Aircraft Data Ini Editor V 0.74

[+streakeagle 871]

SFP1/WOV F-4J Sustained G Envelope at max power AIDE vs real data:

 

NOT FOR BEGINNERS! This is a very early release, but I want to get any feedback I can while finishing development. There is no help file yet. If you don't understand the terms used in SFP1's aircraft data ini files, then this program won't be of any use to you at all. This program can not create an aircraft data ini file, but it can be used to analyze and edit an existing one. You can open an existing file and save it as another file, thus creating a new file based on another aircraft ;) The program should be able to open any aircraft data ini file, but it can not extract one from a cat file. I may add that ability later, but the SFP1 Extractor utility gets the job done for now.

 

Almost all of my testing has been done with F-4 Phantoms with only the most basic of tests with the F-100D and A-4F. Even the F-4 data might not be scanned and displayed correctly, so be sure to compare what is displayed in the tree view to what is listed in the ini file. I don't really expect anyone to verify the calculations, I am hoping to convince TK to help me with that ;)

 

The View tab of the main menu bar contains two key options:

Edit enables editing, but also changes the way the values are grouped and displayed.

Metric toggles between metric and English units that appear in the tree view when editing is disabled.

 

The Constraints tab of the main menu bar contains several options:

 

Mutually exclusive AoA constraints:

AoA = AoAmax effectively clamps CL to CLmax, which is useful for finding Vstall.

Lsum = 0 via AoA sets AoA to the angle required to balance Lift with the lift components of thrust (Lt) and weight (Lw), which is useful for finding Vmax and Ps. Use with caution. Starting with Mach and altitude values well outside the flight envelope may cause undesirable behaviour.

 

Cm = 0 via Stab sets Stab such that Cm = 0, which is a necessary condition most of the time. This option should always be enabled unless it is malfunctioning or you are curious to see the effect of stabilizer deflection on Lift and pitch moment (Cm).

 

Mutually exclusive Thrust constraints:

Thrust = Twet sets Thrust to Twet (afterburner) thrust unless there is no afterburner, then it will set thrust to Tdry (military) thrust. This is useful for determining Vmax and Ps.

Thrust = Tdry sets Thrust to Tdry (military) thrust. This is useful for determining Vmax and Ps.

Dsum = 0 (T < = Twet) sets the Thrust up to Twet (afterburner) thrust to balance Drag with the drag components of thrust (Dt) and weight (Dw), which is a necessary condition most of the time. This option should normally be enabled unless it is malfunctioning or you are curious to see the effect of Thrust on Lift, Drag, pitch moment (Cm), etc.

Dsum = 0 (T < = Tdry) sets the Thrust up to Tdry (military) thrust to balance Drag with the drag components of thrust (Dt) and weight (Dw). An alternative for analyzing performance at military power.

 

The Performance tab of the main menu bar lists all of the Performance tables. Click on a table to check/uncheck it. A check indicates that the table will be included when the Calc Performance Tables button is clicked. Obviously, if no tables are checked, there is nothing to calculate, making the button useless :)

 

Disp Performance button calculates Machmax and Machmin at both Tdry and Twet thrust for the current altitude and displays the results in a dialog box as Mach numbers.

 

Calc Performance Tables button generates/updates the tables checked on the Performance menu. If all to the tables are checked, this process can take some time (about 10 to 20 minutes minimum), so only press this button after making all changes that would affect performance (i.e. Mass). Each time a table is being generated/updated, a progress bar dialog will open to give an idea of how much longer it will take to finish that table.

 

Performance Tables currently include:

PerformanceSustG(h=00kft)Table

PerformanceSustG(h=10kft)Table

PerformanceSustG(h=20kft)Table

PerformanceSustG(h=35kft)Table

PerformanceSustG(h=45kft)Table

PerformanceSustG(n=1, Tdry)Table

PerformanceSustG(n=1, Twet)Table

PerformanceSustG(n=2, Twet)Table

PerformanceSustG(n=3, Twet)Table

PerformanceSustG(n=4, Twet)Table

PerformanceSustG(n=5, Twet)Table

PerformanceSustG(n=6, Twet)Table

PerformanceSustG(n=7, Twet)Table

PerformanceSustG(n=8, Twet)Table

PerformanceSustG(n=9, Twet)Table

 

The Table graphs interface has been improved substantially:

Axis scales now have units displayed and are converted by toggling the Metric option.

After a Table has been plotted, its Pen Color can be changed (useful when overlaying Tables).

Best of all, the Overlay function, which freezes the scaling and then allows graphing as many Tables as desired over the original Table. So be careful to scale the first Table the way it needs to be to support all of the other Tables to be overlayed.

 

Grid lines now have scale values on them to help read values and the number of grid squares can be selected for both the vertical (Y Grid) and horizontal (X Grid).

 

High-lift devices like flaps and slats are not yet accounted for in the calculations.

 

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/sflores1/files/AIDE.zip

 

Hit the "go" button or "refresh" after the Explorer window says you don't have permission ;)

 

I have added this link to my website, which should work as well:

 

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/sflores1/StrikeFighters.html

Edited April 18, 2005 by streakeagle

[+streakeagle 871]

Finally, a performance chart:

MmaxAltitudeTable

 

Mach maximums plotted as a function of altitude.

Red = Twet (afterburner)

Blue = Tdry (military)

 

Keep in mind that the data points are sampled from the Altitudes of the AltitudeTable. So, I left the other button to get precise values from any altitude.

 

This provides some very useful information!

 

I was able to quickly see errors with the current F-4 flight models.

Edited March 25, 2005 by streakeagle

[+streakeagle 871]

I will be adding more later, but I am taking a break for a while.

[+streakeagle 871]

Latest revision

[+Dave 2,322]

Keep up the good work SE.

[+streakeagle 871]

Latest revision :)

[+Dave 2,322]

SE

 

What is your final goal for this. FOr any joe schmoe to be able to make goo dFM's by plugging real flight data and the program does the work? I wouyld very much like to be able to take data from a flight manual, plug it in, your program generate an FM. Or am I just way out there?

[+Dave 2,322]

bump

[+streakeagle 871]

The goal for this program is to enable you to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges.

 

The program should be able to read in any aircraft data ini and generate all of commonly used performance charts, including flight manuals and height-Mach charts. Right now, I have the most important data (sustained g) available in two different formats (sustained g versus speed for a specific altitude and sustained g as a height-Mach flight envelope). Next, I need to provide instantaneous g in two formats (V-n diagram with max g versus speed for a specific angle of attack and a specific altitude and max g as a height-Mach flight envelope). Then, I need to provide rate of climb charts. Finally, I would like to provide accleration charts (time to Mach). Once I have provided all of those charts, I will have met my original goal and call the program AIDE Version 1.0.

 

Along the way, I hope to add some tools that will make it easier to achieve specific results by automatically editing the ini file based on some user inputs about desired adjustments at key points on the charts. Unfortunately, editing the ini is still a pain in the butt right now. I am still using wordpad! But AIDE already fulfills its original purpose: allowing the user to easily analyze every aspect of the flight model and compare it to published data.

 

When I finish the program, I will begin overhauling all of the stock flight models. While I am doing this, I intend to work on a tutorial to help people understand what they are seeing and how to get the desired results. But I doubt this program will ever spit out a complete flight model based on a few simple user inputs. This program is mainly an aid to dramatically speed up the process of flight model development for people who already knew what they are doing.

[+Dave 2,322]

Roger that SE. Thanks for clearing it up.