Flight Control Design

Lecture 3: Aircraft Equations of Motion

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.

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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Introduction
• The aircraft must be statically stable and dynamically stable. An
airplane is dynamically stable once the disturbed motion diminishes
with time, after being disturbed from its equilibrium flight condition.
• “Of particular interest to the pilot and designer is the degree of
dynamic stability, which usually depends on the time it takes the
motion to damp to half of its initial amplitude or, in the case of an
unstable motion, the time it takes for the initial amplitude or
disturbance to double. Also of interest is the frequency or period of the
oscillation.”
• Dynamic characteristics of an airplane are crucial to assess the
handling or flying qualities of an airplane and designing as well as for
designing autopilots.

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.

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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Derivation of rigid body equations of motion

• Newton’s second law;

• Considering an element mass of the airplane, v be the

velocity of the elemental mass relative to an absolute or
inertial frame ,Newton’s second law yields,

• The total external force acting on the airplane is found as

follows;
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 3
2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Derivation of rigid body equations of motion
• The velocity of the differential mass is;

Such that 𝑣𝑐 is the velocity of the center of mass of the

𝑑𝑟
airplane and is the velocity of the element relative
𝑑𝑡
to the center of mass. Therefore;

• The mass of the aircraft is constant; thus, the

resultant force is given as follows,

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.

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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Derivation of rigid body equations of motion
• Since r is measured from the center of mass (cm),
the summation is equal to zero. The force equation is
therefore;

Relating the external force on the airplane to the

motion of the vehicle’s center of mass.
• Similarly, the moment equation referred to the cm, is
given as ,

• Such that

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 5

2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Derivation of rigid body equations of motion
• Such that

• Therefore expanding H, the scalar components are given as;

• If the reference frame is not rotating then, as the airplane rotates, the moments and products of
inertia will vary with time. To avoid so, we fix the axis system of the aircraft (body axis system)
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.
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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Derivation of rigid body equations of motion

• Maths reminder:
Note that the derivative of an arbitrary vector A referred to a rotating
body frame having an angular velocity w can be represented by the
following vector identity:

• Therefore

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.

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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Derivation of rigid body equations of motion
• The forces and moments scalar equations are given as follows;

Such that the force components and moments acting on the airplane are
composed of aerodynamic, gravitational and propulsive contributions.
• Assuming that xz is the plane of symmetry, Iyz=Ixy=0, therefore;

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.

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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Orientation and position of the airplane.
• The orientation and position of the airplane can be defined in terms of a fixed frame of
reference.
• The orientation of the airplane is described by three consecutive rotations, whose order
is important, and where the angular rotations are called the Euler angles.
• The orientation of the body r.f with respect to the fixed r.f can be determined as
follows:
• Assuming that the body axis system is parallel to the fixed frame, we apply the following
rotations,
• Rotation of 𝑥𝑓 , 𝑦𝑓 , 𝑧𝑓 frame about Ozf through the yaw angle Ψ to the frame 𝑥𝑓 , 𝑦𝑓 , 𝑧𝑓
• Rotation of x1,y1,z1 frame about Oy1 through the pitch angle θ to the frame x2,y2,z2
• Rotation of x2,y2,z2 frame about Ox2 through the yaw agle Φ to the frame x3,y3,z3, the actual
orientation of the body frame relative to the fixed frame
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.
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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Orientation and position of the airplane.
• Given the Euler angles, one can determine the flight velocities components
relative to the fixed reference frame.

Such that dx/dt, dy/dt, and dz/dt are velocity components along the xf, yf, zf,
frame,
• The velocity components along the x1,y1,z1

• The velocity components along the x2,y2,z2 are given as follows,

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.

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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Orientation and position of the airplane
• The absolute velocity in terms of Euler angles and velocity components in the
body frame is given as

• The relationship between the angular velocities in the body frame (p,q, and r)
and the Euler rates are given as

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.

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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Orientation and position of the airplane
• Euler rates in terms of the body angular velocities,

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.

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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Gravitational and thrust forces
• The gravitational force acting on the airplane
acts through the center of gravity of the
airplane.
• Because the body axis system is fixed to the
center of gravity, the gravitational force will
not produce any moments, but will contribute
to the external force acting on the airplane and
will have components along the respective
body axes

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.

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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
 Gravitational and thrust forces
• The thrust force due to the propulsion system
can have components that act along each of
the body axis directions. In addition, the
propulsive forces can also create moments if
the thrust does not act through the center of
gravity

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.

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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Summarizing table

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Small-disturbance theory
• Small-disturbance theory is used to linearize the previously developed equations.
• We assume that the motion of the airplane consists of small deviatons about a steady flight
condition. (which cannot be applied to large-amplitude motions).
• All the variables in the equations of motion are replaced by a reference value plus a
perturbation or disturbance:

• Assuming that flight condition is symmetric and the propulsive forces are assumed to remain
constant, then,
•
• Aligning the x axis along the direction of the airplane’s velocity vector, then

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.

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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Small-disturbance theory
• Introducing the small-disturbance notation in the equations of motion we get;

• The X equation is therefore written as

• If the disturbance quantities are set equal to zero then we result in the reference
flight condition

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 17

2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Small disturbance theory
• The force ΔX is the change in aerodynamic and propulsive force in the x-direction
is:

• The derivatives are stability derivatives and re evaluated at the reference flight
condition.

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.

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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Linearized small-disturbance longitudinal and lateral rigid
body equations of motion

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.

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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
 End

Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol.

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2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.