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Earlier we talked about the physical reasons why a airplane can take flight and today we will focus on the airfoil and its characteristics.
post writer by: Juan Matheus
In the first installment of Why do planes fly? we saw the basic concepts and introduced the concept of the airfoil or airfoil. You may have wondered what they are and what they are for all the moving parts or not that you see on the wing and we are going to analyze each one of them. It is also important to note that the wings are where the fuel used by the plane to complete its journey is stored and in almost all cases of commercial aircraft, they also house the engines that propel the aircraft. This means that its function goes beyond the aerodynamic conditions that make it responsible for taking flight..
airfoil
We start with the airfoil itself or the body of the wing. If you make a cut and get a section, you can see that the shape of the wing responds to the basic airfoil shape that we have already seen.. Its goal is to create a pressure differential that causes a force that pushes the plane upwards known as lift.. Recall that the airfoil creates a region with low pressure and higher speed and a region with higher pressure and lower speed.. If we replicate the airfoil along the wing, joined by structural elements, we get the wing of an airplane.
Yes OK, theory tells us that the shape of the wing is designed to generate lift and upward thrust, During the different stages of the flight, the wing needs to modify its profile and the trajectory of the air around it so that the aircraft does what we want it to do.. this is landing, take off, fly at cruise level or make turns. To make it, the wing of an aircraft has both moving and fixed components that make it possible to maneuver the aircraft.
It is also worth mentioning that different commercial and non-commercial aircraft have different wing configurations.. a small plane, for regional flights, turboprop and 50 a 70 passengers like the ATR or Dash Q have the wing located on top. this obeys, among other things to the type of service they provide. They are ideal for short track, they are shorter and their height to the floor is less. The vast majority are propeller although it is not always the case and that means that the radius of the propeller can raise stones in its path that could enter the engine if the wing is located very close to the ground.. This problem can occur more frequently on dirt tracks such as those that exist in eastern Ecuador..
further, the tall wing can help a small, light aircraft with the structural rigidity needed to better withstand crosswinds. It is also common in ultralight sports aircraft since the fuel falls by gravity and does not require pumps., greatly simplifying the systems and reducing weight as well as in aircraft that "land" in the water.
Do not miss the next deliveries with more details of the different parts of the wing of an airplane.
Thank you Victor , very interesting data on the airfoil, For those of us who are dedicated to the construction of small model aircraft, it is very important to take into account all these details so that the flight of these small devices is as stable as possible. , safe and very similar to the flight of a real plane. Greetings.
I think it's worth clarifying that wing profiles generate a resultant upward force called lift., Thanks to its asymmetry "curvature", a very important parameter to generate more or less lift. In addition, you do not always have the same profile along the wing, In some cases, another profile is placed at the root of the wing, different from the one at the tip of the wing., for many reasons that are another topic of conversation. In conclusion a "3D element" wing, It is an infinite succession of aerodynamic profiles "2D elements", that are not always the same along the wing.
Finally when we talk about high wing we talk about greater stability, and when we talk about low wing we talk about less stability-instability. a cessna aircraft 172 for instance, it is a high wing aircraft and is commonly used for pilot training, why? Because the aircraft is more stable, and the flight is safer for pilots. Instead, a low-wing aircraft, a competition aircraft for example an extra 300, it is an unstable designed aircraft, why? So that competition pilots can make the sharp turns that are needed for the different maneuvers. What does the high wing or low wing involve?? The location of the center of gravity, another topic of discussion. Greetings.
Excellent comment Louis., thanks for your contribution!