UNIT IV

LATERAL AND DYNAMIC STABILITY

DIHEDRAL EFFECT

 Dihedral is the angle between the left and right wings (or tail surfaces) of an aircraft.
 "Dihedral" is also used to describe the effect of sideslip on the rolling of the aircraft.
 Dihedral angle is the upward angle from horizontal of the wings or tailplane of a fixed-
wing aircraft. "anhedral angle" is the name given to negative dihedral angle, that is,
when there is a downward angle from horizontal of the wings or tailplane of a fixed-
wing aircraft.
 Dihedral angle has a strong influence on dihedral effect, which is named after it.
 Dihedral effect is the amount of roll moment produced in proportion to the amount
of sideslip.
 Dihedral effect is a critical factor in the stability of an aircraft about the roll axis
(the spiral mode).
 Increasing the dihedral angle of an aircraft increases the dihedral effect on it. However,
many other aircraft parameters also have a strong influence on dihedral effect. Some of
these important factors are: wing sweep, vertical center of gravity, and the height and
size of anything on an aircraft that changes its sidewards force as sideslip changes.
LONGITUDINAL DIHEDRAL
 Longitudinal dihedral is the difference between the angle of incidence of the wing root
chord and angle of incidence of the horizontal tail root chord.
 Longitudinal dihedral can also mean the angle between the zero-lift axis of the wing and
the zero-lift axis of the horizontal tail instead of between the root chords of the two
surfaces.
 The purpose of dihedral effect is to contribute to stability in the roll axis. It is an
important factor in the stability of the spiral mode which is sometimes called "roll
stability".
 Aircraft designers may increase dihedral angle to provide greater clearance between the
wing tips and the runway. This is of particular concern with swept-wing aircraft, whose
wingtips could hit the runway on rotation/touchdown.
 In military aircraft dihedral angle space may be used for mounting materiel and drop-
tanks on wing hard points, especially in aircraft with low wings. The increased dihedral
effect caused by this design choice may need to be compensated for, perhaps by
decreasing the dihedral angle on the horizontal tail.
 LATERAL CONTROL

 Lateral motion of an aircraft is the rolling motion that an aircraft makes around a
centerline running from the front to back of the aircraft (the longitudinal axis) that raises
one side of the aircraft as it lowers the other.
 The need for lateral control became obvious only after achieving sufficient lift to fly for
more than a few seconds.
 Lateral control was also needed so that the pilot could bank—lift one wing or the other to
make the craft turn so that it would be headed in a different direction.

 In modern aircraft, lateral control is achieved by use of ailerons. The Wrights achieved
lateral control through wing warping.

LATERAL STABILITY

 Stability about the airplane's longitudinal axis, which extends form nose to tail, is called
lateral stability. This helps to stabilize the lateral or rolling effect when one wing gets
lower than the wing on the opposite side of the airplane.
 There are four main design factors which make an airplane stable laterally - dihedral, keel
effect, sweepback, and weight distribution.
 The most common procedure for producing lateral stability is to build the wings with a
dihedral angle varying from one to three degrees. In other words, the wings on either side
of the airplane join the fuselage to form a slight V or angle called "dihedral," and this is
measured by the angle made by each wing above a line parallel to the lateral axis.
 The basis of rolling stability is, of course, the lateral balance of forces produced by the
airplane's wings. Any imbalance in lift results in a tendency for the airplane to roll about
its longitudinal axis. Stated another way, dihedral involves a balance of lift created by the
wings' angle of attack on each side of the airplane's longitudinal axis.

 If a momentary gust of wind forces one wing of the airplane to rise and the other to
lower, the airplane will bank. When the airplane is banked without turning, it tends to
sideslip or slide downward toward the lowered wing.
 Since the wings have dihedral, the air strikes the low wing at much greater angle of
attack than the high wing. This increases the lift on the low wing and decreases lift on
the high wing, and tends to restore the airplane to its original lateral attitude (wings
level); that is, the angle of attack and lift on the two wings are again equal.
 The effect of dihedral, then, is to produce a rolling moment tending to return the
airplane to a laterally balanced flight condition when a sideslip occurs.
 The restoring force may move the low wing up too far, so that the opposite wing now
goes down. If so, the process will be repeated, decreasing with each lateral oscillation
until a balance for wings level flight is finally reached.
 Conversely, excessive dihedral has an adverse effect on lateral maneuvering qualities.
The airplane may be so stable laterally that it resists any intentional rolling motion. For
this reason, airplanes which require fast roll or banking characteristics usually have less
dihedral than those which are designed for less maneuverability.
 The contribution of sweepback to dihedral effect is important because of the nature of
the contribution. In a sideslip the wing into the wind is operating with an effective
decrease in sweepback while the wing out of the wind is operating with an effective
increase in sweepback.
 The swept wing is responsive only to the wind component that is perpendicular to the
wing's leading edge. Consequently, if the wing is operating at a positive lift coefficient,
the wing into the wind has an increase in lift, and the wing out of the wind has a
decrease in lift.
 In this manner the swept back wing would contribute a positive dihedral effect and the
swept forward wing would contribute a negative dihedral effect.
 During flight, the side area of the airplane's fuselage and vertical fin react to the airflow
in much the same manner as the keel of a ship. That is, it exerts a steadying influence
on the airplane laterally about the longitudinal axis.
 Such laterally stable airplanes are constructed so that the greater portion of the keel
area is above and behind the center of gravity. Thus, when the airplane slips to one
side, the combination of the airplane's weight and the pressure of the airflow against the
upper portion of the keel area (both acting about the CG) tends to roll the airplane back
to wings level flight.
COUPLING BETWEEN ROLLING AND YAWING MOMENTS

 As the aircraft yaws to the right, the left-hand wing will move slightly faster than the
right-hand wing. The faster-moving left-hand wing will, therefore, generate more lift, and
the aircraft will tend to roll clockwise (left-wing up).

 However, the fin and rudder are normally mounted on top of the fuselage, and hence,
above the centre of gravity.

 As the aircraft yaws, the sideforce on the fin therefore exerts an anti-clockwise rolling
moment. The overall result of these two opposing tendencies depends on the aircraft
design. The cross coupling of yaw and roll movements is an important feature in aircraft
stability and control.

ADVERSE YAW EFFECTS

 Adverse yaw is the tendency of an airplane to yaw in the opposite direction of the turn.
For example, as you roll to the right, your airplane may initially yaw to the left.
1. PITCH
 The aircraft nose can rotate up and down about the y-axis, a motion known as pitch.
 Pitch control is typically accomplished using an elevator on the horizontal tail.
2. ROLL
 The wingtips can rotate up and down about the x-axis, a motion known as roll.
 Roll control is usually provided using ailerons located at each wingtip.
3. YAW
 The nose can rotate left and right about the z-axis, a motion known as yaw.
 Yaw control is most often accomplished using a rudder located on the vertical tail.

 However, the effect of one control surface is not always limited to just pitch, roll, or yaw
alone.
 When the deflection of one control surface affects more than one of these orientations,
we say that the orientations are coupled. The most important of these coupled interactions
is adverse yaw.
  As you can see, the aircraft rolls because one aileron is deflected downward while the
other is deflected upward. Lift increases on the wing with the downward-deflected
aileron because the deflection effectively increases the camber of that portion of the
wing. Conversely, lift decreases on the wing with the upward-deflected aileron since the
camber is decreased. The result of this difference in lift is that the wing with more lift
rolls upward to create the desired rolling motion.
 Unfortunately, drag is also affected by this aileron deflection. More specifically, two
types of drag, called induced drag and profile drag, are increased when ailerons are
deployed. Induced drag is a form of drag that is induced by any surface that generates lift.
The more lift a surface produces the more induced drag it will cause (for a given
wingspan and wing area). Thus, the wing on which the aileron is deflected downward to
generate more lift also experiences more induced drag than the other wing.
 Profile drag includes all other forms of drag generated by the wing, primarily skin
friction and pressure drag. This profile drag increases on both wings when the ailerons
are deflected, but the increase is equal when the ailerons are deflected by the same
amount. However, the induced drag on each side is not equal, and a larger total drag force
exists on the wing with the down aileron. This difference in drag creates a yawing motion
in the opposite direction of the roll. Since the yaw motion partially counteracts the
desired roll motion, we call this effect adverse yaw.


METHODS TO AVOID ADVERSE YAW:

There are four methods to avoid adverse yaw and are as follows,

 Frise Ailerons
  Differential Ailerons
 Spoilers
 Cross-Coupled Controls
1. FRISE AILERONS:
 The concept behind this particular kind of aileron is to minimize the profile drag on the
wing with the down aileron while increasing the profile drag on the wing with the up
aileron.
 This difference in profile drag counteracts the effect of induced drag thereby creating a
yawing motion that at least partially cancels the adverse yaw effect.

 Frise ailerons accomplish this differential profile drag by maintaining a smooth contour
between the upper surfaces of the wing and aileron, causing very little drag, while the
bottom surface of the aileron juts downward to create a large increase in profile drag.
 Although this approach is simple and does provide some relief, the performance of frise
ailerons is very dependent on operating conditions.
 For this reason, such ailerons are often only partially effective at overcoming adverse
yaw.
2. DIFFERENTIAL AILERONS:
 Another approach to solving adverse yaw is to deflect the ailerons by differing amounts.
 The deflection of the down aileron is typically much less than the up aileron so that the
additional profile drag is very small compared to that on the up aileron.
3. SPOILERS:
 Spoilers are long narrow flat plates typically fitted along the upper surface of both wings.
In normal flight, spoilers lie flat and generate no effect on the aerodynamic performance
of the wing.
 However, the spoilers can be raised upward into the airflow to generate large turbulence
that reduces the lift and increases the drag on a wing.

 When used in coordination with ailerons, a spoiler can be used to reduce the lift and
increase the profile drag on the wing with the up aileron.
 As a result, the wing with the down aileron experiences a large increase in lift and a small
increase in drag while the wing with the up aileron experiences a large decrease in lift
and a large increase in drag.
 These effects combine to create the desired roll motion and a complimenting yaw motion
that is called proverse yaw.
4. CROSS-COUPLED CONTROLS:
 One of the most effective solutions to adverse yaw is to couple the ailerons and rudder so
that both surfaces deflect simultaneously.
 As the ailerons create a yaw motion in one direction, the rudder automatically deflects to
create a yaw motion in the opposite direction. The two effects counteract each other
eliminating the undesired yaw. This form of cross-coupling was often built into the cable-
and-pulley control systems of older aircraft.
 The problem was recognized even as early as the Wright brothers who incorporated such
controls into the Wright Flyer. In addition, most major aircraft today utilize some sort of
computerized fly-by-wire control system, and it is rather trivial to program cross-coupled
control measures into the automated systems.
AILERON REVERSAL

 A number of aircraft, when flying near their maximum speed, are subject to an important
aeroelastic phenomenon.
 No real structure is ideally rigid, and it has static and dynamic flexibility.
 Wings are usually produced from aerospace materials such as aluminum and composite
materials and have structures which are flexible. This flexibility causes the wing to be
unable to maintain its geometry and integrity, especially in high-speed flight operations.
 The phenomenon, which is referred to as aileron reversal, negatively influences the
aileron effectiveness.
 Consider the right section of a flexible wing with a downward-deflected aileron to create
a negative rolling moment.
 At subsonic speeds, the increment in aerodynamic load due to aileron deflection has a
centroid somewhere near the middle of the wing chord. At supersonic speeds, the control
load acts mainly on the deflected aileron itself, and hence has its centroid even further to
the rear.
 If this load centroid is behind the elastic axis of the wing structure, then a nose-down
twist (αtwist ) of the main wing surface (about the y-axis) results.
 The purpose of this deflection was to raise the right wing section.
 However, the wing twist reduces the wing angle of attack, and leads to a reduction of the
lift on the right section of the wing.
 In extreme cases, the down-lift due to aeroelastic twist will exceed the commanded up-
lift, so the net effect is reversed. This change in the lift direction will consequently
generate a positive rolling moment.
 This undesired rolling moment implies that the aileron has lost its effectiveness and the
roll control derivative ClδA has changed its sign. Such a phenomenon is referred to as
aileron reversal.
 This phenomenon poses a significant constraint on the aileron design.
 In addition, the structural design of the wing must examine this aeroelasticity effect of the
aileron deflection.
 The aileron reversal often occurs at high speeds.
 Most high-performance aircraft has an aileron reversal speed beyond which the ailerons
lose their effectiveness.
 The F-14 fighter aircraft experiences aileron reversal at high speed.
STEPS TO PREVENT AILERON REVERSAL:
 Clearly, such aileron reversal is not acceptable within the flight envelope, and must be
considered during the design process. A number of solutions for this problem are as
follows,
1. Make the wing stiffer.
2. Limit the range of aileron deflections at high speed.
3. Employ two sets of ailerons – one set at the inboard wing section
for high-speed flight and one ste at the outboard wing section for
high-speed flight.
4. Reduce the aileron chord.
5. Use a spoiler for roll control.
6. Move the ailerons toward the wing inboard section.
 The transport aircraft Boing 747 has three different types of roll control device: inboard
ailerons, outboard ailerons and spoilers. The outboard ailerons are disabled except in low-
speed flights when the flaps are also deflected. Spoilers are essentially flat plates of about
10-15% chord located just ahead of the flaps. When the spoilers are raised, they cause a
flow separation and local loss of lift. Thus, to avoid roll reversal within the operational
flight envelope, the wing structure must be designed with sufficient stiffness.

STATIC DIRECTIONAL STABILITY

 Directional or weathercock stability is related to stability of the aircraft about z-axis.

 An airplane is said to possess static directional stability, if it has initial tendency to
comeback to it’s equilibrium condition when subjected to some form of yawing
disturbance.
  From Figure 1, the airplane will have directional stability, if it generates positive yawing
moment to counter positive yaw (β) disturbance. (Cnβ > 0)

CONTRIBUTION OF AIRPLANE COMPONENT TOWARD Cnβ

• WING: The contribution of the wing to directional static stability is quite small (for small angle
of attack).

• FUSELAGE/ENGINE/NACELLS usually create destabilizing contribution towards directional

stability.

Cnβ,wing+fuselage = −K1K2 Sf lf /Swb (per degree)

where, K1 an emperical wing-body interference factor that is a function of the fuselage

geometry, K2 an emperical correlation factor that is a function of fuselage Reynolds number, Sf
projected side area of the fuselage, lf length of the fuselage
• Mostly wing-fuselage contribution to directional stability is destabilizing

• Vertical tail needs to be properly designed to ensure adequate directional stability

• Aircraft in positive side slip generates restoring moment through vertical tail. The restoring
moment can be expressed as:

N = lvCLαv (β + σ) QvSv
where, lv tail arm length (w.r.t. c.g) from aerodynamic center of the vertical tail, CLαv
lift curve slope of vertical tail, β side slip angle, σ sidewash angle

DIRECTIONAL STABILITY DUE TO WING SWEEP

• The component of the free stream velocity normal to the quarter chord line primarily decides
the aerodynamic forces.

• From Figure 3, the right wing will experience more dynamic pressure (as the velocity seen by
wing leading edge is V cos(Λ − β)) as compared to the left wing.

DIRECTIONAL CONTROL

• Directional control is primarily achieved by rudder, located on the vertical tail.

• Yawing moment produced by the rudder deflection depends on the change in sideforce on the
vertical tail due to deflection of the rudder.

• For a positive rudder deflection, a positive side force (Yv) is generated by vertical tail. This
side force creates a negative yawing moment.

 τ is the flap effectiveness parameter which depends on ratio of rudder area to vertical fin
area .

WEATHER COCKING EFFECT

 Whenever an airplane, originally flying with zero sideslip, develops a sideslip (β), the
vertical tail tends to bring it back to the original position of zero sideslip.
 This effect is similar to that of the vane attached to the weathercock which is used to
indicate the direction of wind and is located on top of buildings in meteorological
departments and near airports.
 When the vane is at an angle of attack, it produces lift on itself and consequently a
moment about its hinge. This moment becomes zero only when the vane is aligned with
the wind direction.
 Hence, the vane is always directed in a way that the arrow points in the direction opposite
to that of the wind.
 The action of vertical tail on the airplane is also similar to that of the vane and helps in
aligning the airplane axis with wind direction. Hence, the directional stability is also
called weathercock stability.
RUDDER REQUIREMENTS

 The rudder is a primary flight control surface which controls rotation about the vertical
axis of an aircraft. This movement is referred to as "yaw". The rudder is a movable
surface that is mounted on the trailing edge of the vertical stabilizer or fin.
 Unlike a boat, the rudder is not used to steer the aircraft; rather, it is used to
overcome adverse yaw induced by turning or, in the case of a multi-engine aircraft,
by engine failure and also allows the aircraft to be intentionally slipped when required.

 In most aircraft, the rudder is controlled through the flight deck rudder pedals which are
linked mechanically to the rudder.
 Deflection of a rudder pedal causes a corresponding rudder deflection in the same
direction; that is, pushing the left rudder pedal will result in a rudder deflection to the left.
This, in turn, causes the rotation about the vertical axis moving the aircraft nose to the
left. In large or high speed aircraft, hydraulic actuators are often used to help overcome
mechanical and aerodynamic loads on the rudder surface.
 Rudder effectiveness increases with aircraft speed. Thus, at slow speed, large rudder
input may be required to achieve the desired results. Smaller rudder movement is
required at higher speeds and, in many more sophisticated aircraft, rudder travel is
automatically limited when the aircraft is flown above Manoeuvring Speed to prevent
deflection angles that could potentially result in structural damage to the aircraft.
ONE ENGINE INOPERATIVE CONDITION

 One engine inoperative is a condition where one of the engines on a multi-engine aircraft
fails and as a result, a thrust imbalance exists between the operative and inoperative sides
of the aircraft.
 This thrust imbalance (asymmetrical thrust) causes several negative effects in addition to
the loss of one engine’s thrust.

ONE ENGINE INOPERATIVE FLIGHT PRINCIPLES:

 After the flaps and landing gear have been retracted and the propeller of the failed engine
feathered, a key element in best climb performance is minimizing sideslip.
 With a single-engine aircraft or a multi-engine aircraft with both engines operative,
sideslip is eliminated when the ball of the turn and bank instrument is centered. This is a
condition of zero sideslip, and the aircraft is presenting its smallest possible profile to the
relative wind.
 As a result, drag is at its minimum.
  Pilots know this as coordinated flight.
 In a multiengine airplane with an inoperative engine, the centered ball is no longer the
indicator of zero sideslip due to asymmetrical thrust. In fact, there is no instrument at all
that directly tells the pilot the flight conditions for zero sideslip.
 In the absence of a yaw string, minimizing sideslip is a matter of placing the airplane at a
predetermined bank angle and ball position.
 The AFM/POH performance charts for single-engine flight were determined at zero
sideslip. If this performance is even to be approximated, the zero sideslip technique must
be utilized.

COUNTERACTING THE ASYMMETRICAL THRUST AT ONE ENGINE INOPERATIVE

CONDITION:
There are two different control inputs that can be used to counteract the asymmetrical thrust of a
failed engine:

1. Yaw from the rudder.

2. The horizontal component of lift that results from bank with the ailerons.
Used individually, neither is correct. Used together in the proper combination, zero sideslip and
best climb performance are achieved.

ONE ENGINE INOPERATIVE – ASYMMETRICAL YAW:

 When one engine fails, a yawing moment develops, which applies a rotational force to
the aircraft that tends to turn it toward the wing that carries the engine that failed. A
rolling moment might develop, due to the asymmetry of the lift in each wing, with a
greater lift generated by the wing with the operating engine. The yawing and rolling
moments apply rotational forces that tend to yaw and roll the aircraft towards the failed
engine. This tendency is counteracted by the pilot’s use of the flight controls, which
include the rudder and ailerons.
 Due to P-factor, a clockwise rotating right-hand propeller on the right wing typically
develops its resultant thrust vector at a greater lateral distance from the aircraft’s center of
gravity than the clockwise rotating left-hand propeller. The failure of the left-hand engine
will result in a larger yawing moment by the operating right-hand engine, rather than vice
versa. Since the operating right-hand engine produces a larger yawing moment, the pilot
will need to use larger deflections of the flight controls or a higher speed in order to
maintain control of the aircraft.
 Thus, the failure of the left-hand engine has a greater impact than failure of the right-hand
engine, and the left-hand engine is called the critical engine. On aircraft with propellers
that rotate counter-clockwise, such as the de Havilland Dove, the right engine would be
the critical engine.
  Most aircraft that have counter-rotating propellers do not have a critical engine defined
by the above mechanism, because the two propellers are made to rotate inward from the
top of the arc; both engines are critical. Some aircraft, such as the Lockheed P-38
Lightning, purposefully have propellers that rotate outward from the top of the arc, to
reduce downward air turbulence, known as downwash, on the central horizontal
stabilizer, which makes it easier to fire guns from the aircraft. These engines are both
critical, but more critical than inward-rotating propellers.
 Aircraft with propellers in a push-pull configuration, such as the Cessna 337, may have a
critical engine, if failure of one engine has a greater negative effect on aircraft control or
climb performance than failure of the other engine. The failure of a critical engine in an
aircraft with propellers in a push-pull configuration typically will not generate large
yawing or rolling moments.

RUDDER LOCK

 The floating angle of the rudder as given by the below equation, depends on the hinge
moment parameters Chβ and Chδr.
 With Chβ > 0 and Chδr < 0, the rudder floating angle δrf will be positive for positive
sideslip.
 Futhermore, the floating angle increases with sideslip.
 At high sideslip, the floating angle increases beyond the linear rate indicated by the
below equation, because the center of pressure moves aft because of flow separation and
stall.
 This accentuates the floating tendency of the rudder. At one point, the floating angle may
catch up with the required rudder deflection. This condition is usually known as “rudder
lock”.
 Beyond this point, the floating angle may overshoot and opposite pedal forces are
required to operate the rudder. Such a situation is undesirable because it may take
considerable effort for the pilot to break the rudder lock.
STEPS TO PREVENT RUDDER LOCK:
This phenomenon can be prevented by two ways and are,

 Aerodynamic Balancing
 Dorsal Fin
1. AERODYNAMIC BALANCING:
 Aerodynamic balancing helps to alter hinge moment coefficients and the floating
characteristics of a control surface. Therefore, with proper aerodynamic balancing, the
 floating tendency of the rudder can be so adjusted that the rudder lock phenomenon is
avoided.
2. DORSAL FIN:
 Another method of preventing this phenomenon is the use of a device called a dorsal fin.
As we know, the stall angle of a given lifting surface increases as the aspect ratio is
reduced.
 Extending the chord of inboard sections adds area without extending the span so that the
aspect ratio decreases. This form of extension is known as a dorsal fin as shown in the
below figure.
 Addition of a suitably sized dorsal fin helps to delay the vertical tail stall to higher
sideslip and minimizes the possibility of rudder lock. Also, the dorsal fin makes the pedal
forces vary monotonically with sideslip.