We have probably all seen a wingtip sliced off at a 45-deg angle (see attached fig. 2, similar to a Sonex or RV-12 tip) but what happens if the angle is more severe than 45 degrees (the top surface is assumed to be continuous until it reaches the plane of the slice - see figure 3)? Does the wingtip perform like a Hoerner tip (stall characteristics, spanwise lift distribution, etc.) or something else entirely? I'm guessing that the Reynolds number varies in a linear fashion and that the tip would therefore stall more readily than the straight tapered part of the wing. But if you don't have any aileron outboard of the transition from straight to "sliced," does a tip stall in this region really matter all that much?
Further, if we manipulated the planform of the tip in fig. 3 by stretching the chord a bit where the tip joins the straight-tapered trailing edge (fig. 4) to make it look semi-eliptical, what does this do to performance? This is strictly an aesthetic modification; I'm wondering if the presumably negative effect would be minor, or would just require more analysis to say.
I assume that Bruhn or Raymer's textbook address how to calculate the lift distribution of any of these wings--I don't have the books yet. Is one or the other of them more accessible to the average reader, or should I have both of them on my shelf? I know I need to order Theory of Wing Sections also...
Andy
Further, if we manipulated the planform of the tip in fig. 3 by stretching the chord a bit where the tip joins the straight-tapered trailing edge (fig. 4) to make it look semi-eliptical, what does this do to performance? This is strictly an aesthetic modification; I'm wondering if the presumably negative effect would be minor, or would just require more analysis to say.
I assume that Bruhn or Raymer's textbook address how to calculate the lift distribution of any of these wings--I don't have the books yet. Is one or the other of them more accessible to the average reader, or should I have both of them on my shelf? I know I need to order Theory of Wing Sections also...
Andy
