Hi;
I would like to know something about wing area calculations, for the purposes of calculating wing loading.
Basically I want to know if one uses the "gross" wing area, including the fuselage, or just the wing itself. Should be clear, but let's take the simplest possible case as an example for this.
A monoplane, gross weight 1000 pounds.
Say the wing span is 25 feet. The chord is 4 feet. There's no taper to the wing. The fuselage, where it attaches to the wing, is 2 feet wide.
So, is the wing area, for purposes of wing loading calcs 25 x 4 = 100 square feet?
Or is it (25 x 4) - (2x4) = 92 square feet?
Taking it to the next step, is the wing loading 1000 pounds over 100 sq ft = 10 lbs/sq ft?
Or is it 1000/92 = 10.87 lbs/sq ft?
Which ever is the answer, is it the same calc method for all aircraft, at least of the conventional monoplane design?
This has probably been asked 8 zillion times, but maybe 8 zillion and one is the charm.
Thanks all, Tom.
I would like to know something about wing area calculations, for the purposes of calculating wing loading.
Basically I want to know if one uses the "gross" wing area, including the fuselage, or just the wing itself. Should be clear, but let's take the simplest possible case as an example for this.
A monoplane, gross weight 1000 pounds.
Say the wing span is 25 feet. The chord is 4 feet. There's no taper to the wing. The fuselage, where it attaches to the wing, is 2 feet wide.
So, is the wing area, for purposes of wing loading calcs 25 x 4 = 100 square feet?
Or is it (25 x 4) - (2x4) = 92 square feet?
Taking it to the next step, is the wing loading 1000 pounds over 100 sq ft = 10 lbs/sq ft?
Or is it 1000/92 = 10.87 lbs/sq ft?
Which ever is the answer, is it the same calc method for all aircraft, at least of the conventional monoplane design?
This has probably been asked 8 zillion times, but maybe 8 zillion and one is the charm.
Thanks all, Tom.
