PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Help please with basic rudder aeronautics
Old 1st December 2008 | 13:41
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Groundloop
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Joined: Aug 1998
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From: London, UK
How will B-2 handle asymmetric thrust of engines out?
B-2s engines are very close to the fuselage centreline. Therefore the imbalanced forces with one engine out will produce a turning force but significantly lower than for an aircraft with engines much further out. Turning force is a product of thrust X moment arm and on the B-2 the moment arm is quite short. Therefore the B-2 fly-by-wire system will have some very clever combinations of spoiler/elevon movement to handle this.

To look at fin/rudder size with engine position compare the size of fin and rudder on a BAC 111 with fuselage mounted engines and a 737 with wing mounted engines. Fin and rudder on the 111 is tiny compared with 737 because moment arm of engines is very small.
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