JBM - Topics - Crosswind

This derivation is taken from Bob McCoy's paper, The Effect of Wind on Flat-Fire Trajectories. I've changed the coordinate system and elaborated a bit more in certain areas. A list of variables are at the bottom of this page. Where integrals are shown, I've put the integration limits in brackets beside the integral since trying to use the SUP and SUB tags doesn't work very well.

Crosswind Derivation

From the CD & KD discussion, the vector equations of motion are

where

If we assume that g is in the z direction only and the only wind is a cross wind (|w| = w_x) then the first equation can be rewritten as three equations

The value v is defined as

This leads to non-linear equations that cannot be solved directly, but we can make a suitable approximation for v

Then for the first and second equations above

which can be solved:

Since w_x is constant, one can readily perform the integrals (assuming constant k)

Integrate one more time with respect to t on the interval [0,t]

where

and x is the deflection, u_x0 is the muzzle velocity (initial velocity in the y direction), R is the range, t is the time of flight to that range, and w_x is the wind speed in the crosswind direction.

Assumptions made for this derivation include constant crosswind speed, constant C_D, and the approximation that t is the time of flight along the arc of the trajectory (S) to range R. [In reality t is the time of flight to range R for the wind in question -- which you don't know]. For small angles (flat fire approximation) or less than 5°, these approximations are very good and can be less than 1%.

Variables

References

The Effect of Wind on Flat-Fire Trajectories, Robert L. McCoy, BRL Report Number 1900, Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, August 1976, [ADB012872]