IHS ESDU Estimation of rate of climb. 92019

ESDU 92019 presents the equations with varying degrees of simplification for the calculation of rate of climb of jet-powered or propeller-driven aeroplanes. It is primarily concerned with "steady-state climbs", that is with instantaneous climb rate, and does not treat the effect of acceleration introduced by a climb schedule. The general calculation procedure is illustrated by a worked example based on a jet-powered combat aircraft. For propeller-driven aeroplanes, approximate guidance is given graphically on maximum climb rate as a function of power/weight ratio. It is based on comparisons of computed data for a wide range of aircraft configurations, using typical propellers having a given variation of efficiency with speed, with published data for a large number of aircraft types with fixed- or variable-pitch propellers driven by piston or turbo-prop engines. Approximate guidance on the speed for best climb rate is also given, based on the computed results. A worked example shows how the data might be used at the preliminary project stage to assess maximum climb rate or, alternatively, installed power to achieve a given rate of climb.