Bruce From United States of America, joined May 1999, 5027 posts, RR: 17 Posted (10 years 11 months 1 week 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 1531 times:
Hopefully this wont sound like a dumb question......but why do jets' wings curve down where they meet the fuselage? I notice this on 737/757/767/MD11 and some others...here's a good example - a photo of mine that was rejected (but I'm working on fixing it)
Ziggy From United States of America, joined Jun 2001, 178 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (10 years 11 months 1 week 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 1506 times:
The curvature is to provide greater amount of lift. With lift comes stress; So the closer to the wing root you get the more stress the wing can handle and the farther the less.
FredT From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2002, 2184 posts, RR: 26 Reply 2, posted (10 years 11 months 1 week 3 days ago) and read 1474 times:
To get the ideal wing efficiency, you aim for elliptical lift distribution.
However, you often twist the wing slightly to give the root a higher angle of attack in order to make the root stall first. If the wingtip stalls first, the roll moments caused by assymetrical stalls are great and to make matters worse, the ailerons are out there in the separated airflow reducing your ability to correct.
It is quite possible that there are further reasons, those swept wings tend to make a big mess out of things you think you know and I'm still getting surprised every now and then when dealing with aerodynamics I have no direct previous experience of..
Cheers,
Fred
I thought I was doing good trying to avoid those airport hotels... and look at me now.
Broke From United States of America, joined Apr 2002, 1322 posts, RR: 4 Reply 3, posted (10 years 11 months 1 week 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 1472 times:
The trailing edge of all wings have some curvature downwards along the trailing edge (TE). Supersonic and aerobatics wing sections would not show as much as other wings. When designing the wing section along the wing fuselage junction, you have to take into effect the resulting additional drag that the junction causes. The cleanest junction is one where the wing in perpendicular to the fuselage, but this is only possible on a mid-wing design. The Aerostar and the Jet Commander are examples of a mid wing. On low wing airplanes, you use the wing fillet fairings to try make the junction as perpendicular as possible. Calculating the effect of drag in this area is generally based on wind tunnel testing and flight testing and not on a pure theoretical basis. The curvature you are seeing is a solution to the desire to get the best lift with the least drag at the junction.
Bruce From United States of America, joined May 1999, 5027 posts, RR: 17 Reply 5, posted (10 years 11 months 1 week 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 1404 times:
Are you talking about jagged edges - the black lines of the edges of the wings/flaps? yeah, it may have been a bit oversharpened.
There's nothing fake about it - it's only been edited for color/sharpness/size. I took this photo. It's a real 737-800, N383DN.
I'm working on fixing it for another try at upload. I was successful at another upload, a 727 from the same angle. but the 737 has much more of an angle, based on appearance, just like the big jets. I'm going to be uploading an impressive rear shot of a 767 and 777.
bruce
Bruce Leibowitz - Jackson, MS (KJAN) - Canon 50D/100-400L IS lens
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