6

Longitudinal Dynamics
6.1 Background
This chapter considers the aircraft's longitudinal behavior about the pitch-axis
reference frame. The system's dynamics will be developed by viewing the airframe
as a multi-degree-of-freedom eigenvalue problem using control theory concepts
described in Chapter 5. Descriptions of the mode shapes will be obtained and
approximations will be made to the equations of motion in order to increase the
understanding of the dynamics. It will be found that the fore and aft c.g. location
(i.e., the distance forward from the neutral point) will play a large role in the
dynamic behavior. In contrast, the airframe's lateral-directional dynamics are not
significantly influenced by the c.g. position.
The linearized governing equations describing the longitudinal motion were
cast into a set of four, first-order, coupled ODEs with constant coefficients, cf.
Sec. 4.6.1. These equations used dimensional coefficients and described the time
varying perturbations of the state vector in real time. The equations were
V(/V)= V X,. (u/V)+ Xa et - g cos 808 + X0 8
(V - Z,)a = VZ u (u/V)+Za et +(V+Z q )q - g sin 80 8 + Z 0 8
- Ma + q

= V M u (u/V)+Ma a + Mq q + M08
8=q

or, alternatively, in a linear algebra form

(4.42)
where the longitudinal state vector was

{x} = [u/V et q ef
and there was a single control term, 8, which normally would correspond to the
deflection of either an elevator or a movable horizontal stabilizer.
The presence of the a term on the left-hand side of the pitch moment equation
is worthy of note. It will be found that when making approximations for the short
period mode, algebraic manipulations can be made to simplify the presence of
the term. When investigating the complete linear system, which involves a state
vector with four components, linear algebra solution techniques will be employed.
The solution techniques for the state equations are exactly the same as would be
used to describe the motion dynamics of an automobile, ship, submarine, and even
a bridge structure. The choice of the state vector components and the plant matrix
is problem specific, but the mathematical techniques are fundamental.
165

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INTRODUCTION TO AIRCRAFT FLIGHT DYNAMICS

The aircraft's linearized longitudinal dynamics normally will consist of two

pairs of complex conjugate roots, which will correspond to a fast (short-period)
mode and a slow (long-period) mode. The long-period mode is known as the
phugoid, having been given this name by Lanchester l using the Greek root
phugos, which means flight as in flee; he mistook the meaning as a word for
fly.

6.2 Aircraft Longitudinal Dynamics

The homogeneous form of the linearized equations of motion from Eq. ( 4.4 2)
is given by
( 6.1)

[/n]{i} = [An]{x}

This set of first-order linear differential equations will be solved by example

using computer tools available to many engineers and students, i.e., MATLAB.

Example 6.1
Consider the A- 4D jet attack aircraft in leve! flight at M = 0.6 , h = 15,000 ft,
and c.g. at 0.25c, cf.Appendix B.l.Sol ve the eigenvalue problem and identify the
mode shapes. The MATLAB listing is as follows:
disp(In)

disp(An)

634.0

o.o
o.o
o.o

o.o

634.0
0.353

o.o

o.o
o.o

1.0000

o.o

O.O

o.o
o.o

1.0000

o.o -32.174
-8.179 -3.721
o.o
-65.94 -518.9 634.0
0.25
-12.97 -1. 071
o.o
o.o
o.o 1.0000 o.o
% The plant matrix [A] in x-dot = A X is:
A=inv(In) *An;
disp(A)
-0.0129 -0.0059
o.o
-0.0507
-0.1040 -0.8185
1.0000
o.o
0.2867 -12.6811 -1.4240
o.o
O.O
O.O
1.0000
O.O
% Find the characteristic polynomial
P=poly(A); disp(P)
1.0000 2.2554 13.8749 O .1939 O.0788
% (s!\4)
(s!\3)
(s/\2)
(s/\1)
(s/\0)
% Find the roots of the characteristic polynomial
R=roots(P); disp(R)

LONGITUDINAL DYNAMICS

167

-1.12113.5472i; % Short-period mode (eigenvalue)

-0.00650.0752i; % Long-period mode
% Find modal damping and undamped natural frequencies
[Wn,Z]=damp(R);
disp(Z)
0.3014; % Short-period modal damping
0.0867; % Long-period modal damping
disp(Wn);
3.7202; % Short-period natural frequency, rad/sec
0.0755; % Long-period natural frequency, rad/sec
% Find the eigenvectors
[V, D]=eig(A);
disp(V); % Display the conjugate paired eigenvectors
-0.0016 0.0035i -0.5136 =f 0.2153i
-0.0053 =f 0.0018i
0.1539 0.2117i
-o. 7977 O.4822i -o. 0576 =f O.0243i
O.1882 O.1654i -0.2541 0.7882i
% Find magnitude and phasing for the short-period mode
MAG1=abs(V(:,1)); PHASE1=(180./pi)*angle(V(: ,1));
disp(MAG1'/MAG1(2)); % Normalized to a component
0.0146 1.0000 3.5614
0.9573
% (u/V)
a
q
IJ
disp(PHASE1' - PHASE1(2)); % Phase relative to a, deg
-12.6760
94.8636
o.o
61.3326
% (u/V)
a
q
IJ
% Find magnitude and phasing for the long-period mode
MAG2=abs(V(:,3)); PHASE2=(180./pi)*angle(V(: ,3));
disp(MAG2'/MAG2(1)); % Normalized to (u/V) component
1.0000 0.0101 0.1122
1.4870
% (u/V)
a
q
IJ
disp(PHASE2' - PHASE2(1)); % Phase relative to (u/V), deg
o.o
-3.9081
0.1014
265.1269 (= -94.8731)
% (u/V)
a
q
e
The MATLAB commands used to solve the eigenvalue problem ofExample 6.1
included:
= display matrix [A]
= invert nonsingular matrix [In]
p oly( A)
= find polynomial coefficients from IH - Al
roots(P)
= find roots of polynomial from row vector P
damp(R)
= find natural frequencies and modal damping from R
eig(A)
= eigenvectors and eigenvalues from square matrix A
abs(V(:, !)) = absolute number value in first column of matrix V
angle(V(:, !)) = phase angle of complex numbers in first column of V
disp(A)

inv(In)

Toe preceding commands are described in Appendix E.

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INTRODUCTION TO AIRCRAFT FLIGHT DYNAMICS

6.2. 1 Short-Period Mode

The short-period mode from Example 6.1 for the A-4D aircraft with an assumed
flight condition and c.g. position may be summarized as
A sp

= -1.1211 3.5472i

Csp = 0.3014 (a well-damped mode)

a
q
e

(u/V))

Wn

= 3.7202

radfs

0.0146L61.33 deg
_
1.000 LO.O deg
- 1
)
3.5614L94.86 deg
0.9573L -12.68 deg

The short-period eigenvector indicates a very small velocity perturbation (u/ V)

tenn relative to the a component, which lends credence to the assumption that
(u/ V) = O when making the short-period approximation. Toe pitch attitude term
appears to be nearly the same in magnitude as the angle-of-attack component and
lags a by a small phase angle. This implies that the aircraft c.g. trajectory will
approach a horizontal path for the short-period mode. If the two components (a
and 8) had been egua! both in magnitude and phase, then the c.g. trajectory would
have been a straight Iine.
It will be observed that the relationship between the pitch attitude and the
corresponding rate component in the eigenvector is in accord with Eq. (5.54) as
described in Sec. 5.6; i.e., magnitude scaling is
JqJ

= Wn l8J = 3.7202 * .9573 = 3.5614

and phase angle difference is

t,.4>

= tan- [j

(-t) J = 107.54 deg

The phasor representation of the short-period eigenvector is shown in Fig. 6.1.

Imag.

q {rad/sec)

Note: {u/V) vector term

not shown; too small

A-40, Example 6.1

(sp =

0.301

3.547 rad/sec

____'1\_
ad =

I
Fig. 6.1

(rad) Real

(rad)

Short-period phasor representation.

169

LONGITUDINAL DYNAMICS

(1)
111

g_ o
111
(1)

a::

-1

A-4D, Exomple 6. 1
M=0.6. h=lS,000 ft., (x/c\ =0.25
9

-2

1 /

'q. rod/sec

-3 '----'-'--'----'---'-

3
Time, sec

Fig. 6.2 Short-period response to phasor initial condition.

A time-history trace of the short-period response due to a unit initial condition

of the eigenvector is shown in Fig. 6.2. The plot represents the projection of the
exponentially decaying rotating phasors (shadows) on the real axis. The plot was
obtained by using the initial condition of
0.0070 + 0.0128i
l .0000
)
{xo}sp = l
-0.3017 + 3.5486i
0.9340 - 0.2101i

in conjunction with the MATLAB initial command and a time (row) vector that
extended from O to 6 s by 0.05-s intervals, cf. Appendix E. The mode is well
damped as can be noted by the rapid decay of the oscillatory response.
Although the aircraft's plant matrix contains information concerning ali of the
modes, the use of an initial condition corresponding to the short-period eigenvector
provides assurance that only that mode will respond. This statement can be verified
in the following manner.
Because the choice of coordinates used to span state space when describing the
aircraft motion is not unique, it is equally valid to express the motion as a linear
combination of the modal coordinates. The {x(t)} coordinates are related to the
modal form by the following transformation:
where

{x(t} = [P]{v(t)}

[P] = modal matrix, cf. Appendix D

{v(t)} = modal response

As shown in Sec. 5.6, the homogeneous solution to the state equation is

(6.2)

(5.64)

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201

The recognition that ali of the dimensional derivatives are negative in sign
and that (Za M) is greater in magnitude than (Z8 M) allows one to conclude
from Eqs. (6.37) and (6.38) that 1) the airframe acceleration due to a positive
step longitudinal control input will be initially negative in sign and 2) after ali
transients have decayed, the steady-state response will be positive in sign. This
behavior is typical for a nonminimum phase system.

Example 6.1 O

Consider the A-4D aircraft in leve! flight at M = 0.6, h = 15,000 ft (V = 634

ft-s-I), and c.g. at 0.25c. Find the acceleration response due to an elevator step
control input of l deg.
The following matrices, containing the dimensional stability derivatives, are
available from Example 6.8 and Appendix B.!:
[A]=

{B}

[z/

-0.8185
1.0000
1.00
J
] [
M; - -12.6811 -1.4240

= [Z0 /V M;f = [-0.0899 - 19.4283f

The output matrices, using Eq. (6.31), are

[C]

and

= [-518.9 O.O]

[D]

= -57.02 (ft-s-2)

1) Find the transfer function Gn8(s). Use MATLAB to evaluate Eq. (6.36), i.e.,
which provides

[Num,Den]

= ss2tf ( A,B,C,D, 1)

G no(s) = (-57 2)

s2 + l .424s - 164.12
s2 + 2.243s + 13.847

Note that the zeros of the numerator are

Numn.1(s)

= (s + Z)(s + z2) = (s + 13.54)(s - 12.12)

2) Apply Eq.(6.37) to find the initial normal acceleration due to the unit (1-deg)
elevator step input,
an(O)

= Z,1 80 = (-57.02 ft-s-2 /rad)(0.01745 rad/deg)

= -0.995 ft-s-2 /deg (= +0.031 g/deg)

3) Find the steady-state value for normal acceleration due to a 1-deg elevator
step input. Instead of evaluating Eq. (6.38), apply the final value theorem to the
G n0(s) transfer function, i.e.,
lim an(t)

/-+()()

= (-57.02 ft-s-2/rad)

(-164.12)
(0.01745 rad/deg)
(13.847)

= 11.793 ft-s-2 /deg (= -0.367 g/deg)