-slip direction.
The right wing (in the side-slip direction ), produces
more lift than the other wing.
This wing has a longer effective leading edge and a
thicker effective profile than the left wing.
The difference in lift on the wings brings the aircraft
back to level flight.

LATERAL DIRECTIONAL
INTERACTIONS
In reality when an aircraft in free flight is placed
in a side-slip, the lateral response and the
directional response happen together and the
side-slip produces a rolling moment and a yawing
moment.
The complex interaction of the rolling moment
and the yawing moment produces two main
types of aircraft reaction, the spiral dive and the
dutch roll

SPIRAL DIVE
Spiral dive exists when there is a greater effect on the
directional stability than on the lateral stability.
When this aircraft with a large vertical stabilizer is
disturbed from level flight, it begins a slow spiral which
gradually increases to a spiral dive.

SPIRAL DIVE
When there is a side-slip, the strong directional
stability effect tends to turn the nose of the
aircraft into the wind and the relatively weak
dihedral effect cannot restore the aircraft laterally.
The rate of divergence in the spiral motion is
usually so gradual, that the pilot can control the
tendency without difficulty.

DUTCH ROLL
Dutch roll is a lateral - directional oscillation.
The tendency for a dutch roll exists when there
is a greater effect on the lateral stability than
on the directional stability.
When the aircraft is disturbed from it's
directional equilibrium, the forward wing
produces more lift and more drag than the
other wing.

DUTCH ROLL
When the effect of the lift is greater than the effect of the
drag, we get a sideslip in the opposite direction and the
dutch roll cycle is repeated.
This yaw and roll motion of the aircraft is like the
motion of someone 'waltzing on skates.
The dutch roll problem is found on all aircraft with
swept wings.
The dutch roll problem can be partially overcome by
reducing the sweep angle of the wings and by improving
the directional stability.

DUTCH ROLL
The directional stability can be improved by increasing
the size of the vertical stabilizer but this has weight and
drag disadvantages.
Most aircraft use a yaw damping system to improve
directional stability.
This is an automatic system which deflects the rudder,
to give the necessary directional stability.

LONGITUDINAL STABILITY
Longitudinal stability is the stability of the aircraft
around the lateral axis.
It is positive if the aircraft tends to return to
equilibrium, or the trim angle of attack, after it is
displaced by a gust.
The longitudinal stability depends on the angle of
attack and the pitching moment effects of the
horizontal stabilizer and the wing.

LONGITUDINAL STABILITY
The horizontal stabilizer produces downward
forces during level flight.

These forces act with a long moment arm around the

centre of gravity.

LONGITUDINAL STABILITY
When a gust hits the lower front part of the
aircraft we get a nose up rotation.

The horizontal stabilizer changes the angle of attack and

the stabilizer force is reduced to allow the aircraft back to
equilibrium.

LONGITUDINAL STABILITY
When a gust hits the upper front part of the aircraft,
we get a nose down rotation.
The horizontal stabilizer changes the angle of attack,
the stabilizer force is increased and the aircraft returns
to equilibrium.

LONGITUDINAL STABILITY
A tail-less aircraft or a flying wing flies with a
positive longitudinal stability.
the centre of gravity is the resultant of all aircraft
weights
the centre or lift is the resultant of all lift forces
including the downward forces of the horizontal
stabilizer.

 In general, positive longitudinal stability is achieved by

restoring moments.
Positive longitudinal stability is achieved by changes in the
lift aft of the centre of gravity.
When we have a gust from below the front of the aircraft,
the nose up rotation produces additional lift.
The moment of the additional lift and the lever arm L1
returns the aircraft to the previous position