INSTITUTO POLITCNICO NACIONAL

UNIDAD PROFECIONAL INTERDISCIPLINARIA DE INGENIERA CAMPUS GUANAJUATO

90%
FLIGHT DYNAMICS
Professor: Ondrej Karas

friction
account

CONTROL SURFACES

Members:
Alcal Lara Hugo Enrique
Alonso Jimnez Erick Salvador
Espejo Jaramillo Luis David Alejandro
Noriega Alvarado Jorge Alejandro
Olvera Helgueros Carlos
Rodrguez Muoz Alfredo Delfino
Tinoco Vargas Salvador

September 4, 2016
Silao de la Victoria, Guanajuato

not

taken

-10%

into

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ABSTRACT.
The main objective is to determine the necessary forces to actuate the control surfaces with the control column
of the Grumman Gulfstream I; a twin-turboprop engine business aircraft, in straight and level flight condition.
Afterwards, the results analysis is done by plotting in 3D the behavior of the Force vs. Velocity vs. deflection
angle.

FIGURE 1.- CONTROL SURFACES GRUMMAN GULFSTREAM 1; RUDDER, ELEVATORS Y AILERONE.

OBJECTIVES
Get a mathematical model that helps to find the strength to move the control surfaces Grumman
of
Velocities
Gulfstream I in cruise flight. at
range
Plotting in Matlab the behavior of the force that occurs depending on the angle of deflection and
aircraft speed.
a

INTRODUCTION
Each control surface on an aircraft has a hinge of some sort. By deflecting the control surface, there is an
aerodynamic moment about that hinge. The pilot (or some power augmentation system) must provide the force
to counter that hinge moment, so the study of hinge moments is important to be able to predict the forces
(moments) required by the human pilot or the hydraulic or electric actuator system. Further, the feedback of
this required force or moment to the pilot is an additional cue to help her/him to fly the aircraft.
To rotate any of the aerodynamic control surface, it is necessary to apply a force to it to overcome the
aerodynamic pressures that resist the motion. This force may be supplied by a human pilot through different
ways:
Mechanical Linkage Control.

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Power Assisted Control: pilots control is connected to the control surface and the control lever.
Power Operated Control: pilots control is connected to the control lever only.
Fly-by-wire: wire carries electrical signals from the pilots control to replace mechanical linkage.
Fly-by-optical.
The aircraft selected is equipped with a manual control system which incorporates conventional ailerons,
elevators and rudder. All control surfaces are aerodynamically balanced. The primary control system consists
of bellcranks, pushrods, and straight cable runs operating in a low friction system.

FIGURE 2. FREE BODY DIAGRAM OF CONTROL SYSTEM.

To determine de force of the stick, a free body diagram is shown in figure 2. The work of displacing the control
stick is equal to the work in moving the control surface to the desired deflection angle. The stick force is found
with the following equation:
1

( ) = ( 2 )
2

.. (1)

Where:
Se is the elevator (control surface) area behind the hinge line.
e is the mean aerodynamic chord of the elevator (control surface) of the same area.
Che is the hinge moment coefficient.
G is the gearing ratio which is the measure of the mechanical advantage provided by the control, calculated
with the next formula:

.. (2)

The stick forces are directly related to the hinge moments. In reversible controls, the hinge moment is
conveyed to the pilot through the push rods, cables and pulleys. In an irreversible control system, these forces
are transmitted to the hydraulic boost system. In either cases, we need to know what they are so that we know
a pilot can control the aircraft or that the boost system has enough power. The Grumman Gulfstream I is
treated as a reversible control system.

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METHODOLOGY

Measure the dimensions of the

control surfaces

Determine the forces required to

move each control surface

With the results, plotting in 3D the

behavior of the Force vs. Velocity vs.
deflection angle.
DEVELOPMENT
Assuming the cruise flight speed of the aircraft is 302 kt at 25,000 ft altitude with an air density of 0.5489
kg/m3, the dynamic pressure on the plane can be determined by the following equation:
1

= 2
2

.. (3)

Taking direct measurements of the plane is presented in Table 1, the measurements obtained from the
different control surfaces, these measurements are necessary to determine the force resulting from the
dynamic pressure.
TABLE 1.- DATA OBTAINED FROM DIRECT MEASUREMENTS.
Cr
Ct
L

Elevator
0.64m
0.71m
3.43m

Aileron
0.39m
0.55m
3.85m

Rudder
1.03m
0.85m
3.82m

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FIGURE 3.- MEASUREMENTS TAKEN DIRECTLY

To determine areas of control surfaces a CAD software was used and the results are shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2.- AREA OF THE CONTROL SURFACES

AREA [m2]
2.196873
1.8095
3.016985

CONTROL SURFACES
ELEVATOR
AILERON
RUDDER

The rotation angles were obtained from the ATA 27 section (Flight controls). The friction force has a some
influence on the performance of the movement, but because of lack o equipment we could not measure the
desired magnitude, therefore it is considered negligible.

TABLE 3.- DEFLECTIONS OBTAINED MANUAL.

up
[]
down
[]
Friction [N]

ELEVATOR

AILERON

RUDDER

25
14
N/A

16
12
N/A

22
22
N/A

The following equations were recurrently used for the calculations, for that reason written in this section.
1

= 2
2

.. (4)

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2

1++2

1+

= (

).. (5)

= .. (6)

.. (7)

RESULTS
Since the Gearing ratio and hinge moment coefficients are very restricted information we could only calculate
the generated force in the control surface.
First we have to relate the area and the dynamic pressure in order to get the force.
1

= 2
2

.. (8)

= .. (9)
Then we have to find the mean aerodynamic chord

.. (10)

1++2

1+

= (

).. (11)

The next step is to make equilibrium of moment

F = sin() .. (12)
Now we solve for Fc, where Fc is the force at the control surface:
1

F (, ) = sin() 2 2 ( ).. (13)

The resultant force is a function of deflection and velocity v. That will set a three-dimensional graph for
each control surface. Therefore the procedure is the same for each control surface.

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FIGURE 4.- AILERON FORCE GRAPH IN FUNCTION OF DEFLECTION AND VELOCITY.

FIGURE 5.- ELEVATOR FORCE GRAPH IN FUNCTION OF DEFLECTION AND VELOCITY.

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FIGURE 6.- RUDDER FORCE GRAPH IN FUNCTION OF DEFLECTION AND VELOCITY.

CONCLUSION.
In this practice, we obtained the expected results; it helped to visualize the magnitude of the forces generated
in the control surfaces that the pilot or control system has to overcome in flight conditions of the aircraft G-159.
It should be noticed that is important to take good measures of the elements of the plane in order to have
reliable results when calculating total forces, but because of the control surfaces are curved at the edges are
difficult to obtain, it is important to vary the force vs angle and speed as the dynamic pressure varies.
REFERENCES.
[1]. MONRONEY, MIKE. "FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION JOINT AIRCRAFT
SYSTEM/COMPONENT CODE TABLE AND DEFINITIONS" (PDF). FAA. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
[2]. Clancy, L.J. (1975), Aerodynamics, Pitman Publishing Limited, London. ISBN 0-273-01120-0
APPENDIX.
Matlab codes.
Elevator.
%ELEVATOR 3D GRAPH
clc
clear all
rho=0.5489;
ct=0.71;
cr=0.64;
S=2.1968*2;

%kg/m^3
%[m]
%[m]
%[m^2]

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R=0.1575;

%[m]

x=-25*pi/180:1*pi/180:14*pi/180;
y=1:1:155.362;
%m/s
[theta,v]=meshgrid(x,y);
q=((v.^2)/2)*rho;
lambda=ct/cr;
C=(2/3)*cr*((1+lambda+lambda^2)/(1+lambda));
F=q*S;
Fwr=sin(theta).*F;
%3D plot
figure
surf(theta,v,Fwr)
xlabel('Theta (radians)');
ylabel('Velocity (m/s)');
zlabel('Force (N)');
shading interp
colorbar
%handle graphs with mouse
cameratoolbar

Aileron.
%AILERON 3D GRAPH
clc
clear all
rho=0.5489;
ct=0.55;
cr=0.39;
S=1.8095*2;

%kg/m^3
%[m]
%[m]
%[m^2]

R=0.1575;

%[m]

x=-16*pi/180:1*pi/180:12*pi/180;
y=1:1:155.362;
%m/s
[theta,v]=meshgrid(x,y);
q=((v.^2)/2)*rho;
lambda=ct/cr;
C=(2/3)*cr*((1+lambda+lambda^2)/(1+lambda));
F=q*S;
Fwr=sin(theta).*F;
%3D plot
figure
surf(theta,v,Fwr)
xlabel('Theta (radians)');
ylabel('LVelocity (m/s)');
zlabel('Force (N)');
shading interp
colorbar
%handle graphs with mouse
cameratoolbar

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Rudder.
%RUDDER 3D GRAPH
clc
clear all
rho=0.5489;
ct=0.85;
cr=1.03;
S=3.016985*2;

%kg/m^3
%[m]
%[m]
%[m^2]

R=0.1575;

%[m]

x=-22*pi/180:1*pi/180:22*pi/180;
y=1:1:155.362;
%m/s
[theta,v]=meshgrid(x,y);
q=((v.^2)/2)*rho;
lambda=ct/cr;
C=(2/3)*cr*((1+lambda+lambda^2)/(1+lambda));
F=q*S;
Fwr=sin(theta).*F;
%3D plot
figure
surf(theta,v,Fwr)
xlabel('Theta (radians)');
ylabel('LVelocity (m/s)');
zlabel('Force (N)');
shading interp
colorbar
%handle graphs with mouse
cameratoolbar