Calculating G Forces from IGC file?
On Tuesday, March 5, 2013 9:42:45 AM UTC-6, JohnDeRosa wrote:
I thought it would be an interesting experiment to take an IGC trace
and figure out rates of climb. That much was pretty easy. I took
consecutive IGC file B-records and with just a little math I was able
to determine the ft/min or meters/min climb rates*.
I then thought it would be a good experiment to determine the G forces
as I pull up (decelerate) from cruise to lift or push over
(accelerate) from lift to cruise. Are there any physicists in the
house that can come up with a SIMPLE formula to calculate what a G
meter would have read based on the information I have?
Thanks, John
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* The many individual b-records in an IGC file contains lots of good
information.
B1101355206343N00006198WA0158701558
110135: time tracklog entry was recorded at 11:01:35 i.e. just
after 11am (GMT)
5206343N: latitude i.e. 52 degrees 06.343 minutes North
00006198W: longitude i.e. 000 degrees 06.198 minutes West
A: altitude valid flag confirming this record has a valid
altitude value
01587: altitude in meters from pressure sensor
01558: altitude in meters from GPS
Rate of Climb per minute (m/sec) =
(Altitude #2 - Altitude #1) / (Time-Seconds #2 - Time-
Seconds #1) X 60 seconds
Rate of Climb per minute (ft/sec) = Rate of Climb per minute (m/sec) X
3.28084
acceleration = delta V / delta t (vector)
Interesting to see if it works.
John Cochrane
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