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Most importantly, the maximum lift-to-drag ratio is independent of the weight of the aircraft, the area of the wing, or the wing loading. It can be shown that two main drivers of maximum lift-to-drag ratio for a fixed wing aircraft are wingspan and total wetted area. One method for estimating the zero-lift drag coefficient of an aircraft is the ...
The drag curve or drag polar is the relationship between the drag on an aircraft and other variables, such as lift, the coefficient of lift, angle-of-attack or speed. It may be described by an equation or displayed as a graph (sometimes called a "polar plot"). [1] Drag may be expressed as actual drag or the coefficient of drag.
A Gabrielli–von Karman diagram with the y-axis being the lift-to-drag ratio, which is the inverse of specific resistance. The von Kármán–Gabrielli diagram (also Gabrielli–von Kármán diagram , GvK diagram ) is a diagram which compares the efficiency of transportation methods by plotting specific tractive force , or specific resistance ...
If speed decreases, drag decreases, and the aircraft will accelerate back to its equilibrium speed where thrust equals drag. However, in slow flight, due to lift-induced drag, as speed decreases, drag increases (and vice versa). This is known as the "back of the drag curve". The aircraft will be speed unstable, because a decrease in speed will ...
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 ratio between these two coefficients is the thickness ratio: C L , m a r ≡ c t C L , a e r {\displaystyle C_{\mathrm {L} ,\,mar}\equiv {\frac {c}{t}}C_{\mathrm {L} ,\,aer}} The lift coefficient can be approximated using the lifting-line theory , [ 4 ] numerically calculated or measured in a wind tunnel test of a complete aircraft ...
The deflected or "turned" flow of air creates a resultant force on the wing in the opposite direction (Newton's 3rd law). The resultant force is identified as lift. Flying close to a surface increases air pressure on the lower wing surface, nicknamed the "ram" or "cushion" effect, and thereby improves the aircraft lift-to-drag ratio.
The logarithmic term with weight ratios is replaced by the direct ratio between / = where is the energy per mass of the battery (e.g. 150-200 Wh/kg for Li-ion batteries), the total efficiency (typically 0.7-0.8 for batteries, motor, gearbox and propeller), / lift over drag (typically around 18), and the weight ratio / typically around 0.3.