Fall 2006

ME 440
Aerospace Engineering Fundamentals
Homework #2 Solution

Problem 1
Estimate the drag force on the fuselage shown below for a cruising speed of 200
m/s at 10,000 m.

7m

8m
5m

30 m

Solution:
To calculate the drag force we will split the fuselage into 4 parts: front
hemisphere, cylindrical body, vertical stabilizer, back hemisphere. Beginning with
the front hemisphere, we review the drag charts and graphs and come to the
conclusion that we will model both the front and rear hemispheres as flow over a
sphere. At 10,00 m we find
ρ = 0.41351 kg/m3
µ = 1.46 x 10-5 kg/(m⋅s)
Then
ρVD (0.41351)(200)(5)
Resph = = − = 2.83 × 107
µ 1.46 × 10 5

Going to our graph, we find the Re is off the graph, so we approximate

cD,sph = 0.2
Then using our definition of drag coefficient
FD
cD =
1 2
ρV S
2

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ME 440 Aerospace Engineering Fundamentals Fall 2006

Then our drag force is

1
FD,sph = ρV 2 (4πD 2 )c D,sph = (0.5)(0.41351)(200)2 π(5) 2 (0.2)
2
= 129,908 Nt
Next for the cylinder, we unwrap it and treat it as a flat plate. Then
ρVL (0.41351)(2o0)(30)
Re plate = = − = 1.70 × 108
µ 1.46 × 10 5

Going to our graph, we find

cD,plate = 0.0015
Then our drag force is
1
FD, plate = ρV 2 (πDL)cD, plate = (0.5)(0.41351)(200)2 π(5)(30)(0.0015)
2
= 5846 Nt
Finally for the vertical stabilizer, we will model it as a flat plate. Then
ρVL VS (0.41351(200)(8)
Re VS = = − = 5.43 × 107
µ 1.46 × 10 5

Going to our graph, we find

cD,VS = 0.003
Calculating our surface area for the stabilizer
S= 2(1/2)bh = (8)(7) = 56 m2
Then our drag force is
1
FD, VS = ρV 2Sc D, VS = (0.5)(0.41351)(200)2 (56)(0.003) = 1389 Nt
2
The
Fdrag = 137,143 Nt

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ME 440 Aerospace Engineering Fundamentals Fall 2006

Problem 2
Estimate the required wing span for an aircraft of 10,000 kg, cruising at 300 m/s
and 4,000 m. The wing may be approximated as a right triangle with chord length
at the fuselage of 4 m and at the wing tip of 1.7 m with a NACA 0012 airfoil at 8
degree angle of attack.
1.7 m

4m
Solution:
The projected area of the wings will be
S = 2[(Lc1)(Lspan)+(Lc2-Lc1)Lspan/2
So that
S
L span =
2L c1 + (L c 2 − L c1 )
For the chord length we will use an average chord length of 2.85 m. The projected
area will come from
FL
S=
1 2
ρV c L
2
So we must determine the lift coefficient and the required lift force. The required
lift force is give by the force balance
FL = Fg = m x g = (10,000)(9.8) = 98,000 Nt
For the lift coefficient, we go to the NACA chart and at an angle of attack of 8
degrees find
cL = 0.8 (independent of Reynolds number)
Then solving for the project area
FL (98,000)
S= = 2 = 3.32 m 2
1 2
ρV c L (0.5)(0.81935)(300) (0.8)
2
The wing length is
Lspan =0.58 m
and a wingspan of 1.17 m.

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ME 440 Aerospace Engineering Fundamentals Fall 2006

Problem 3
Estimate the required thrust for the aircraft flying at 200 m/s at 7 km altitude as
described below:

Fuselage Length: 10 m
Fuselage Cross-section: 2 m x 2 m
Fuselage shape: parallelepiped
Mass of fuselage, engine, vertical stabilizer, and payload: 8500 kg
Wing Chord Length: 1 m
Wing Shape: rectangle
Wing weight per m of span: 500 kg/m
Airfoil: NACA 4412
Angle of Attack: 10 degrees
Vertical Stabilizer Height: 1.5 m
Vertical Stabilizer base: 1 m
Vertical Stabilizer shape: isosceles triangle

Solution:
The thrust will come from a force balance on the aircraft. Breaking this into
components, in the horizontal direction we have
Fthrust = Fdrag
Hence we need to determine the drag force. We might begin to write
1
Fdrag = ρV 2Sc D
2
but recognize we have different surfaces on the aircraft that might have different
drag coefficients. Let’s consider the following surfaces:
Fuselage top, bottom and sides
Vertical stabilizer (both sides)
Wings (two of them)
Then we could write
FD = FD,fuselage + FD,stabilizer + FD,wing
Let’s calculate these one at a time. We begin with the fuselage, which we will
model as four flat plates. Then the drag coefficient will come from the flat plate
graph. To calculate the Reynolds number we need some properties. Going to
Table B.2 we find at 7 km
T = 242.71 K
P = 41.105 kPa
ρ = 0.59002 kg/m3
a = 312.3 m/s
µ = 1.56 x 10-5 kg/(m⋅s)

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ME 440 Aerospace Engineering Fundamentals Fall 2006

Then
ρVL fuse (0.59002)(200)(10)
Re fuse = = = 7.56 × 10 7
µ 1.56 × 10 -5

Reading from our flat plate skin friction drag figure, we find
cD,fuse = 0.002
The fuselage drag force is then
1
FD, fuse = ρV 2Sfusec D,fuse
2
= (0.5)(0.59002)(200)2 (4)(10)(2)(0.002) = 1888 Nt
Next we deal with the vertical stabilizer. Following the seam steps we have
ρVL VS (0.59002)(200)(1)
Re VS = = = 7.56 × 10 6
µ 1.56 × 10 -5

Reading from our flat plate skin friction drag figure, we find
cD,VS = 0.003
The fuselage drag force is then
1
FD,VS = ρV 2SVSc D,VS
2
= (0.5)(0.59002)(200)2 (2)(1)(1.5)(0.003) = 112 Nt
Finally, for the wing, we have
ρVL chord (0.59002)(200)(1)
Re wing = = = 7.56 × 10 6
µ 1.56 × 10 -5

Reading from NACA chart

cL = 1.4
cD,wing = 0.0125
However, to get the drag force on the wing we need to know the length of the
wing. This must be determine to obtain the need lift. From a vertical force
balance we find
Flift = Fgravity = gmplane = g(mfuse+mwing)
But we do not know the mass of the wing until we have sized it. We need to
employ an iterative solutions that will proceed as follows.
Guess wingspan, Lspan
Calculate wing mass, mwing = 5 x Lspan
Calculate required lift force, Flift = g(mfuse+mwing)
Flift
Calculate wing project area, S =
1 2
ρV c L
2
Calculate wing span, Lspan = S/Lchord

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ME 440 Aerospace Engineering Fundamentals Fall 2006

If new wing span is within 0.01 m of guessed wing span, we have our
answer, if not use the new wingspan value and repeat the calculations
This can be easily set up in Excel, which can produce the following table.
Lspan mwing Flift Swing Lspan
10 5000 132300 8.008 8.008
8.008 4004 122540 7.417 7.417
7.417 3709 119645 7.242 7.242
7.242 3621 118787 7.190 7.190
7.190 3595 118532 7.175 7.175
7.175 3587 118457 7.170 7.170
As it turns out this problem can also be done analytically. We begin with
FL = g(m fuse + 500Lspan )
with the lift force given form the lift coefficient we have
1
ρV 2 L chord L span c L = g(mfuse + 500Lspan )
2
and solving for the wingspan
gm fuse
Lspan =
1
ρV 2 L chord c L − 500g
2
Then our wingspan is 7.17 m. Then the drag force for the wing is
1
FD, wing = ρV 2Swing c D, wing
2
= (0.5)(0.59002)(200)2 (1)(7.17)(0.0125) = 1058 Nt
Then
Fthrust = 1058+ 112+ 1888 = 3057 Nt = 690 lbf