On the Extrapolation of Stability Derivatives to Combined Changes in Airspeed and Angles of Attack and Sideslip

Abstract

The variation in stability derivatives with airspeed and angles of attack and sideslip is determined using only the dependence of the aerodynamic forces and moments on the modulus and direction of the velocity. Analytic extrapolation factors are obtained for all 12 longitudinal plus 12 lateral stability derivatives of linear decoupled motion. The extrapolation factors relate the stability derivatives for two flight conditions with different airspeeds, angles of attack (AoA), and angles of sideslip (AoS). The extrapolation formulas were validated by comparison with results of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) using Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations. The comparison concerns the extrapolated full longitudinal–lateral stability matrix from one landing and one takeoff condition of a V-tailed aircraft, to 10 other landing and takeoff flight cases with different airspeeds, AoAs, and AoSs. Thus, 420 comparisons were made between extrapolated stability derivatives and CFD–RANS results demonstrating the achievable levels of accuracy.

Keywords

• aircraft stability
• stability derivatives
• changes of angles in attack and sideslip and airspeed