Vehicle performance is the study of the motion of a vehicle. The motion of any vehicle depends upon all the forces and moments that act upon it. These forces and moments, for the most part are caused by interaction of the vehicle with the surrounding medium(s) such as air or water (e.g. fluid static and dynamic forces), gravitational attraction (gravity forces), Earth’s surface (support, ground, or landing gear forces), and on-board energy consuming devices such as rocket, turbojet, piston engine and propellers (propulsion forces). Consequently, in order to fully understand the performance problem, it is necessary to study and, in some way, characterize these interacting forces.
