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How much less efficient are rag wings than their ideal rib airfoil?

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HumanPoweredDesigner

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
1,030
Location
Arizona
And I know about fuselage drag, interference drag, and induced drag. I'm not asking about those. I'm just asking about the inefficiency that comes from deformation of the airfoil itself. I know it depends on rag roughness, stretch, spar bending, wing loading, and much more.

I plan on using Mylar stretched over wooden ribs. The airspeed and wing loading will be low, but maybe not compared to the strength of the Mylar.

I'm just wondering if I should bother using a highly efficient airfoil, or if it will likely be distorted too much to be better than a different one. I'm also wondering how I can recognise airfoils that are somewhat immune to minor distortions.

Also, I want to know what part of the airfoil is most importat to reinforce to prevent the biggest efficiency losses. Do I need to put a tube in the very front? Maybe just the stagnation point? I'm well aware I need to have a wire or structure in the trailing edge to keep that sharp. I also know to keep the attachment points cordwise instead of spanwise. The Daedalus had a lot of foam under its skin, and I just wonder how much a difference that actually made in the wing efficiency.
 
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