Considerations in Aerodynamic Force Decomposition
Mark Drela
Abstract
View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-2552.vid The aerodynamic forces acting on an aircraft are examined, along with their decomposition into components commonly used in aerodynamic design and analysis, and aircraft engineering in general. Distinctions are made between rigorous force definitions, force approximations, and correlation-based force estimates. The attributes of exactness, consistency, and uniqueness, are also presented as a means of evaluating and categorizing possible alternative force decomposition approaches. The feasibility of force component extraction from CFD or experimental data is also examined. A major goal of the paper is to serve as a roadmap for comparisons and for further development of theoretical and practical formulations of aerodynamic force decomposition.