In flight mechanics, “power required minimum” refers to the minimum amount of power needed by an aircraft to maintain a steady level flight at a specific airspeed and altitude. It is an essential concept in aircraft performance analysis and plays a significant role in determining an aircraft’s operational capabilities.
The “power required” is the total power needed to overcome various forms of drag that act on the aircraft during flight
- 2W: Twice the aircraft’s weight (2 times the weight), where W is the weight of the aircraft.
- CD: The coefficient of drag, which represents the drag characteristics of the aircraft.
- P: The power required by the aircraft’s engines to overcome drag and maintain level flight.
- rmin: The minimum radius of turn for the aircraft.
- ρ: The air density at the given altitude.
- S: The wing area of the aircraft.
- 3/2: The exponent 3/2 (3 raised to the power of 1/2) is used in aerodynamic equations to represent the square root of a cube.
- CLmin: The minimum coefficient of lift, which represents the lift characteristics of the aircraft at the minimum power condition.