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Aerodynamic design of
the A-4 Skyhawk
Ashique Akram Tarique (G1402988J)
Ram Vignesh Palaniswamy (G1403002F)
Riddhi Naik (G1402997K)
Siddharth Patel (G1403081D)
Vignesh Raman (G1403009G)
Continuous Assesment-1
MA 6621- Aerodynamics
Supervisor: Prof. Daniel New
Year : 2014 - 2015
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Summary
A detail study has been carried out about the aerodynamic design of the fighter aircraft Douglas A-4
Skyhawk. The aircrafts aerodynamic properties, control surface and structural design characteristics
are evaluated. The airfoils data of the A-4 Skyhawk are obtained from public domains and
approximated by software to evaluate the airfoil profile, lift and drag characteristics. Both the lift
line theory and lift surface theory are used to calculate the lift and drag. Lift surface theory is
simplified using the Polhamus function.
The report investigates through a set of questions and discussions about the aerodynamic properties
of the aircraft. The lift performance is evaluated to allow us to know the aerodynamic efficiency of
the delta wing at low angle of attack. The report compares the aircraft with F-16 falcon fighter
aircraft based on different parameters to show improved high standard performance characteristics
of the modern aircraft. The motivation for this work is understand the designing stage of an aircraft
based on their aerodynamic properties.
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Table of Contents
Nomenclature i
List of figures i
1. Introduction 1
2. Control surfaces of A-4 Skyhawk 2
2.1 Delta wing structure of the A-4 Skyhawk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Effects of low aspect ratio wings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Leading edge slats and vortex generators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.4 Uses of split flaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3. Airfoil profiles 7
4. Lift and Drag calculations 10
4.1 Lift line theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.2 Delta wing calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5. A-4 Skyhawk vs F-16 Falcon 16
6. Conclusion 19
7. References 20
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Nomenclature
Angle of attack
a
0
Lift curve slope of the airfoil
a Lift curve slope of a finite wing
AR Aspect ratio of the wing
b Span length of aircrafts wing
Chord length
C
l
Lift coefficient of the airfoil
C
L
Lift coefficient of the wing
C
d
Drag coefficient of the airfoil
C
D
Drag coefficient of the wing
C
Di
Induced drag coefficient of the wing
Dynamic pressure
L Lift Force
D Drag force
S Span area
t Thickness of the airfoil
Lift efficiency factor
Induced drag factor
U Relative velocity
Air density
Dynamic viscosity of air
List of Figures
Figure 1: Control surfaces of A- 4 Skyhawk 2
Figure 2: Vortices formation in delta wings 4
Figure 3: Effects of aspect ratio 5
Figure 4: Leading edge slats with vortex generators 6
Figure 5: Split flaps 6
Figure 6: NACA 0008 design profile 9
Figure 7: NACA 0005 design profile 9
Figure 8: NACA 0008 Graphs 10
Figure 9: Induced drag factor graph 11
Figure 10: NACA 0005 Graphs 12
Figure 11 : Polhamus function 14