AE 515 SPRING 2015

HW#3

CARLOS ALBERTO NUNES

UIUC

Lift Distribution
Elliptic
IBM
WRBM

lift per unit length[lb/ft]

250

200

150

100

50

0
-25

-20

-15

-10

-5

0
span [ft]

10

15

20

25

The downwash values shown in the chart below has to be multiplied by -1 in order to calculate the induced
drag at the Trefftz plane when using the class notation.
Downwash Distribution
10

Elliptic
IBM
WRBM

5
0

W [ft/s]

-5
-10
-15
-20
-25
-30
-25

-20

-15

-10

-5

0
span [ft]

10

15

20

25

Downwash distribution relative to the spanwise location

Elliptic

Constant

IBM

2nd order polynomial

WRBM

4th order polynomial

In the lifting line the downwash is equals to the Trefftz plane downwash multiplied by -.5 (the minus sign
is due the notation used in the problem set).

Induced Drag Distribution

Elliptic
IBM
WRBM

Induced drag per unit length [lb/ft]

3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
-25

-20

-15

-10

-5

0
span [ft]

10

15

20

25

Induced drag [lb/ft]

Elliptic

63.9862

IBM

56.1214

WRBM

56.1919

Numerically the IBM wing has the lowest induced drag, but since the difference between this one and the
WRBM is very small and the fact that the calculation performed is an approximation, we can assume that
both IBM and WRBM has the lowest induced drag followed by the Elliptic wing.

Question 2

C172
b [ft]
S [ft2]
L [lb]
V_inf [ft/s]
k
rho [slug/ft3]
q_inf [slug/ft/s]
m_dot [slug/s]
w [ft/s]
D_i [lb]
KE/sec [slug.ft2/sec3]
C_D_i
L/D_i

35.8
174
2500
210
0.79
0.002
44.1
422.8
5.9
35.2
7391.7
4.59E-03
71.03

C172
b [ft]
S [ft2]
L [lb]
V_inf [ft/s]
k
rho [slug/ft3]
q_inf [slug/ft/s]
m_dot [slug/s]
w [ft/s]
D_i [lb]
KE/sec [slug.ft2/sec3]
C_D_i
L/D_i

35.8
174
2500
150
0.79
0.002
22.5
302.0
8.3
69.0
10348.4
1.76E-02
36.24

The m decreases at the same rate that V , on the other hand we have an increase in the downwash and
induced drag. It tells that for a given wing the induced drag and downwash are proportional to the inverse
of the V , so higher speeds imply in a lower induced drag for a given wing.

B747
b [ft]
S [ft2]
L [lb]
V_inf [ft/s]
k
rho [slug/ft3]
q_inf [slug/ft/s]
m_dot [slug/s]
w [ft/s]
D_i [lb]
KE/sec [slug.ft2/sec3]
C_D_i
L/D_i

196
5500
750000
900
0.79
0.0005888
238.464
15988.7
46.9
19545.1
17590581.5
1.49E-02
38.37

The C172 aircraft has the higher L / Di at V 210 [ ft / s ] compared with the B747 at V 900 [ ft / s ]
. This may change when we compare the L / D of both airplanes, because even assuming that they have
similar CD , the B747 will have more surface area and will fly at a higher speed, then the total drag will be
higher than the C172.

Implemented Matlab code:

function [output] = hw3_ae515

close all
b_e = 36.833;
b_IBM = b_e*1.2247;
b_WRBM = b_e*1.3333;

%[ft]
%[ft]
%[ft]

n = 1000;
gama_r_elliptic = 280.56;
gama_r_IBM = 305.44;
gama_r_WRBM = 315.62;
rho = 0.0020452;
v_inf = 398.933;

%number of elements
%[ft2/s]
%[ft2/s]
%[ft2/s]
%[slug/ft3]
%[ft/s]

% ============================= setting the wingspan discretization =============================

y_e = linspace(-b_e/2,b_e/2,n)';
y_IBM = linspace(-b_IBM/2,b_IBM/2,n)';
y_WRBM = linspace(-b_WRBM/2,b_WRBM/2,n)';
output.y_e = y_e;
output.y_IBM = y_IBM;
output.y_WRBM = y_WRBM;
% ============================= calculating gamma distribution =============================
output.gama_elliptic = gama_r_elliptic*(1-(2*y_e/b_e).^2).^.5;
output.gama_IBM = gama_r_IBM*(1-(2*y_IBM/b_IBM).^2).*(1-(2*y_IBM/b_IBM).^2).^.5;
output.gama_WRBM = gama_r_WRBM*((1-(2*y_WRBM/b_WRBM).^2).^.5+.5*(2*y_WRBM/b_WRBM).^2.*log((1-(1(2*y_WRBM/b_WRBM).^2))./(1+(1-(2*y_WRBM/b_WRBM).^2))));
% ============================= calculating the lift distribution =============================
[output.L_elliptic] = get_lift_distribution(rho,v_inf,output.gama_elliptic);
[output.L_IBM] = get_lift_distribution(rho,v_inf,output.gama_IBM );
[output.L_WRBM] = get_lift_distribution(rho,v_inf,output.gama_WRBM);
% ============================= calculating the induced downwash at trefftz plane
=============================
% the following output has to be multiplied by -1 in order to calculate the
% induced drag
[output.w_e] = get_induced_w_trefftz_plane(output.gama_elliptic,output.y_e);
[output.w_IBM] = get_induced_w_trefftz_plane(output.gama_IBM,output.y_IBM);
[output.w_WRBM] = get_induced_w_trefftz_plane(output.gama_WRBM,output.y_WRBM);
% ============================= calculating the induced drag distribution at trefftz plane
=============================
[output.D_i_e_line,output.D_i_e] =
get_induced_drag_trefftz_plane(output.gama_elliptic,output.w_e,rho,output.y_e);
[output.D_i_IBM_line,output.D_i_IBM] =
get_induced_drag_trefftz_plane(output.gama_IBM,output.w_IBM,rho,output.y_IBM);
[output.D_i_WRBM_line,output.D_i_WRBM] =
get_induced_drag_trefftz_plane(output.gama_WRBM,output.w_WRBM,rho,output.y_WRBM);
% ============================= calculating the induced wing drag =============================
plot_charts(output)
end

function
y_line =
x_temp =
y_line =
end

[y_line] = differentiate(x,y)
diff(y)./diff(x);
x(1:end-1)+diff(x)/2;
spline(x_temp,y_line,x);

function [D_i_line,D_i] = get_induced_drag_trefftz_plane(gama,w,rho,y)

% inputs
% gama :: circulation distribution pper unit length
%
w :: induced downwash
%
rho :: air density
%
y :: wingspan discretization
% outputs
%
D_i_line :: induced drag distribution
D_i_line = .5*rho*gama.*w;%We used -w (because the convention adopted)
D_i = integrate(y,D_i_line);
end
function [w] = get_induced_w_trefftz_plane(gama,y)
% inputs
% gama :: circulation distribution pper unit length
%
y :: wingspan discretization
% outputs
%
w :: induced downwash
n = length(y);
w = zeros(n,1);
gama_line = differentiate(y,gama);
for i = 1:n
f = gama_line./(y(i)-y);
f(i) = 0; %to avoid singularity
w(i) = integrate(y,f);
end
w = w/(2*pi);
end
function [L] = get_lift_distribution(rho,v_inf,gama)
% inputs
%
rho :: air density
% v_inf :: flow velocity
% gama :: circulation distribution pper unit length
% outputs
%
L :: lift per unit length
L = rho*v_inf*gama;
end
function s = integrate(x,f)
%% integrate f(x) with respect to x
s = diff(x)'*(f(1:end-1)+.5*diff(f)); %integration using trapezoidal rule
end

function plot_charts(output)
line_width = 3.5;
c1 = [1 .2 .2];
c2 = [0 1 .3];
c3 = [0 .4 1];
% ============================= plotting the lift distribution =============================
lift = plot_chart('Lift Distribution','span [ft]','lift per unit length[lb/ft]');
lift = add_data(lift,output.y_e,output.L_elliptic,'Elliptic',c1,'-','none',line_width);
lift = add_data(lift,output.y_IBM,output.L_IBM,'IBM',c2,'-','none',line_width);
lift = add_data(lift,output.y_WRBM,output.L_WRBM,'WRBM',c3,'-','none',line_width);
lift = setProp(lift,'is_legend_enable',1);
display(lift);
% ============================= plotting the downwash distribution =============================
w = plot_chart('Downwash Distribution','span [ft]','W [ft/s]');
w = add_data(w,output.y_e,output.w_e,'Elliptic',c1,'-','none',line_width);
w = add_data(w,output.y_IBM,output.w_IBM,'IBM',c2,'-','none',line_width);
w = add_data(w,output.y_WRBM,output.w_WRBM,'WRBM',c3,'-','none',line_width);
w = setProp(w,'is_legend_enable',1);
display(w);
% ============================= plotting the induced drag distribution
=============================
drag_i = plot_chart('Induced Drag Distribution','span [ft]','Induced drag per unit length
[lb/ft]');
drag_i = add_data(drag_i,output.y_e,output.D_i_e_line,'Elliptic',c1,'-','none',line_width);
drag_i = add_data(drag_i,output.y_IBM,output.D_i_IBM_line,'IBM',c2,'-','none',line_width);
drag_i = add_data(drag_i,output.y_WRBM,output.D_i_WRBM_line,'WRBM',c3,'-','none',line_width);
drag_i = setProp(drag_i,'is_legend_enable',1);
display(drag_i);
end