ON THE PHYSICS OF FLIGHT

Emil Marinchev*
emar@tu-sofia.bg

Dian Geshev
dgeshev@aero.tu-sofia.bg

Ivan Dimitrov
idimitrov@aero.tu-sofia.bg

Stoil Donev**
sdonev@inrne.bas.bg

Ivaylo Nedyalkov*
inedialkov@tu-sofia.bg

Department of Air Transport, Technical University-Sofia, 1000, Bulgaria

*

**

Department of Applied Physics, Technical University-Sofia, 1000, Bulgaria

Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy,Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, 1784, Bulgaria

Abstract A universal explanation of the physics of flight, regarding it as a case of reactive motion, caused by the interaction of flying objects and airflow, is presented. The results obtained are exact and valid for all kinds of flying objects in real 3-dimensional fluid. They constitute, on one hand, a good complement to the Kutta-Joukowski theorem and, on the other hand, a generalization of this theorem is derived for low-viscosity real fluid. Key words: physics of flight, lift, drag, Magnus effect, Kutta-Joukowski theorem.

1. Introduction For more than 100 years the Kutta-Joukowski theorem is used successfully by aeronautical engineers for subsonic flights [1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 15]. A basic disadvantage of using this theorem is that it considers the case of ideal fluid, while any flight is performed in a real fluid. The aim here is to reconsider the lift problem in the case of a real fluid making use mainly of the conservation laws. The following theorems from Mechanics are used: - The momentum of a mechanical system p is equal to the momentum of the center of masses pc

p = p c = mv c ,

where m is the mass of the system, and vc - the velocity of the mass center. - The reactive force R is determined by the action of momentum flow mu ( m is mass flow, and u is the change of its velocity) R = mu .

2. Physics of flight Air flow, interacting with the wing is diverted at an effective angle 11, 12, 13]. It is equal to the effective angle of attack for the entire wing.

(Fig. 1) [5, 6, 10,

Fig. 1 The mass flow interacting with the flying object is denoted by | m |. The diverted mass flow, leaving the wing is m < 0 , and the incoming flow is m > 0 . As the air flow follows the

shape (curvature) of the wing, the mass flow m is proportional to the streamlined surface of the wing S w , the velocity of the airflow v ( v vc ), and air density - m v Sw . If S w is

expressed by the wing planform area S , we get m = C v S , where C is a coefficient of proportionality. The resulting aerodynamic force R acting on the wing, is due to the joint action of the incoming and diverted momentum flows: (1)

R = mv + m( v + u ) = mu .

Consider a flight with a constant velocity v in a low-viscosity real fluid. Neglecting losses of energy leads to v + u v , and u = 2 vsin ( 2 ) (Fig. 1). Than from expression (1) it follows (2)
R = C v S 2 v sin ( 2 ) = 4C sin ( 2 ) .S v2 . 2

The vector u is represented by its normal and parallel components with respect to the incoming flow:
u = vsin

u = v v cos = v(1 cos ) = 2 vsin 2 v 2 . 2 2

For the lift L and the drag D (Fig. 1) and their dimensionless coefficients C L and C D we derive
L = mu = 2C sin S
(2')

v2 2

D = mu C 2 S

v2 2

L = 2C sin S v2 / 2 (2') D CD = C 2 2 S v / 2 CL =

Taking into account the loss of energy leads to: first, v ' =| v + u | < v (Fig. 2), second, the angle between R and L increases ( > /2):

Fig. 2

v ' =| v + u |= (1 ) v u = v'sin = (1 ) v sin u = v v'cos = v[1 (1 ) cos ] v[1 (1 )(1 2 / 2)] v + v(1 ) 2 / 2 v2 2 v2 D = mu [2C + C (1 ) 2 ]S 2 C pr = 2C. L = mu = 2C (1 ) sin S

(3)

The profile drag is denoted by Cpr, and the modulus of the relative velocity change by : =| v | / v =| v ' v | / v . (3')
C L = 2C (1 ) sin C D C pr + C (1 ) 2

The relation of CL and CD in respect to the effective angle of attack is confirmed by experiment, and they also depend on the aspect ratio AR = l 2 S - Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 [14]

2.1 Magnus effect: (The lift force produced by a rotating cylinder placed in uniform flow) - Fig. 4. When the cylinder rotates with angular velocity , the change of velocity of the airflow is u = r , and the effective angle of its deviation is:

(4)

= 2 arcsin(u / 2 v) = 2 arcsin( r / 2 v) u/v = r/v

Fig. 4 [10] The aerodynamic force acting on the cylinder is:

(5)

R = mu , | m | v SC = v 2r.l ,

u = .r

R =| mu |= 2r 2 v .l = 2S v r / 2, S = 2rl.

Here, SC is the surface area of the cylinder (excluding the two bases), and l - its length. The derived results are confirmed by experiment and the constant of proportionality is exactly equal to 1, i.e. | m | = v SC = v 2r.l for l r . This is an analogous to the Kutta condition and makes experimental results consistent with theoretical ones. Neglecting the profile drag, the streaming of a wing may be substituted by an equivalent streaming of rotating cylinder Fig. 5.

Fig. 5

(6)

v = u / r = 2 sin / 2 r R =| mu |= 2S v r / 2 = 4 sin( / 2).S v 2 / 2

AR

From the comparison of (2) and (6) for a wing with high aspect ratio C =.

it is easy to see that

2.2 Connection to the Kutta-Joukowski theorem: From the established reciprocal equivalence of the streaming of wing and streaming of a rotating cylinder, for the circulation it is easy to get:

(7)

= 2rr = 2 ru = 4 r vsin / 2 ,

which is valid for both streamed bodies. From (6) and (7) it follows (8)
R = vl .

This result is a generalization of the Kutta-Joukowski theorem, for a wing streamed by a low-viscosity real fluid. Similar result is obtained in [3]. The lift is L = R cos( / 2) = v 4 r vsin( / 2) cos( / 2).l where c is the chord of the wing. v2 v2 sin = 2 S sin , 2r = c, = 2 2 rl
2 2

When streaming a wing, two opposite vortices occur in the two ends of the wing (Fig.6 and Fig. 7), which reduce the diverted mass flow and the coefficient . For a wing with high aspect ratio C = , and for zero aspect ratio C = 0 . From the known relation between CL and aspect ratio AR [7, 9, 15]: (9)
CL = 2 sin , it follows C = . 1 + 2 AR 1 + 2 AR

Fig. 6 [15]

Fig. 7 [9]

In the expression for the drag coefficient CD a correction , due to the available additional vortex energy losses [7, 9, 15] is introduced, which leads to: (10) C D C pr + C 2 , = 4C AR .

3. Instead of Conclusion

Joukowski about the physics of flight: ''.... An inclined surface, moving with small angle in respect to the horizon and having high horizontal velocity, diverts downwards with small velocity continuously attaching to it enormous amount of air mass, thus gaining significant lift force with insignificant losses of energy for horizontal displacement[2] (authors translation from Russian).

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