The Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityDepartment of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering

06 / BOUND · Flight mechanics

Manoeuvre & Gust Envelope

Flight envelopeBrowser calculation

Move a speed–gust operating point against stall and illustrative structural boundaries. Connect the picture to lift and wing loading.

THE SAME GUST. A DIFFERENT LOAD.LIVE B
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Steady calculation · adjust the controls to compare states

Solid boundary: minimum of the positive stall curve and selected structural limit; lower boundary uses CLmin = −0.8 and nmin = −1.5. The graph ends at 120 m/s; this is not a design-speed limit. The gust point is an unalleviated quasi-steady estimate, not a time history or certified envelope.

A · no saved reference
01 / NOTICE THE CHANGE

Increase speed

The same vertical gust produces a larger lift increment as speed increases in this simple model.

02 / NOTICE THE CHANGE

Increase wing loading

At fixed speed and gust, increased mass reduces Δn. It also moves the stall boundary to a higher speed.

03 / NOTICE THE CHANGE

Respect the stall boundary

The linear gust estimate is still displayed outside the envelope, but is explicitly marked beyond the modelled admissible state. It does not predict post-stall load.

CALCULATED FROM THE SAME MODEL

Read the parameter study

B · solid turquoise   A · dashed amber
Dots mark the selected settings; curves sweep one variable

Compare the evidence

QuantityA · savedB · liveUnit

A remains fixed until you save again. Export includes settings, selected outputs and curve data.

Equations, assumptions and topic connections

Physical model

Illustrative aircraft S = 16 m², ρ = 1.225 kg/m³, lift-curve slope 5.5 rad⁻¹. A small vertical gust changes incidence by approximately Ude/V and ΔL = ½ρVS a Ude. No gust-alleviation factor, dynamic penetration, elastic response, regulatory speeds, fatigue or certification assessment is included.

n_stall = ½ρV² S CLmax/(mg); Δn = ρ V a Ude/[2(mg/S)]; n_gust = 1 + Δn; VA = √[2nlimit(mg/S)/(ρCLmax)]. Stall/structural boundaries are references, not a command to achieve a manoeuvre.

Topic connections

S42 accelerated-performance/load-factor foundation. Gust response is an explicitly labelled extension; it is not asserted to be a certified-envelope treatment in the supplied deck.

FAA · Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators

Original schematic diagrams. No manufacturer performance, certification or maintenance-authorisation claim. Numerical verification checks the declared model; it is not experimental validation. Model version: course-foundations-v1.

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