Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
An elliptical wing is a wing planform whose leading and trailing edges each approximate two segments of an ellipse. It is not to be confused with annular wings, which may be elliptically shaped. Relatively few aircraft have adopted the elliptical wing, an even-smaller number of which attained mass production; the
The Spitfire wing may be classified as: "a conventional low-wing cantilever monoplane with unswept elliptical wings of moderate aspect ratio and slight dihedral".. The wing configuration or planform of a fixed-wing aircraft (including both gliders and powered aeroplanes) is its arrangement of lifting and related surfaces.
The Lanchester-Prandtl lifting-line theory [1] is a mathematical model in aerodynamics that predicts lift distribution over a three-dimensional wing from the wing's geometry. [2] The theory was expressed independently [3] by Frederick W. Lanchester in 1907, [4] and by Ludwig Prandtl in 1918–1919 [5] after working with Albert Betz and Max Munk ...
Typically, the elliptical spanwise distribution of lift produces the minimum induced drag [15] for a planar wing of a given span. A small number of aircraft have a planform approaching the elliptical — the most famous examples being the World War II Spitfire [13] and Thunderbolt. For modern wings with winglets, the ideal lift distribution is ...
The Oswald efficiency, similar to the span efficiency, is a correction factor that represents the change in drag with lift of a three-dimensional wing or airplane, as compared with an ideal wing having the same aspect ratio and an elliptical lift distribution. [1]
The ideal lift distribution across a wing is elliptical, and extending partial-span flaps causes a significant departure from the elliptical. This increases lift-induced drag which can be beneficial during approach and landing because it allows the aircraft to descend at a steeper angle.
Mean aerodynamic chord (MAC) is defined as: [6] = (), where y is the coordinate along the wing span and c is the chord at the coordinate y.Other terms are as for SMC. The MAC is a two-dimensional representation of the whole wing. The pressure distribution over the entire wing can be reduced to a single lift force
A realistic lift distribution causes the shedding of a complex vorticity pattern behind the aircraft. The horseshoe vortex model is a simplified representation of the vortex system present in the flow of air around a wing .