Responses of Small Rigid Aircraft to Discrete and Continuous Gust Analysis - Phase I.

Abstract : An evaluation is made of methods developed for estimating longitudinal and lateral rigid-body responses of airplanes to random atmospheric turbulence. A computer program has evolved from this study which calculates general aviation aircraft stability derivatives from known geometric properties to be used as inputs to the calculation of aircraft response (also a developed part of the computer program). It was found that the two degrees-of-freedom rigid-body power spectral density analysis produced lower normal load factor responses than a similar single degree-of-freedom analysis for aircraft of gross weight from 3,000 to 17,500 pounds. Also to produce an equivalent discrete load factor for the two degrees-of-freedom analysis, a higher spectral velocity value must be used compared to that of the single degree-of-freedom approach.