THE UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE

Lift and Drag Report

MECH3700 Transport Phenomena
Adam Bryan c3144069
Joel Forbes-Harper c3146568
Jack Laffan c3144439
Vincent Machatsch c3144419

5/17/2013
Abstract
This report intends to analyse and apply the relation between lift and drag in the context of
scale modelling for aircraft design. It will show how lift and drag forces generated during flight are
manipulated with geometric design and Angle of Attack (AOA); this is a useful relation for an aircraft
aiming to favourably manipulate these forces. The experiment focused on three models: an aerofoil,
a scale Me-109 and a scale Cessna. The first two were tested in a wind tunnel to obtain coefficients
of drag and lift for ranging angle of attack, which allowed the determination of stall angles (15 for
the aerofoil, 8for the Me-109). The last test used qualitative observational methods, which found
the aerofoil to have a stall angle of 13. Also investigated (without any quantitative analysis) is the
effect of wing shape and wing design features on the forces experienced by an aircraft in flight. It
was found that tapered wings and the addition of winglets result in favourable aerodynamic flight
conditions.

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Contents
Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 4
Theory ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
Dimensional analysis ........................................................................................................................... 5
Force components on an aerofoil ....................................................................................................... 6
Tapered wings ..................................................................................................................................... 7
Winglets .............................................................................................................................................. 8
Method ................................................................................................................................................... 9
Results ................................................................................................................................................... 10
Aerofoil.............................................................................................................................................. 10
ME-109 .............................................................................................................................................. 13
Cessna ............................................................................................................................................... 15
Discussion.............................................................................................................................................. 17
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 19
References ............................................................................................................................................ 20
Appendix ............................................................................................................................................... 21

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Introduction
One of the most widespread applications of Fluid Mechanics is in the field of aviation. In the
design of an aircraft, consideration must be put into how much drag and how much lift the aircraft
will generate in flight, things which are crucial in its operations. The aircraft changes its Angle of
Attack (the angle its wings make with the free stream air, termed AOA hereafter) in order to
favourably manipulate both Lift and Drag for flight. If the Angle of Attack is too high, the plane will
reach a stall angle; the angle above which Lift drops away and the aircraft effectively stops flying. A
plane has its greatest capability for lift at an AOA just below the stall angle, but it also has an
accompanying high drag coefficient. As such a middle ground which optimises flight condition must
be found. Through the use of scale model testing, this report will investigate the relationship
between AOA, drag and lift components of force, as well as the conditions that arise at the stall
angle.

This laboratory was useful in that it showed how effective testing of models is able to be
carried out in the design stage of prototypes. It allowed for concepts about dimensional analysis in
design to be exercised in the real world, and also used common examples of aircraft to give
perspective on how design had been approached previously. On top of this, it showed the need for
multiple staged tests to be run, as well as prototyping, to fully predict the behaviour of any full scale
design implemented. As such it can be considered a good insight into how similar engineering
design processes are carried out in industry.

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Theory

Dimensional analysis
Using the Buckingham Pi theorem we are able to determine the coefficients of Drag and Lift.
The results are as follows.

Parameters:

=
=
=

n=3

Variables and base units:

= = 2
= = 2
= = 3
= = 1
= = 2

m=5

= 2
ie
1 , 2
=
=

Determining 1

1 = =

[ . . . ] = 0

[ 2 . ( 3 ) . ( 1 ) . ( 2 ) ] = 0

From this:
= 1, =2 =1

=
2

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Solving for Drag force:
1
= 2
2

Determining 2

2 = =

Using similar method as previously

= 1, =2 =1

=
2
Solving for Lift force:
1
= 2
2

Note: the factor of is added to both equations for convenience, and by convention

Force components on an aerofoil

As an aerofoil moves through a fluid, skin friction will provide a force which opposes the
motion of the aerofoil. There will also be pressure drag, as the shape of the aerofoil creates an area
of high pressure at the leading edge and low pressure at the trailing edge; this differential acts to
induce a force on the aerofoil , thus opposing the relative motion. These two types of drag are
summed to form the term profile drag.

Another critical form of drag is called induced drag. This drag is encountered when the
aerofoil is inclined relative to the free stream velocity (AOA is non-zero) of the fluid and is a
component of the lift force. As the aerofoil is inclined the lift force continues to act perpendicular to
the cord, on the side of lowest pressure. With an aerofoil at non zero Angle of Attack the lift vector
has two components: one in the vertical direction (lift) and one horizontally which is the induced
drag force. As the AOA is increased up to a critical point (the stall angle), both the induced drag and
lift forces increase (albeit in different curves). Past this stall angle, drag increases at a faster rate and
the lift force is dramatically reduced.

As the AOA increases, the form drag also increases; this is because the aerofoil has rotated,
increasing its frontal area relative to the free stream velocity, as well as losing its aerodynamic
efficiency. The fluid flow over the low pressure side of the wing begins to separate from the wing
and cause turbulence, which increases pressure (this is known as separation). This reduces the lift,
and can reach a critical point at which the turbulence forms a buffer to the fluid flow around the

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wing, which reduces the Lift force significantly. This phenomenon is called stall and is extremely
unwanted in the commercial aviation industry, as a total loss of control can take place.

Tapered wings
A taper in a wing is a change in the length of the chord from the tip of the wing to the root of
the wing. A wing that is non-tapered has an even amount of lift throughout the length of the wing.
This creates a large bending moment, and as such, a large amount of weight is devoted to increasing
the strength of the wing. By using a tapered design, the chord at the root of the wing can be very
large; this increase in area will increase the lift force close to the planes fuselage. Similarly,
decreasing the chord length closer to the tip reduces the bending moment while still delivering the
same net lift as the non tapered wing. This leads to a lighter design of the wing, but increases the
chance of tip stall. Tip stall leads to the ailerons losing control, which removes the ability for the pilot
to roll the plane. Adding a twist at the end of the wing tip mitigates tip stall so that the wing stalls at
the root, which is easier to control.

Figure 1: Non tapered wing, constant chord Figure 2: Tapered wing variable chord

Both of these diagrams were obtained from SteelPillow, 2013 (references below).

The advantages of this design are a decrease in weight because of a reduction in structural
material throughout the wing and reduced drag. Both of these lead to a reduction in fuel use from
extra drag and necessary thrust which is very important for commercial flights.

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Winglets
At the wing tip the high pressure air below the wing has the ability to move around the wing
to the low pressure zone above the wing. This reduces the lift near the tip, as the pressure above the
wing is increased because of this vortex flow. These vortices can be extremely strong and cause very
turbulent air flow behind the aircraft, which can decrease the stability of other trailing aircraft. By
adding a winglet to the wing tip, the air of low pressure will not be affected as greatly by these
vortices. The winglet acts as a barrier to break the circulation of air around the wing tip to the low
pressure zone.

With an increase in the lift to drag ratio of the wing, the fuel efficiency will also increase. The
stability of the air following the aircraft will also be increased, which means a safer zone for aircraft
to follow in. This aspect is of particular concern when aircraft must fly in close succession, such as
when queuing on runways to take off. At this time the aircraft are most susceptible to stalling with a
high AOA and low speed. The winglets increase the safety and efficiency of airports by minimising
the vortices.

Figure 3: Effect of Winglet Use (Brady, 1999)

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Method
Using a wind tunnel, the effects of angle of attack on the lift and drag of an aircraft was
investigated. The wind tunnel housed a scaled down model of a symmetric aerofoil, and allowed air
flow to be generated around the model. This flow was controlled by a software program. The
program allowed the wind speed to be set, while recording the Lift and Drag force at any instant in
time. A perfectly level string was used to set an angle as close to 0 as possible. This angle was taken
across the chord of the wing. This became the reference angle in the program, or the zeroed
position. From here the angle could be adjusted to any desired value, using the readout now
displayed on the screen as a guide. The angle is measured by a calibrated potentiometer. The wind
speed was set to 20 m/s (meters per second) and values were measured at different AOA. The
angles measured were -6 through to 10 at increments of 2; 10 through to 20 at increments of 1;
and 20 to 26 at increments of 2. At each angle, three measurements were taken and then
averaged to ensure accuracy. The number of increments taken between 10 to 20 was increased to
create a higher density of data points, which gave the results a higher resolution. This was done
because the interval was expected to contain the critical angle and point of maximum lift, meaning
accuracy was of greater importance here. As a visual indicator, a string was added that draped over
the wing. This string gave a representation of how the air was moving around the wing, allowing one
to see how the AOA affected the fluid motion.

The next test involved the ME109 fighter jet. The scaled down model was substituted in for
the wing and the same procedure was followed to retrieve the Lift and Drag forces at different AOA.
This time the reference angle was set from the tip to the tail of the aircraft. As the wing is usually
offset at an angle compared to fuselage, this meant that the wing was not at 0 at this reference. To
increase our understanding of how data is collected and displayed, we used a different method to
plot the data in this test. This method involved using scatter plots, rather than using average point
plots as we did in the air foil test.

The last test involved a more qualitative than quantitative approach to determining critical
angle. The tunnel was set to a speed of 20 m/s and a model of a Cessna was slowly rotated in the
tunnel. As the aircraft was rotated, the motion of string that had been added previously allowed the
critical angle to be determined. Once turbulence had been deemed to have set in past the Cessnas
wing, AOA was read off. As this was highly subjective, the trial was run a few times to average the
result for increased accuracy.

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Results
Aerofoil
In the First experiment, the aerofoil section was inserted into the wind tunnel assembly, and
measurements were taken via a connected computer unit. The vertical lift force on the air foil was
given, and the total lift and drag were calculated using the given assumptions that:

= 1 ()

Where is the measured vertical lift and is the angle of attack. The total induced drag force was
calculated the following way:

= tan()

Additional data received was the coefficient of lift and drag, along with the coefficients of
induced drag.

AoA vs Coefficient of Drag

1.00
0.90
0.80
Coefficient of Drag

0.70
0.60
0.50
0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00
-6 -1 4 9 14 19 24 29
Angle of Attack (Degrees)

Figure 4: Angle of Attack and Coefficient of Drag

The above graph depicts the relationship between the coefficient of drag and increasing
angle of attack of the aerofoil. It can be observed that this coefficient for angles greater than zero
increases in an exponential fashion. This means that a greater angle of attack increases the
coefficient of drag. The coefficient of drag can be calculated as follows:

= , + ,0

Where Cd,I is the induced drag coefficient and Cd,o is the profile drag coefficient.

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The induced drag is, as the name implies, the drag induced due to the lift force. This is dependent on
the total lift, and thus on the angle of attack.

AoA vs Coefficient of Induced Drag

Coefficient of induced Drag

1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
-5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Angle of Attack (degrees)

Figure 5: Angle of Attack and Induced Drag

It can be seen that just like the coefficient of drag, the induced coefficient of drag increases
exponentially with the angle of attack. There is a slight bump in the graph, yet this can be
attributed to measurement error, or a calibration problem.

Angle of Attack vs Coefficient of Lift

0.14
0.12
0.10
0.08
Coefficient of Lift

0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
-5 -0.02 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
-0.04
-0.06
Angle of Attack (degrees)

Figure 6: Angle of Attack and Coefficient of Lift

Above is the graph of the coefficient of lift and the angle of attack. A polynomial trend-line is
superimposed to help interpret the correlation of the coefficient of lift to the angle of attack. With
the help of this trend line, it is possible to say that the lift coefficient increases with increasing angle
of attack, up until a critical angle after which it starts to decrease. This angle is the stall angle, which
can be better observed on a polar plot.

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 Coefficients of Lift and Drag
0.14
0.12
0.10
0.08
Coefficient of Lift

0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
-0.02 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00

-0.04
-0.06 Coefficient of Drag

Figure 7: Comparison of Coefficients of Drag and Lift

Figure 7 is the polar plot, illustrating the relationship between the coefficients of drag and
lift. This plot is helpful in determining the critical angle at which stalling occurs, as one can see the
rate of change of the coefficient of lift in regards to the coefficient of drag. The stall angle occurs
when the drag coefficient starts to increase significantly more than the lift coefficient. This was
found to be approximately 15 degrees. With this plot, it is also possible to determine the optimal
angle for efficiency. This would be where CL /CD is at its maximum (usually the slope drawn from the
starting point of the graph to the curve). This was found to be at approximately 2 degrees by
inspection.

In modern aircraft, the CL /CD ratio is favourably manipulated to change altitudes and speeds
of the aircrafts through the aid of flaps on wings. These are mostly implemented in take-off and
landing, where the differences in speeds and the necessary changes in altitudes are large. A normal
light aeroplane produces a lift 15-20 times higher than the drag simultaneously produced, enabling
them to have a long flight time.

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ME-109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 (often referred to as the Me109) is a World War II Fighter Jet
Aircraft. It was used by the Germans and is considered as one of the most modern fighters in its Era.
A 1/72nd size model of the aircraft was placed into the wind tunnel to analyse the Aircraft whilst it
was in flight.

Figure 8: Full sized Me109 in flight (Aviation History Online Museum, 2013)

When in Flight, many forces are on the plane. In this experiment we focused on the Lift and
Drag Components of Force on the plane. The coefficient of Lift was measured for various angles of
attack, the results are as follows:

Coefficient of Lift vs Angle of Attack

0.05

0.04

0.03

Coefficient of Lift 0.02

0.01

0.00
-10.0 -5.0 0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0
-0.01
AOA (degrees)

Figure 9: Coefficient of lift against the angle of attack for the Me109

This scatter plot was created using 3 data points for each angle measured. The Graph shows
that for the angles below -2 a downward force was created on the aircraft. At an angle of 0 the
coefficient of lift (CL) is above 0. This is important to note, as this is the reason that aircrafts are able
to generate the initial lift needed to get off the ground. From this point coefficient of lift steadily
increases until it reaches its max value. This value is recorded as 0.044, which corresponds to an
angle of attack at 8, and a lift force of 0.7 N. This angle is the critical angle. From here the

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coefficient of lift tapers off.

Coefficient of Drag vs Angle of Attack

0.43
0.38
0.33
0.28
0.23
Coefficient of
Drag 0.18
0.13
0.08
0.03
-0.02
-7.0 -2.0 3.0 8.0 13.0 18.0 23.0 28.0
AOA (degrees)

Figure 10: Coefficient of Drag against the angle of attack for the Me109

The Coefficient of Drag is a dimensionless value that quantifies the resistance of an object to
its surroundings. The aim of an aircrafts design is to reduce this value as much as possible to
increase its efficiency. The scatter plot above clearly shows how the coefficient of drag changes with
angle of attack. We see that the coefficient of drag increases as the angle attack gets further away
from 0. This includes the negative end of the spectrum. We notice that at approximately 10 the
slope of the curve starts to get steeper. This would indicate that the critical angle would be around
this point.

Coeffiecient of Induced Drag vs AoA

0.43
0.38
0.33
0.28
Coefficient of 0.23
Drag 0.18
0.13
0.08
0.03
-0.02
-7.0 -2.0 3.0 8.0 13.0 18.0 23.0 28.0
AOA (degrees)

Figure 11: Scatter Plot of the Induced Drag coefficient against angle of attack for the Me109

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 The induced Drag coefficient plot varies very little from that of the coefficient of Drag plot.
This can be accounted by the extremely small profile drag coefficient. The Profile Drag coefficient
reaches a max value of just -0.01. This is just a small percentage of the total Drag.

To make further observation between the coefficients of lift and drag, a polar plot of the
Coefficient of Drag vs. the Coefficient of Lift can be created to observe key angles of attack.

Coefficients of Drag and Lift

0.05

0.04
Coefficent of Lift

0.03

0.02

0.01

0.00
-0.05 0.05 0.15 0.25 0.35 0.45
-0.01
Coefficient of Drag

Figure 12: Polar Scatter plot of the Coefficient of lift vs. the coefficient of Drag

This polar plot gives us a good visual representation of how the plane is acting during flight.
We can see that at points close to the origin, the lift component increases drastically with little to no
change in the drag component. As we get further away from the origin the opposite occurs, and the
drag component begins to dominate. The Critical angle is the transitional point between these two
observations. Although there is a small amount of chaos in the graph we can see that this confirms a
critical angle of about 8.

Cessna
The flow of fluid over an aerofoil can be visualised by the use of smoke to show streamlines.
This shows the way the fluid is flowing around the aerofoil and if the flow is laminar or turbulent.
Instead of using smoke, a small, lightweight string can be used which will follow the streamlines. This
qualitative method can be used to determine the angle of stall of a Cessna 172 model. The model is
geometrically similar to the full size aircraft and the test conditions are kinematically similar,
therefore the model is dynamically similar to the prototype. As the angle of attack is a geometric and
kinematic property under experimental control, the model angle will be the same as the full size
angle.

By keeping the visualisation string just above the wing of the Cessna and maintaining the
free stream velocity of the air, Angle of Attack can be changed to observe stall. Stall will occur when
the string begins to break away from the leading edge of the wing and begins erratic behaviour
further along the string. This is when the separation point has grown and the previously low
pressure zone above the wing is now almost fully turbulent.

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The moment that the string broke away from the leading edge was an angle of 9 degrees; full
separation and thus turbulent flow began at 13 degrees. This is the stall angle of the aircraft.

Figure 13: Image of transitional flow

Figure 14: Image of onset of turbulence

Model Stall Angle

Aerofoil 15
Me-109 8
Cessna 13
Table 1: Critical angles of models

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Discussion
The aerofoil was found to have a stall angle at approximately 15 Degrees. This was
determined graphically, by plotting the angle of attack against both the coefficient of lift and the
coefficient of drag. Trends in the generated plots were then able to be observed. For instance, at the
stall angle the coefficient of lift was at a maximum, but after the AOA was increased past the critical
angle, Lift rapidly declined. The coefficient of drag likewise increased with increasing AOA until the
critical angle, after which it increased at a steeper gradient. The obtained data for the coefficient of
lift (Figures 6 and 9) was expected to decline mostly linearly after the stall angle, yet it dipped down
then seemed to stay constant in both tests. For the Messerschmitt and aerofoil, the coefficient of lift
hit a plateau at approx. 17-Degrees. This can most likely be attributed to the additional forces on the
wing area that occur from vibrations induced by a turbulent flow profile.

The stall angle of the Messerschmitt Me-109 occurred at 8-Degrees. The coefficient of drag
was expected to increase exponentially from this point in, yet it displayed this described behaviour
closer to an angle of attack of 10-Degrees. This may be attributed to miscalibration of the sensors
before the test at these angles (i.e. zeroing force sensors not being completely accurate), or
measurement error introduced by the experimenters. To obtain a more accurate and reliable result,
it would be favourable to repeat the experiment, producing a wider sample of data for analysis.

Ultimately the stall angles were read off the polar Cd/Cl plots. These display how the
individual coefficients behave in relation to each other at given angles of attack. These were not
used as a primary indication of the critical angle, but more as a benchmark to check previous
estimates made. To read the stall angles off the Cd/Cl plots, it was necessary to compare how the
coefficients increased with increasing angles of attack. The point where the drag coefficient
becomes larger in magnitude than the coefficient of lift was determined to be the stall angle. Again,
one expects the curve in Figure 12 to drop away after stall angle is past; this is because drag
increases drastically while lift decreases dramatically. The data shows a decline, but after this shows
chaotic fluctuation which seemingly contradicts intuition. This can again be attributed to the onset
of a highly turbulent flow after the stall angle resulting in erratic force readings.

Overall the shapes of the plots for the aerofoil and Me109 were similar in shape and
magnitude of values, which shows that the experiment is precise. The reason why the Me109 had a
lower stall angle than the aerofoil may be in part due to the shapes of the wing sections. The Me109
has a comparatively smaller wing area, and is also tapered off toward the outer edges of the wing.
The design is done this way to reduce the bending moments on the wing. In addition to this, the
wings are placed on the aircraft body at an offset angle. This would alter the air flow over the wing,
and thus decrease the stall angle. Also, the design of the aerofoil is symmetric about the chord,
allowing even airflow over the wing at zero AOA. The Me109 on the other hand has a curved chord
which allows lift at zero A0A.

The visual determination of the stall angle was done on a model Cessna172. This was done
by observing a piece of string, which was used as a visualisation of the air flow over the wing section.
The string displayed laminar flow of the airflow up until 8-degrees, where it began to separate and
develop into a transitional phase. Completely turbulent flow was observed from angles greater than
13 degrees. We assumed this to be the stall angle of the model aircraft. It is important to note that
the stall angles determined are for a wind velocity of 20 m/s. It is possible (through implementing

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dimensional analysis) to evaluate the free stream velocity at which a Cessna or Messerschmitt would
stall at a certain AOA.

As a side note, we discovered that the different types of plots used to evaluate the data in
this experiment had differing benefits. Using the average plots created gave much smoother graphs
which allowed us to evaluate trends much more efficiently. The scatter plots allowed us to easily
identify outliers in data points and allowed us to choose the most appropriate values when
investigating certain areas.

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Conclusion
The overall aim of this experiment was to determine the relationship between lift and drag
in the workings of aircraft design. This involved observing the effect that Angle of Attack and
geometric shape have on the profile of lift and drag, as well as the point of stall in the aircraft. This
was carried out on three models; a simple aerofoil, a Me-109 and a Cessna 172. The lift and drag
profiles for both the Aerofoil and Me-109 were obtained. This allowed the conclusion to be drawn
that before a certain critical angle, lift dominates the forces on an aircraft, but after this angle, drag
takes over. It was concluded that the model with the highest stall angle for the same wind speed was
the aerofoil (15), while the lowest was the Me-109 (8). The Cessna was between the two with
(13).

The laboratory showed that the critical angle could be obtained through quantitative means
(using the wind tunnel for the aerofoil and the Me-109), or by qualitative means (the string method
in the Cessna). Both are conceptually valid methods for determining stall angle. It can also be
concluded from this experiment that working with models is a valid method for early stage aircraft
design, with the proviso that tests are repeated to obtain meaningful data.

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References
Aviation History Online Museum. (2013, 4 20). The Aviation History online Museum. Retrieved 5 13,
2013, from http://www.aviation-history.com/messerschmitt/me109-02b.jpg

Brady, C. (1999). Advanced Technology - Winglets. Retrieved 5 15, 2013, from The 737 Technical Site:
http://www.b737.org.uk/winglets.htm

Nordian. (2009). Aviation Training Systems. Retrieved 05 15, 2013, from

http://www.nordian.net/pdf/jaa_principles_of_flight_demo.pdf

SteelPillow. (2013). Steel Pillow Technical Consultancy. Retrieved 5 15, 2013, from
http://www.steelpillow.com/index.html

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Appendix

Figure 15: Laminar wake for aerofoil

Figure 16: Transitional wake for aerofoil

Figure 17: Turbulent wake for aerofoil (very difficult to see)

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