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Activity 4 - Drag Measurement

Drag Measurement for Aeronautical Laboratory

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Khasmir
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24 views

Activity 4 - Drag Measurement

Drag Measurement for Aeronautical Laboratory

Uploaded by

Khasmir
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Activity No.

4: Drag Measurement

Objective: Measure the drag and observe the differences when subjects have varying shapes
and frontal area
DRAG
Drag is the aerodynamic force that opposes an aircraft’s motion through the air. Drag is generated
by every part of the airplane (even the engines!). How is drag generated?

Drag is a mechanical force. It is generated by the


interaction and contact of a solid body with a fluid (liquid or
gas). It is not generated by a force field, in the sense of a
gravitational field or an electromagnetic field, where one
object can affect another object without being in physical
contact. For drag to be generated, the solid body must be in
contact with the fluid. If there is no fluid, there is no drag.
Drag is generated by the difference in velocity between the
solid object and the fluid. There must be motion between
the object and the fluid. If there is no motion, there is no
drag. It makes no difference whether the object moves
through a static fluid or whether the fluid moves past a static
solid object.

Vector Quantity
Drag is a force and is therefore a vector quantity having both a magnitude and a direction. Drag
acts in a direction that is opposite to the motion of the aircraft. Lift acts perpendicular to the motion.
There are many factors that affect the magnitude of the drag. Many of the factors also affect lift
but there are some factors that are unique to aircraft drag.

Aerodynamic Friction
We can think of drag as aerodynamic friction, and one of the sources of drag is the skin friction
between the molecules of the air and the solid surface of the aircraft. Because the skin friction is
an interaction between a solid and a gas, the magnitude of the skin friction depends on properties
of both solid and gas. For the solid, a smooth, waxed surface produces less skin friction than a
roughened surface. For the gas, the magnitude depends on the viscosity of the air and the relative
magnitude of the viscous forces to the motion of the flow, expressed as the Reynolds number.
Along the solid surface, a boundary layer of low energy flow is generated, and the magnitude of
the skin friction depends on conditions in the boundary layer.
Activity No. 4: Drag Measurement

Form Drag
We can also think of drag as aerodynamic resistance to the motion of the object through the fluid.
This source of drag depends on the shape of the aircraft and is called form drag. As air flows
around a body, the local velocity and pressure are changed. Since pressure is a measure of the
momentum of the gas molecules and a change in momentum produces a force, a varying
pressure distribution will produce a force on the body. We can determine the magnitude of the
force by integrating (or adding up) the local pressure times the surface area around the entire
body. The component of the aerodynamic force that is opposed to the motion is the drag; the
component perpendicular to the motion is the lift. Both the lift and drag force act through the center
of pressure of the object.

Lift
There is an additional drag component caused by the generation of lift. Aerodynamicists have
named this component the induced drag. It is also called “drag due to lift” because it only occurs
on finite, lifting wings. Induced drag occurs because the distribution of lift is not uniform on a wing
but varies from root to tip. For a lifting wing, there is a pressure difference between the upper and
lower surfaces of the wing. Vortices are formed at the wing tips, which produce a swirling flow
that is very strong near the wing tips and decreases toward the wing root. The local angle of attack
of the wing is increased by the induced flow of the tip vortex, giving an additional, downstream-
facing, component to the aerodynamic force acting on the wing. The force is called induced drag
because it has been “induced” by the action of the tip vortices. The magnitude of induced drag
depends on the amount of lift being generated by the wing and on the distribution of lift across
the span. Long, thin (chordwise) wings have low induced drag; short wings with a large chord
have high induced drag. Wings with an elliptical distribution of lift have the minimum induced drag.
Modern airliners use winglets to reduce the induced drag of the wing.

Wave and Ram Drag


Two additional sources of drag are wave drag and ram drag. As an aircraft approaches the speed
of sound, shock waves are generated along the surface. The shock waves produce a change in
static pressure and a loss of total pressure. Wave drag is associated with the formation of the
shock waves. The magnitude of the wave drag depends on the Mach number of the flow. Ram
drag is produced when free stream air is brought inside the aircraft. Jet engines bring air on board,
mix the air with fuel, burn the fuel, then exhausts the combustion products to produce thrust. If we
look at the basic thrust equation, there is a mass flow times entrance velocity term that is
subtracted from the gross thrust. This “negative thrust” term is the ram drag. Cooling inlets on the
aircraft are also sources of ram drag.
Activity No. 4: Drag Measurement

DRAG CART
For the activity, create a simple wind tunnel that would be able to measure the drag of the test
subjects varying in shape. To do it, you need to create a cart which will act as a mount for the
different test subjects. The dimension of the tunnel should be at least 5”x5”x15” and should be
made up of clear plastic walls with a flat base and a fan with varying speeds as well. The tunnel
may be elevated or not depending on the placement of your mini-spring scale.
The cart should have a hook where a nylon string could be hanged, and the nylon string should
be connected to the spring scale by a single pulley. The cart can be made up of any material and
should have a stick where the test subjects could be mounted. The test subjects can be made up
of any materials as well, but any light weight-material will do.
The shapes of the test subject are as shown in the diagram below. The diameter for the sphere
should be at a maximum of 3” which should also be the dimension for the sides of the prism and
flat plate (both square bases). For the bullet, the length should at least 5” maximum.

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