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Aspect ratio (aeronautics) An ASH 31 glider with very high aspect ratio (AR=33.5) and lift-to-drag ratio (L/D=56) In aeronautics, the aspect ratio of a wing is the ratio of its span to its mean chord. It is equal to the square of the wingspan divided by the wing area. Thus, a long, narrow wing has a high aspect ratio, whereas a short, wide wing ...
Chords on a swept-wing. In aeronautics, the chord is an imaginary straight line joining the leading edge and trailing edge of an aerofoil. The chord length is the distance between the trailing edge and the point where the chord intersects the leading edge. [1][2] The point on the leading edge used to define the chord may be the surface point of ...
Thickness-to-chord ratio. a=chord, b=thickness, thickness-to-chord ratio = b/a. The F-104 wing has a very low thickness-to-chord ratio of 3.36%. In aeronautics, the thickness-to-chord ratio, sometimes simply chord ratio or thickness ratio, compares the maximum vertical thickness of a wing to its chord. It is a key measure of the performance of ...
The ratio of the length of a nose cone compared to its base diameter is known as the fineness ratio. This is sometimes also called the aspect ratio, though that term is usually applied to wings and tails. Fineness ratio is often applied to the entire vehicle, considering the overall length and diameter.
This indicates how, for a given wing area, high aspect ratio wings are beneficial to flight efficiency. With being a function of angle of attack, induced drag increases as the angle of attack increases. [4]: Section 5.17 The above equation can be derived using Prandtl's lifting-line theory.
For example, the NACA 2412 airfoil has a maximum camber of 2% located 40% (0.4 chords) from the leading edge with a maximum thickness of 12% of the chord. The NACA 0015 airfoil is symmetrical, the 00 indicating that it has no camber. The 15 indicates that the airfoil has a 15% thickness to chord length ratio: it is 15% as thick as it is long.
where AR is the wing's aspect ratio. Note that in the 2D case where AR → ∞ this reduces to the 2D case, since in incompressible 2D flow for a flat airfoil we have c l 0 = 2 π α , {\displaystyle c_{l0}=2\pi \alpha ,} as given by Thin airfoil theory .
A high aspect ratio indicates a long, narrow sail, whereas a low aspect ratio indicates a short, wide sail. [39] For most sails, the length of the chord is not a constant but varies along the wing, so the aspect ratio AR is defined as the square of the sail height b divided by the area A of the sail planform: [3] [30]