21st Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Melbourne, Australia, 13-18 September, 1998
Paper ICAS-98-1.7. 1

DIFFICULTIES IN THE APPLICATION OF STABILITY DERIVATIVES TO THE MANOEUVRING AERODYNAMICS OF COMBAT AIRCRAFT

Greenwell D. I.
DERA, United Kingdom

Keywords: stability derivatives, manoeuvring aerodynamics, combat aircraft

The stability derivative concept is shown to have a number of theoretical and practical failings, resulting from its original purpose in permitting the linearisation and decoupling of the six degree-of-freedom equations of motion. In particular, the introduction of 'acceleration derivatives' is shown to be mathematically incorrect, and to entail an upper frequency limit on the input aircraft motion. A number of experimental difficulties in the application of the derivative model to the manoeuvring aerodynamics of combat aircraft are presented and discussed.

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