 What is atmosphere

 Atmosphere
 Layer and structure of the atmosphere
 Explain characteristics of each layer
 Properties of the atmosphere
 International standard Atmosphere
 ISA deviation
 Standard atmosphere mathematical model

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 At the end of this lecture, students should be
able to:
◦ Understand the concept of aerodynamics.
◦ Identify the sources of aerodynamic forces and
moment.
◦ Distinguish different flow regimes.
◦ Define fundamental aerodynamic quantities.
◦ Understand the applications of aerodynamics.
◦ Understand flow similarities
◦ Define dimensionless aerodynamic quantities.

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The gaseous envelope that surround the earth is called
the atmosphere.

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 Aerospace vehicles, they include aircrafts,
helicopters, UAVs, balloons, which fly in the
atmosphere e.t.c. These vehicles they fly within the
sensible atmosphere and they rely on the air
available in earth's atmosphere for fulfilling their
mission.

 Rockets travel through the earth's atmosphere after

liftoff and space vehicles like the space shuttle, or
re-entry capsules, they encounter the earth's
atmosphere when they return from space. If you are
sending missions to other planets, the planetary
probes, they would encounter atmosphere of a
particular planet like Venus, Mars, Jupiter and so on.

 When you design an aerospace vehicle you therefore

have to know about the atmosphere and it
properties. And they must be taken into account
when you do your design calculations.
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 Earth's atmosphere is a dynamic system, that we all
which is continuously evolving through flux exchange
and transport. Therefore, at a given altitude over a
certain location on the earth's surface, the properties-
they would be dependent on the latitude and
longitude of that location of that place on the earth;
time of the day, temperature is bound to vary.
Accordingly pressure and density is also going to vary.

 The STANDARD ATMOSHERE gives mean values of

temperature, pressure density and other properties of
the atmosphere purely as a function of altitude.

 Standard atmosphere is based on large amount of

data acquired from experimental balloons and
sounding–rockets experiments and combined with a
mathematical model for representing the average
properties of the atmosphere as a function of height.
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 Air makes up the Earth's atmosphere-the gaseous
envelope surrounding the Earth-and represents a
mixture of several gases.

 As an aircraft operates in the air the properties of air

that affect aircraft control and performance must be
understood.

 Air is a mixture of gases composed principally of

nitrogen and oxygen.

 Air has weight, since something lighter than air, such

as a balloon filled with helium, will rise in the air.

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Five Layers of the Atmosphere
Atmospheric structure

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 Troposphere
This is the lowest part of the atmosphere - the part we live in.
It extends from the surface to about 10km upwards. It
contains most of our weather - clouds, rain, and snow. Most
clouds exist here because 99% of the atmosphere’s water is
found here. In this part of the atmosphere the temperature
gets colder as the distance above the earth increases.

 Stratosphere
Above the troposphere lies the stratosphere where jet
airplanes fly. Temperatures increase with altitude because of
increasing amounts of ozone. The ozone layer within the
stratosphere absorbs harmful ultraviolet rays of sunlight and
protects us from the likes of skin cancer and other health
condition.

Note: It is the troposphere which is the most important atmospheric layer to aeronautics since
most aircraft fly in this region. Most weather occurs here and, of course, man lives here
also. As altitude increases, up to 30,000 feet (about 10 000 m), the temperature, pressure
and density of the air decrease. This region is known as the TROPOSPHERE and the upper
boundary is the TROPOPAUSE.
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Mesosphere
As the mesosphere extends upward above the stratosphere,
temperatures decrease. The coldest parts of our atmosphere
are located in this layer and can reach –90°C.

Thermosphere
The thermosphere is a region in which temperatures again
increase with height. This temperature increase is caused by
the absorption of energetic ultraviolet and X-Ray radiation
from the Astronauts orbiting Earth in the space station or
space shuttle spend their time in this layer

Exosphere
The upper layer of our atmosphere, where atoms and
molecules escape into space, is called the exosphere.

Note: Without the beneficial ozone layer in the stratosphere absorbing harmful
solar ultraviolet radiation, life as we know it would not have developed

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Pressure: Force per unit area (N/m2)
It is the force exerted over a given area or object.
Pressure is measured in Pascal, Pound Force per
Square Inch (PSI), Bars (or millibars), Inches of
Mercury, etc.

An important consideration is that atmospheric pressure

varies with altitude. The higher an object rises above
sea level, the lower the pressure.

Temperature: The degree of hotness or coldness of a

body measured on a definite scale. (Kelvin (K), °C, °F).
As altitude increases, temperature decreases in the
troposphere.

Density: Density is a term that means weight per unit

volume (kg/m3). The density of gases is governed by the
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 Density varies in direct proportion with the pressure.
1) Density varies inversely with the temperature.

Therefore, air at high altitudes is less dense than air at low

altitudes, and a mass of hot air is less dense than a mass of
cool air. Changes in density affect the aerodynamic
performance of aircraft. With the same horsepower, an aircraft
can fly faster at a high altitude where the density is low than
at a low altitude where the density is great. This is because air
offers less resistance to the aircraft when it contains a smaller
number of air particles per unit volume.

Note: Really the change in temperature from the sea level up to

tropopause is almost linear and gives the values of 6.5°𝐶 for each
1000 meters or 3.6°𝐹 per each 1000 feet. This is called the standard
laps rate

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 Humidity: Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air
(in Percentage). The maximum amount of water vapor that
air can hold varies with the temperature. The higher the
temperature of the air, the more water vapor it can absorb.

 By itself, water vapor weighs approximately five-eighths as

much as an equal amount of perfectly dry air .

There are two types of humidity

 Absolute humidity is the weight of water vapour present in a

unit volume of air

 Relative humidity is the amount of water vapour present in

air expressed as a percentage of amount needed for
saturation at the same temperature.

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 ISA is a hypothetical model that represents an ideal
atmosphere as defined by the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO. The air in the model is assumed to be
devoid of dust, moisture, and water vapor and to be at rest
with respect to the Earth (that is, no winds or turbulence).

 Since the real atmosphere never remains constant at any

particular time or place, a hypothetical model must be
employed as an approximation to what may be expected.
This model is known as the international standard
atmosphere (ISA).

 For purposes of pressure altimeter calibrations, aircraft and

rocket performance and their design, and so forth,
knowledge of the vertical distribution of such quantities as
pressure, temperature, density, and speed of sound is
required .

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Standard Atmosphere is the more general model and it is useful to
list the standard sea level conditions:

Pressure, p0 = 101 325.0 N/m2 = 2116.2 lb/ft2

Density, ρ0= 1.225 kg/m3 [ρ = rho] = 0.002377 slug/ft2
Temperature, T0 = 288.15 K (15° C)
Acceleration of gravity, g0 = 9.807 m/sec2 = 32.17 ft/s2
Speed of sound, a0 = 340.294 m/sec

The ISA is based the following values of pressure, density, and

temperature at mean sea level each of which decreases with
increase in height:

Pressure is taken to fall at about 34 mb/1000ft in the lower

atmosphere. OR 1hpa / 27 feet ( approximately 30 feet).

Temperature falls at a rate of 2 °C (1.98 °C ) per 1,000 feet until

after the troposphere.

 Note: The relation between different units is as follows:

 QNH =29.92 in Hg = 1 atm = 14.7 psi = 1013.2 hPa = 760 mm Hg =
1.01329.92 in Hg = 1 atm = 14.7 psi = 1013.2 hPa = 760 mm Hg = 1.013 bar
 The last unit is what meteorologists use.
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 ISA is widely used in aviation mainly for calibration of
flight instrument and determination of the nominal
performance of the aircraft (e.g. Airspeed indicator,
Altimeter).
In practice the actual atmospheric conditions never
remain constant in any particular time or Place.
Consequently ISA is used as a reference.

 For the design and performance determination of a

flying vehicle(airplane, missile, satellite e.t.c)

 ISA provides data for aircraft performance

comparison.
 the

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 ISA deviation is a way of expressing how different the
current condition are in relation to ISA terms of
temperature. At the same airport ISA deviation varies
through out the day.

Example 1.The surface/sea level temperature and

pressure in AFIT Kaduna are 15oC and 1013.25
respectively on a standard day. What would be the
temperature and pressure at 1000, 2000, 3000 and
3500ft. on this day?

Solution
 Temperature lapse rate: 2 °C per 1,000 Feet

 Pressure lapse rate: 34 mbar per 1,000 feet

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 At 1000 feet: Temperature = 15oC - 2oC = 13oC

 Pressure = 1013.25mbar – 34mbar = 979.25mbar

At 2000 feet: Temperature = 15oC – (2 x 2oC) = 11oC

Pressure = 1013.25mbar – (34 x 2) = 945.25mbar

 At 3000 feet: Temperature = 15oC – (2 x 3oC) = 9oC

 Pressure = 1013.25mbar – (34 x 3) = 911.25mbar

 At 3500 feet: Temperature = 15oC - (2 x 3.5oC)= 8oC

,Pressure = 1013.25mbar - (34 x 3.5)=894.25mbar

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 Determining ISA temperature at certain Altitude
 ISA= 15-(2x altitude)
1000
Example. 1. Determine ISA temp at (a)23000ft. (b)20000ft
Answer = -31oc b). -250c

2. What is the ISA deviation for a location in AFIT with temp

200c in April and -50c in December at mean sea level.

Answer = ISA + 5 and ISA -20

3. What ISA deviation is recorded for the following temp at

Msl. 8oc and 180c
Answer = ISA -7 and ISA +3

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Example. 1. Determine ISA deviation if temp at an airport on
an altitude of (a)4000ft was 11oc. (b)6500ft was 80c

soln. ISA at 4000ft is 70c and ISA at 6500ft is 20c

Hence Answer = ISA +4 b). ISA + 6

This calculations are useful to the pilot to make accurate

aircraft performance calculations ,however some aircraft
calculates and display the ISA deviation in real time

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Note: This is a zigzag manner in which temperature changes and it
is accompanied by isothermal and gradient regions.

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Note : Temperature decreases at 1.98oc per 100feets up to 36090ft . where the temperature
remains constant at -56.50c until 82021ft (25km).
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To derive the Hydrostatic Equation:
– Consider a disk with the dimensions shown below:
Thus the hydrostatic equation
becomes:
Pressure distribution on the walls of container open to
the atmosphere
 Calculation of the pressure distribution on the
walls of a container holding a liquid and open to
the atmosphere.

 Measuring pressure differences in manometer.

 Absolute Altitude (ha) –
The altitude measured
from the centre of the
earth.
 Geometric Altitude (hg)
The altitude measured
from the mean sea level.
 Geopotential Altitude (h)
– The geometric altitude
corrected for gravity
variation.
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• This yields:

• Where g is assumed to be constant with altitude

equal to its sea level value.
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• Calculate the temp, pressure and density changes for flight
that takes place at 19000m and 47000m using the
international standard atmosphere.

 Given a temperature lapse rate of 1.5°C per 1,000 feet, what

would be the temperature at an altitude of 3500 feet on a
standard day

 If the pressure at sea level on a standard day is 1013.25 mbar

and the pressure lapse rate is 30 mbar per 1,000 feet, what
would be the pressure at 5000 feet?

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