How do you test an aeroplane’s airworthiness?
Aerodynamics involves many different parameters: weight, the aircraft’s efficiency under specific flight conditions, wingspan, the so-called aspect ratio, the airfoil, airspeed, the design of the control surfaces, the propulsion system, the propeller...
Dear researchers, I’d like to do a project on aeroplanes for my A-level thesis and have two questions: 1. Is there a unit of measurement for aerodynamics and a way to measure it? Is there any free software that allows me to import or design a model and test its aerodynamics? 2. Is there a formula that, based on the engine power/propeller, the mass and the wing area of the aeroplane, will tell me whether the aeroplane will fly? Many thanks in advance for your reply. Charles
Dear Charles,
In aerodynamics, there isn’t just one parameter, but many different ones. So it depends very much on exactly what you’re trying to achieve.
Key parameters
There are calculations to determine the power required to get a particular aircraft design airborne. There are also rough rules of thumb or estimates for how much power is needed for a particular aircraft. This depends mainly on the weight, but is also strongly influenced by the aircraft’s efficiency under specific flight conditions. Wingspan, the so-called aspect ratio, the airfoil, airspeed, the design of the control surfaces, the propulsion system and the propeller are all important factors.
As you can see, it’s not easy to answer your question directly. To be more specific, I’d need a lot more information from you – for example, how heavy the aeroplane is supposed to be, what size it will be, what speed it’s supposed to reach, at what altitude above sea level it will fly, and so on – so quite a lot, really.
Ask further questions
If you can give me more information about your objectives, we might be able to arrive at an answer you’re happy with after a few rounds of discussion. Anything I try to answer ‘off the top of my head’ right now is just a wild guess and will probably confuse you more than it clarifies things.
So please try to describe to me as precisely as possible what you’re aiming to achieve in your Matura project.
Best regards, Ulrich