durabol
Well-Known Member
-Rectangular/Hershey-bar wing: the same cruise speed as a tapered or elliptical wing and a gentle stall
-Elliptical wing: copy the Spitfire wing but not tapering the thickness at the wing tip so I would have a thicker airfoil (percent-wise) at tips to avoid tip stalls. In summary not much performance increase but looks nicer and like Spitfires. One problem is that I want to use a laminar airfoil but may be too hard to make with elliptical wing.
-A tapered wing (rectangular wing stub with tapered solid foam wing panels) is my current choice. The main advantages would be a larger wing stub (about 10%) for more room for fuel and retractable gear. The wing would be a bit lighter for the area but this isn't much of a problem with pulruded carbon spars. Some of the other advantages would be less induced drag due to smaller wing tips so more efficient slow speed flight but not much effect on cruise speed. Tapered wings are harder to build but not that much harder with composites. Can taper flaperons but must leave same hinge line so only need bend in front spar. 3:2 to 2:1 to taper ratio.
Brock
-Elliptical wing: copy the Spitfire wing but not tapering the thickness at the wing tip so I would have a thicker airfoil (percent-wise) at tips to avoid tip stalls. In summary not much performance increase but looks nicer and like Spitfires. One problem is that I want to use a laminar airfoil but may be too hard to make with elliptical wing.
-A tapered wing (rectangular wing stub with tapered solid foam wing panels) is my current choice. The main advantages would be a larger wing stub (about 10%) for more room for fuel and retractable gear. The wing would be a bit lighter for the area but this isn't much of a problem with pulruded carbon spars. Some of the other advantages would be less induced drag due to smaller wing tips so more efficient slow speed flight but not much effect on cruise speed. Tapered wings are harder to build but not that much harder with composites. Can taper flaperons but must leave same hinge line so only need bend in front spar. 3:2 to 2:1 to taper ratio.
Brock
