Have a general question for the collective...
A buddy and I each have homebuilt copies of Piper PA 20's (don't ask...), and while sitting in my hangar the other day, the conversation turned to "wings"... We're spitballing a bunch of stuff from changing the airfoil to the NACA 230xx from the Tailorcraft, while he's thinking of staying with the Clark-Y, but adding Cessna flaps, etc, etc. Anyway, since the RV-8 was sitting in the corner nearby, the thought occurred that ordering up an RV-9 wing from Van might be slick.
So with full disclosure that I have not done ANY homework yet, nor am I asking for an engineering analysis, generally, are there any traps with adding struts to a wing designed as a cantilever? Again, in very broad terms, it seems one can cut off the RV-9 (or whatever) center section spar, add root and strut fittings and run with that. The big downside is that the wing will be significantly overbuilt in its new role as a strut braced structure, but does this add any overload conditions anywhere?
Practicality and aerodynamics aside, is this a viable structural system?
A buddy and I each have homebuilt copies of Piper PA 20's (don't ask...), and while sitting in my hangar the other day, the conversation turned to "wings"... We're spitballing a bunch of stuff from changing the airfoil to the NACA 230xx from the Tailorcraft, while he's thinking of staying with the Clark-Y, but adding Cessna flaps, etc, etc. Anyway, since the RV-8 was sitting in the corner nearby, the thought occurred that ordering up an RV-9 wing from Van might be slick.
So with full disclosure that I have not done ANY homework yet, nor am I asking for an engineering analysis, generally, are there any traps with adding struts to a wing designed as a cantilever? Again, in very broad terms, it seems one can cut off the RV-9 (or whatever) center section spar, add root and strut fittings and run with that. The big downside is that the wing will be significantly overbuilt in its new role as a strut braced structure, but does this add any overload conditions anywhere?
Practicality and aerodynamics aside, is this a viable structural system?
