jimmyb
Member
Hello all, First - Let me start off by saying.. I'm relatively new to HBA (my first post) but have been devouring hundreds of posts by other members in an attempt to point myself in the right direction so to speak. Second - A little about my project/interests: I own a Glasair III that I purchased as a flying aircraft back in 2005. Back then I was very apprehensive to do much more than change the oil in fear of doing something “wrong”. Anyway, since then I’ve self taught myself composites (wet layup, vacuum bagging, vacuum infusion, plug/mold making), avionics (essentially rewired the entire aircraft), airframe, engine and etc with help from others “in the know” (I’m friends with several A&P/IA types). Back in 2010 I got the hair brained idea to take the wing off and make some improvements to the design (drag reduction), a 3-4 month project or so I optimistically thought. Long story short, two years later I finally had my bird flying again and I’m very pleased with the results. The single most time consuming mod (there were many) was my decision to install hydraulically actuated inner gear doors (main gear). This mod required machine work on the half forks, installation of hydraulic sequencing valves along thier associated mounting brackets and net new hydraulic plumbing, beefed up hard points in the wing center section for the inner gear door hydraulic actuators, new wheels/brakes and new sandwich core carbon fiber inner gear doors. The gear doors gobbled a tremendous amount of time (shaping the new “bulge” that would ultimately become the plug for the molds, building the molds (tooling gel coat pre-released from the plugs on the first two attempts), and finally prepping the molds (wet sanding, polishing, waxing) to build the gear doors via vacuum infusion. Anyway, I only mention these things to give you some idea that I love the creative design process and I’m very hands on… Now that my bird is flying again I’m interested in finding other areas to reduce drag and increase speed. I’d love to find a software (CAD? CFD?) package that a stock Glasair III can be imported into and modified to experiment with different mods to see their affect on drag/top speed. Areas of interest: FUSALAGE SIDES in the area of the wing trailing edge – I’ve read that this is a fairly “draggy” area for the Glasair due to divergent airflow – the ideal software would allow me to change the shape of the fuselage in this area and run CFD? analysis to improve flow. COWL COOLING INLET SIZE / COWL SHAPE – this is another area that I’d like to play with to try and reduce drag. WING AIRFOIL – I read an article once that suggested the airfoil the Glasair designer selected is actually a horrible choice for the airplane and as such I’d like to play with some different airfoils to try and reduce drag (would the software then be able to tell me if design changes are needed to the horizontal stabilizer [area/incidence] or wing [incidence] with the new airfoil? – I’ve read “GA Airfoils by Harry Riblet” with great interest)
Ultimately, I’d love the software to be able to export a 3D CAD model to a composites company to have them CNC a plug/mold that I would then use to produce a limited number of parts that in turn could be sold to other Glasair owners looking to nurse a few more knots out of their airplanes.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Ultimately, I’d love the software to be able to export a 3D CAD model to a composites company to have them CNC a plug/mold that I would then use to produce a limited number of parts that in turn could be sold to other Glasair owners looking to nurse a few more knots out of their airplanes.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
