An instructive algorithm for aircraft

elevator sizing to be used in preliminary

aircraft design software

Al-Shamma, O, Ali, R & Hassan, H

Published PDF deposited in Coventry University’s Repository

Original citation:
Al-Shamma, O, Ali, R & Hassan, H 2017, 'An instructive algorithm for aircraft elevator
sizing to be used in preliminary aircraft design software ' Journal of Applied
Engineering Science, vol 15, no. 4, pp. 489-494.
https://dx.doi.org/10.5937/jaes15-14829

DOI 10.5937/jaes15-14829
ISSN 1451-4117
ESSN 1821-3197

Publisher: IIPP
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conditions.

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 Original Scientific Paper

doi:10.5937/jaes15-14829 Paper number: 15(2017)4, 476, 489 - 494

AN INSTRUCTIVE ALGORITHM FOR AIRCRAFT ELEVATOR SIZING

TO BE USED IN PRELIMINARY AIRCRAFT DESIGN SOFTWARE
Omran Al-Shamma1* Rashid Ali2 Haitham S. Hasan1
1
University of Information Technology and Communications, Baghdad, Iraq
2
Sheffield Hallam University, UK

The longitudinal control is the essential elevator function. For a safe flight, the aircraft should be longitudinally control-
lable plus maneuverable. So, it is imperative for the designers to assess the control authority of candidate configura-
tions early in the preliminary design phase. Adding elevator sizing module, as a helpful tool for aeronautical students
enhance their knowledge, understanding, and analyzing studies. This paper presents an instructive algorithm for
the elevator sizing to be employed in the preliminary aircraft design software. The paper introduced the necessary
formulae to guide the designer to achieve the qualifications of the longitudinal control and longitudinal trim. A solved
example has been added to explain the application of the algorithm.

Key words: Algorithms, Elevators, Elevator sizing, Control surface design, Preliminary aircraft design

INTRODUCTION so clear for students, and many practices must be ex-

ercised to be familiar with. Typically, the elevator sizing
The longitudinal control is the essential elevator function. process is done in the detail phase.
For a safe flight, the aircraft should be longitudinally con-
From the research side view, the current researches are
trollable plus maneuverable. So, it is imperative for the
investigating different aspects of the elevator other than
designers to assess the control authority of candidate
elevator sizing, such as, elevator jam failures [09] [10],
configurations early in the preliminary design phase.
elevator actuation system [11], and elevator performance
This early assessment formulates the design process
[12] [13]. All these researches are proposed for the air-
very proficient and cost-effective. Elevator sizing is one
craft industry and are not planned for instructional use.,
of the controllability concepts that should be involved in
which consecutively, are out of the scope of the paper.
the preliminary design process. Adding elevator sizing
module, as a helpful tool for aeronautical students en- ELEVATOR SIZING PRINCIPLES
hance their knowledge, understanding, and analyzing
studies. As mentioned above, the fundamental principle behind
The longitudinal control can be accomplished by afford- elevator is to change the horizontal tail pitching moment.
ing an additional lift force on the horizontal tail [01]. It Due to the elevator deflection up or down, the horizontal
is basically directed through elevator deflection and en- tail lift coefficient ( ) will decrease or increase, respec-
gine throttle setting. In addition, it is ruled during the pitch tively. Hence, the two main objectives of the elevator are
rate, and as a result the angular acceleration, around the the longitudinal control and longitudinal trim.
y-axis. Hence, the elevator is categorized as a pitch con- In the elevator sizing process, three significant factors
trol device. Note that the longitudinal control of the con- need to take into consideration which are: elevator aero-
ventional aircraft is not joined with the lateral-directional dynamic and mass balancing, elevator effectiveness,
control, and therefore, the elevator sizing process is un- and elevator hinge moment. The first factor deals with
related to rudder sizing process [02]. This matter makes the method of varying the hinge moment in order to keep
elevator design simpler. the stick force within an acceptable range and without
A quick pass on the available developed software for the occurrence of aeroelastic trend. The second factor
preliminary aircraft design is publicized briefly. Starting is affected by the tail moment arm and the elevator size.
with Roskam’s software (AAA) [03], it is basically a cod- The importance of the last factor is to defeat the aerody-
ed version of his textbook [04]. Raymer in 1996 released namic moment to rotate the elevator [14].
his software package (ADS) [05] based also on his book However, the prerequisites of longitudinal control han-
[06]. Soon later, the comprehensive software CEASI- dling quality during takeoff rotation of the takeoff stage
OM [07] was developed in 2008 and still in the stage are identified for a conventional tricycle aircraft as: there
of improvement. Finally, Nicolosi released his software is a value for the pitch rate in case that the duration of
(ADAS) [08] in 2011. Unfortunately, all these software the takeoff rotation must not arise over a predefined pe-
packages present the elevator sizing indirectly by offer- riod of time. According to Newton’s second law, the time
ing just the stability and controllability derivatives, dimen- of the takeoff rotation can be extracted in terms of the
sional and non-dimensional. These derivatives are not angular acceleration of the aircraft around the rotation

* University of Information Technology and Communications, Al-Nidhal Street, Baghdad, Iraq, o.hammodi@yahoo.com 489
 Omran Al-Shamma - An instructive algorithm for aircraft elevator sizing to be used in preliminary aircraft
design software

point of the main gear [15]. For example, the tolerable

time of the takeoff rotation of a transport aircraft is 3-5 1b)
seconds, and the corresponding angular rotation rate to
satisfy that prerequisite is 4-6 deg/s2 where the center of 1c)
aircraft gravity is positioned at the most forward location.
Table 1 shows different types of aircraft with its qualifi- 1d)
cations of takeoff angular acceleration, which in turn, are
extremely helpful in the elevator sizing process. 1e)

Table 1: The qualifications of takeoff angular

2)
acceleration
Takeoff Pitch An- where:
Takeoff Rotation
Aircraft Type gular Acceleration 2a)
Time (s)
(deg/s2)
Large transport 3-5 4-6 2b)
Small transport 2-4 6-8
2c)
Normal general
1-3 8-10
aviation
Utility, 3)
semi-acrobatic 1-2 10-15
GA
where:
Highly maneu-
verable (e.g., 0.2-0.7 12-20 3a)
fighter)
3b)
Prior to elevator sizing, three ratios relating the elevator
to horizontal tail and one parameter must be assigned 3c)
which are: Se/Sh, be/bh, Ce/Ch, and ± δe max. The typical 3d)
values [16] are: 0.15, - 0.4, 0.8, - 1.0, 0.26, - 0.34, ±
25 deg, respectively. Due to effortlessness in sizing and
manufacturing, the elevator span is frequently chosen 3e)
to be the same as the span of the horizontal tail, i.e.,
be/bh = 1. Also, to avoid flow separation which leads the 3f)
horizontal tail to stall, the maximum elevator deflection
(up or down) should not exceed 25 degrees. With el- 3g)
evator of full span and maximum allowable deflection,
the chord of the elevator should be enlarged to produce Substituting Equations 3a to 3g into Equation 3, and
the required change in the tail lift. An all-moving tail is a reformatting it for Lh, yields:
choice, if the requisite elevator chord becomes greater
than the half of the chord of the horizontal tail as in fight-
er aircraft to produce enough pitching moment for highly
maneuverable. 4)
The analysis of a tricycle conventional aircraft equilib-
rium at rotation point can be accomplished by the fol- The contribution of the elevator to the horizontal tail lift
lowing three equations, two of them are force equations can be expressed with respect to tail lift coefficient as
(Equations 1 and 2) and the third is a moment equation follows:
(Equation 3). Note that the moments with clockwise di-
rection are positive while the counterclockwise are neg- 5)
ative. Therefore, weight, thrust, and wing/fuselage pitch-
ing moments are negative as in Equation 3: In general, this coefficient is negative and it affected by
many factors related to the horizontal tail such as the
1) features of the airfoil section [17], the angle of attack
(αh), sweep angle, aspect ratio and taper ratio. Hence,
where: this coefficient can be adapted as:
1a) 6)

490 Journal of Applied Engineering Science 15(2017)4, 476

Omran Al-Shamma - An instructive algorithm for aircraft elevator sizing to be used in preliminary aircraft
design software

where: It should be noted that is negative if the thrust line is

6a) higher than the aircraft cg. Also, if the qualification of the
elevator angle is more than 30 deg, one needs to en-
6b) large the elevator size and/or the tail arm. Furthermore,
the designer must take into consideration that the eleva-
The elevator designer can influence the amount of the tor deflection will decrease the tail stall angle and may
elevator control power through a suitable assortment of cause the horizontal tail to stall. Therefore, it is recom-
the elevator geometry. By employing Equation 6, one mended to keep the tail in the range of two degrees of
can establish the attributes of the elevator that achieve its stall angle.
the takeoff rotation prerequisite. For instance, deliber-
The tail angle of attack is defined as:
ating elevator angle of attack effectiveness, the design-
er can evaluate the elevator cord-to-tail ratio by using 9)
Figure 1 [18], and consecutively, the minimum elevator
area that agrees with the majority critical aircraft longitu- Note that α at the onset of rotation (i.e., on the ground)
dinal control prerequisite. is typically equal to zero. The following equation shows
the relationship between and α at the takeoff position,
assuming that α is equal to the fuselage angle of attack:

10)

Equation 10 produces the maximum positive tail angle of

attack, which should be below the tail stall angle. In con-
trast, the maximum positive elevator deflection should
be examined during aircraft cruising with maximum
speed, as well, to maintain the aircraft longitudinal trim.
The tail stall angle of attack at takeoff rotation is depen-
dent on parameters such as: elevator deflection, elevator
chord, and tail airfoil section. It can be expressed as:
Figure 1: A general representation of the control
surface effectiveness [18] 11)

The following equation represents the mathematical where:

model of Figure 1 using MATLAB, curve fitting tool [19]: = typically around 14 degrees
= the amount of reduction in the tail stall angle
of attack
Table 2 [20] demonstrates the empirical values for
7) with respect to tail-to-elevator chord ratio and elevator
deflection. Note that if the ratio Ce/Ch is greater than 0.5,
it is recommended to use an all-moving tail instead.
On the trim side, the aircraft is to be in longitudinal trim
if and only if all longitudinal forces and moments are in Table 2: The reduction in stall angle at elevator
equilibrium. The following equation obtained the elevator deflection [20]
deflection, which must be big enough to keep the aircraft
longitudinal trim in all flight conditions: Tail-to-elevator chord ratio
(deg)
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

8) ±15 0.9 1.5 3.2 4.9 6.5

where: ±20 1.2 2 4.2 6.5 8.7

8a) ±25 1.6 2.5 5.3 8.1 11

8b) ±30 1.9 3 6.4 9.7 13.1

Journal of Applied Engineering Science 15(2017)4, 476 491

 Omran Al-Shamma - An instructive algorithm for aircraft elevator sizing to be used in preliminary aircraft
design software

Finally, in the elevator sizing process, the lift coefficient 13. By considering the most forward and the most aft
of the horizontal tail is evaluated by employing lifting-line center of gravity of the aircraft with the helpfulness
theory or CFD technique and should be compared with of Equations 8a and 8b, evaluate the elevator deriv-
the desired lift coefficient. The parameter is as- atives and .
sessed in the next empirical equation and consecutively, 14. Calculating the required elevator deflection to
employed to estimate the tail lift distribution and its co- achieve longitudinal trim, using Equation 8.
efficient:
15. If the calculated maximum from the previous step
is more than the assigned value in step 1, therefore,
12) the elevator design does not satisfy the prerequisites
of longitudinal trim. Resizing the horizontal tail and/
or landing gear and return to step 2.
ELEVATOR SIZING ALGORITHM 16. Determine the horizontal tail angle of attack, using
Equation 10.
For a conventional aircraft, the elevator sizing algorithm
steps are: 17. Evaluating the horizontal tail stall angle, using Equa-
tion 11. Refer to Table 2, to select a proper
1. Assigning and identifying the basic inputs of the al-
value.
gorithm which include: the ratio be/bh, maximum up
and down elevator deflection, and the takeoff angu- 18. If the calculated angle of step 16 is greater than that
lar acceleration from Table 1. of step 17, then the designed horizontal tail will stall.
Resizing the elevator by decreasing the elevator
2. Applying Equations 1a and 2a to carry out the air-
chord and/or deflection. If the resizing is failed too,
craft drag and the wing/fuselage lift, respectively.
relocating or redesigning the landing gear, horizontal
3. Calculating the friction force, using Equation 1e. tail, or the center of gravity of the aircraft. Return to
Then, determine the aircraft linear acceleration at step 2.
rotation point, using Equation 1.
4. By considering the most forward aircraft cen- TESTING THE ALGORITHM
ter of gravity and using Equations 3a - 3g,
The algorithm can be coded in a high level language and
determine all the required moments (i.e.,
encapsulated in any preliminary aircraft design software
and Ma.
to aid students and fresh engineers to enhance their un-
5. Using Equation 4 to evaluate the desired lift . derstanding and analyzing of the elevator sizing process.
6. Determine the desired lift coefficient , using The following example illustrates the application of this
Equation 5. algorithm as an instructional use.
7. Applying Equation 6 and its relatives to determine
Example
the elevator effectiveness .
8. If the calculated is more than one, there is no el- For an 80 passenger conventional transport aircraft with
evator satisfying the prerequisite of takeoff rotation. the following data delivered from the conceptual phase:
Therefore, redesign the horizontal tail and/or landing mto = 32000 kg, vs = 59 m/s, vc = 250 m/s (at 9700 m),
gear and return to step 2. Tmax = 9.88 kN, lf = 34.3 m, Cdo = 0.023, Clo = 0.38, S = 66
9. Calculating the corresponding chord ratio (Ce/Ch), m2, AR = 9.3, λ = 0.24, iw = 2 deg, Clα = Clαw = 5.7 1/rad,
using Equation 7. Sh = 11.9 m2, bh = 7.7 m, λh = 0.3, Clαh = 4.3 1/rad, ih = -1
10. If the corresponding chord ratio is greater than 0.5, deg, Cl flap = 0.43, Cm ac = - 0.08
it is recommended to use an all-moving tail. Design a low-cost, easy-manufacturing elevator.
11. Determine the deviation of the tail lift coefficient Solution
due to elevator deflection, using Equation 12. Then,
applying lift-line theory or CFD to find the horizontal Step 1- The ratio be/bh was assigned a value of 1. The
tail lift coefficient at the maximum negative elevator maximum down elevator deflection is selected to be 25
deflection. The MATLAB program in page 245 ref. deg. Based on Table 1, a 6 deg/s2 takeoff pitch angular
[20] represents the general application of the lift-line acceleration is selected.
theory and can be used here, by changing the input Step 2- The aircraft drag = 6678 N and the wing/fuselage
values as desired. lift force = 124803 N.
12. If the desired horizontal tail lift coefficient carried out Step 3- The friction force = 10022 N , assuming μ = 0.04,
from step 6 equal to the resultant coefficient for step and the linear acceleration = 2.35 m/s2.
11, continue. If not equal, altering the elevator span Step 4- The moment of the aircraft due to wing/fuselage
and/or chord to adjust the resultant coefficient until lift = - 48548 Nm, the moment of weight = - 375199 Nm,
getting the required value. the moment of drag = 13356 Nm, the moment of thrust
= - 80755 Nm, the moment of lift = 93421 Nm, and the

492 Journal of Applied Engineering Science 15(2017)4, 476

Omran Al-Shamma - An instructive algorithm for aircraft elevator sizing to be used in preliminary aircraft
design software

moment of acceleration = 143213 Nm. Note that all x Step 17- According to Table 2, the reduction in stall angle
and z dimensions, required to calculate the moments, = 9.8 deg, and hence, the horizontal tail stall angle = 4.2
are delivered from the geometry section of the concep- deg.
tual design phase. Step 18- Since the difference between the horizontal tail
Step 5- Applying Equation 4, the desired horizontal tail angle of attack (1.355) and the stall angle (4.2) is greater
lift = - 24435 Nm. than 2 deg, the elevator design is accepted.
Step 6- The desired horizontal tail lift coefficient = - 0.96, The geometry of the designed elevator is:
using Equation 5.
Step 7- Employing Equations 6a and 6b to find the down-
wash effect, εo = 0.061 rad, dε/dα = 0.418 deg/deg and
αh = - 3.304 deg. Hence, the elevator effectiveness = CONCLUSIONS
0.644, using Equation 6.
An instructive algorithm for the aircraft elevator sizing
Step 8- The effectiveness of the elevator is less than
has been presented to be used in the preliminary aircraft
one, so, continue.
design software. For fresh engineers and aeronautical
Step 9- The corresponding cord ratio (Ce/Ch) = 0.456 students, this algorithm is useful to enhance their knowl-
from Figure 1 or using Equation 7. edge, understanding, and analyzing studies. The paper
Step 10- The ratio from step 9 is less than 0.5, therefore, introduced the necessary formulae as a guide to size the
continue. elevator to achieve the longitudinal control and longi-
Step 11- Applying Equation 12 yields, = 13 deg. tudinal trim requirements with a solved example, as an
Figure 2 shows the distribution of the horizontal tail lift. instructional use, step by step, to explain the application
The resultant lift coefficient = - 0.925. of the algorithm.
Step 12- Since, the deviation between the resultant co- REFERENCES
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design software

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Paper submitted: 20.08.2017.

Paper accepted: 28.11.2017.
This is an open access article distributed under the
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 terms and conditions.

494 Journal of Applied Engineering Science 15(2017)4, 476