On the Handling Qualities of Two Flying Wing Aircraft Configurations

Abstract

The coupling of the longitudinal and lateral stability modes of an aeroplane is considered in two cases: (i) weak coupling, when the changes in the frequency and damping of the phugoid, short period, dutch roll, and helical modes are small, i.e., the square of the deviation is negligible compared to the square of the uncoupled value; (ii) strong coupling, when the coupled values may differ significantly from the uncoupled values. This allows a comparison of three values for the frequency and damping of each mode: (i) exact, i.e., fully coupled; (ii) with the approximation of weak coupling; (iii) with the assumption of decoupling. The comparison of these three values allows an assessment of the importance of coupling effects. The method is applied to two flying wing designs, concerning all modes in a total of eighteen flight conditions. It turns out that lateral-longitudinal coupling is small in all cases, and thus classical handling qualities criteria can be applied. The handling qualities are considered for all modes, namely the phugoid, short period, dutch roll, spiral, and roll modes. Additional focus is given to the pitch axis, considering the control anticipation parameter (CAP). The latter relates to the two kinds of manouever points, where damping vanishes, that are calculated for minimum speed, take-off, and initial and final cruise conditions. The conclusion compares two flying wings designs (the “long narrow” and “short wide” fuselage concepts) not only from the point of view of flight stability, but also from other viewpoints.