PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - COG limits help please!
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Old 15th Mar 2014, 19:19
  #6 (permalink)  
keith williams
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: England
Posts: 661
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We can test the effects by carrying out a few calculations.

Let’s suppose that we have the following initial conditions:

2000 lbs of lift being generated at the wing C of P.

C of G is 1 ft forward of the wing C of P.

Tail plane down force 200 lbs acting at the tail plane C of P.

C of G is 10 ft forward of the tail plane C of P.


In the initial condition we have the following:


Nose-down moment = wing lift multiplied by distance from wing C of P to C of G

Nose-down moment = 2000 lbs x 1 ft = 2000 ft lbs.


Nose-up moment = tail plane down force multiplied by distance from tail plane C of P to C of G

Nose-up moment = 200 lbs x 10 ft = 2000 ft lbs.

So we have an equilibrium condition with nose-up moments equal to nose-down moments.


If we now move the C of G 1 ft forward and employ the same elevator deflection to generate the same tail plane down force we have:

Wing lift = 2000 lbs acting at the wing C of P.

Distance from wing C of P to C of G = 2 ft.

Tail plane down force 200 lbs acting at the tail plane C of P.

Distance from tail plane C of P to C of G = 11 ft.


Nose-down moment = 2000 lbs x 2 ft = 4000 ft lbs. This means that the nose down moment has doubled.

Nose-up moment = 200 lbs x 11 ft = 2200 ft lbs.
This means that the nose up moment has increased by only 10%


The 10% increase in the nose-up moment that has been generated by the tail plane means that the effectiveness of the elevators has increased.

But to restore balance we must increase the nose-up moment to 4000 ft lbs to match the 4000 ft lbs nose-down moment that is being generated by the wing lift. This means that we require a 100% increase in the moment generated by the elevator deflection.

Although the elevators have become more effective in generating a nose-up moment, this improvement is insufficient to offset the increased nose-down moment generated by the wing lift. To see why this has occurred we need to look at the way in which the C of G shift has affected the moment arms of the wing and the tail plane. The wing moment arm increased by 100% (from 1 ft to 2 ft) but the tail plane moment arm increased by only 10% (from 10 ft to 11 ft). So the wing has become 100% more effective in generating nose-down moments, but the tail plane has only become 10% more effective in generating nose-up moments.
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