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The aerodynamic force is the resultant vector from adding the lift vector, perpendicular to the flow direction, and the drag vector, parallel to the flow direction. Forces on an aerofoil . In fluid mechanics , an aerodynamic force is a force exerted on a body by the air (or other gas ) in which the body is immersed, and is due to the relative ...
The aerodynamic forces are generated with respect to body axes, which is not an inertial frame. In order to calculate the motion, the forces must be referred to inertial axes. This requires the body components of velocity to be resolved through the heading angle () into inertial axes. Resolving into fixed (inertial) axes:
For steady, level flight, the integrated force due to the pressure differences is equal to the total aerodynamic lift of the airplane and to the airplane's weight. According to Newton's third law, this pressure force exerted on the ground by the air is matched by an equal-and-opposite upward force exerted on the air by the ground, which offsets ...
In many aerodynamics problems, the forces of interest are the fundamental forces of flight: lift, drag, thrust, and weight. Of these, lift and drag are aerodynamic forces, i.e. forces due to air flow over a solid body. Calculation of these quantities is often founded upon the assumption that the flow field behaves as a continuum.
In aerodynamics, aerodynamic drag, also known as air resistance, is the fluid drag force that acts on any moving solid body in the direction of the air's freestream flow. [ 22 ] From the body's perspective (near-field approach), the drag results from forces due to pressure distributions over the body surface, symbolized D p r {\displaystyle D ...
The definition becomes = ′, where is the reference length that should always be specified: in aerodynamics and airfoil theory usually the airfoil chord is chosen, while in marine dynamics and for struts usually the thickness is chosen. Note this is directly analogous to the drag coefficient since the chord can be interpreted as the "area per ...
In aerodynamics, the lift-to-drag ratio (or L/D ratio) is the lift generated by an aerodynamic body such as an aerofoil or aircraft, divided by the aerodynamic drag caused by moving through air. It describes the aerodynamic efficiency under given flight conditions. The L/D ratio for any given body will vary according to these flight conditions.
Aerodynamic forces, present near a body with a significant atmosphere such as Earth, Mars or Venus, are analyzed as: lift, defined as the force component perpendicular to the direction of flight (not necessarily upward to balance gravity, as for an airplane); and drag, the component parallel to, and in the opposite direction of flight.