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9.1. The Finite Wing. TTp to this point we have considered only twotlimensional flow and have carried that development up to its current
stabus as a coherent phase of aerodynamics. Now we shall turn our
atkention to the finite wing and see what effect freeing the tips has on its
performance.
The basic mechanism of flight was understood and practiced (with
gliders) a long time ago. Many theorists became interested in its problems, and a decade before the first powered flight Lanchester (born 1868)
in England postulated the type of flow that would be experienced by a
finite wing. I n a paper in 1894 which later led to the publication of his
book "Aerodynamics"* in 1907 (Ref. 9.1) he stated that the high pressure beneath the wings would spill out around the tips into the lowpressure region above the wings, forming vortices which would stream
out behind the wing. These vortices would (he continued) roll up into
two main trailing vortices of opposite sign, located one behind each tip,
and would be deflected do\vnward. Further, their effect upon the flow
a t the wing would tip the resultant force vector back, causing a component of the lift t o become induced drag. It is evident that Lanchester
clearly understood this phenomenon when it is noted that in 1897 he
secured a patent covering the use of end plates a t the wing tips to minimize the spillage there-six years before the Wright brothers' flight!
Although Lanchest,er's work was mathematical in scope, his presentation was not, and it remained to Pra,ndt,l (born 1875) t o extend the work
of Lan~hest~er
into the Prandtl lifting-line theory (Ref. 9.2) presented in
191 1 and developed in tlhe following pages.
9.2. The Trailing Vortices. As Lanchester pointed out, the important
difference in the flow pattern about two- and three-dimensional wings is
traceable t o the difference in spanwise lift distribution, which is in turn
traceable to the disposition of the circulation. The two-dimensional
wing has constant circulation along the span. When we represent the
airfoil by a vortex, its effect ahead of the wing tending to increase the
angle of attack is exactly balanced by the effect behind the wing tending
to decrease it.
* Especially recommended to the student for its historical value.
181
182
from bound
2%
(b)
FIG.9.1. Downwash velocity for infinite ( a ) and finite (b) wings. (The finite-wing vdue of
2wo is for a. first-approximation elliptic wing.) (Reproduced by permission from "Principles
of Aerodynamics" by James H . Dwinnell, published by McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc..
1949.)
vertical induced velocities ahead and behind the wing no longer cancel,
as the air behind the wing is affected by the downthrust on the wing
circulation and the trailing vortices, while the air ahead of the wing is
affected almost entirely by the upward component of the \iring circulation
(see Fig. 9.1). (The effect of the trailing vortices is very small ahead of
the wing.) Finally, the whole field behind the wing has a downward
inclination whose vertical component is called the downwash, and at the
T H E FIlVITE W I N G
183
184
185
discovered that a t a distance of one chord from the wing trailing edge the
downwash angles were matched within 0.3"by a simple point vortex field.
While we have just discussed the case of constant circulation across
the span, i t may be seen by reference to Fig. 9.4 that any symmetrical
(or, indeed, unsymmetrjcal) spanwise distribution of lift may be simulated by a number of superimposed closed vortex systems. In actuality,
these small vortices, shed a t every change of circulation on the span,
roll up into the tip vortices and move them slight,ly toward the plane of
---,
/
- - --
Actual lift
distribution
(a)
FIG.9.4. Theoretical vortex pattern for arbitrary distribution of circulation along the span.
roll-up of shed vortices neglected. (Reproduced hy permission from "Principles of Aerodynamics" by James H. Dwinnell, published by McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1949.)
186
9.3. The Biot-Savart Law. Before \ye can actually calculate the
effect of the trailing vortices, it is necessary to develop vortex laws for
three-dimensional flow. Added value may be attached to this particular
development as i t embraces nearly every aerodynamic and vector principle studied so far.
First let us recall some of the rules and definitions of the velocity
potential. 4 has been defined by t,he relation
uAa
= $q.ds
(9.4)
187
THE F I N I T E W I N G
away will be
q = B
4nr2
(9.5)
Potential
==
qr dr
42w2
--
47ra
(9.8)
or for a sink
4a = 4na
If we call the source intensity Q1,
the potential at P due to elemental
area d A of the doublet is
FIG.9.8.
188
where a, and as are the distances from P to the proper source and sink
elements.
We see, however (Fig. 9.9), that
where hl is the distance between
source and sink sheets, and hence
We may drop the subscript on the a2 term as with hl small and a >> hl,
aig aa,and in the term where a2 appears the difference between ai and
a, is inconsequential.
Equation (9.9) is then
Now consider the flow between upper and lower sheets. Except for a
very small (but important) amount, the entire flow is from source to
sink between the sheets. For a square-foot area the quantity is Q1cu f t
per sec, and hence the velocity developed from upper to lower sheet is
numerically equal t o Q1f t per sec. 4 s this takes place along a distance
hl, we see the rise in potential = velocity X distance = Qlhl.
As we have defined the flow as producing a rise in potential equal to
bhe vortex strength (or I?), then Qlhl = I' and Eq. (9.13) becomes
Equation (9.14) relates the velocity potential with the circulation but
is not yet in a usable form. Indeed, from a practical standpoint, we
shall want to change it to another general form.
Now, return t,o the vortex-sheet concept, and put a small unit spherical
surface about the point P (Fig. 9.10a). From Fig. 9.10b the projection of
d A perpendicular to a is essentially d A cos a, and, assuming d A cos a
to be square, the rays from d A to P will define a small "square" (or
189
solid angle w ) on the surface of the sphere. On the unit sphere the projection will be inversely proportional to the square of the distance, or
d A cos a
dw = a2
We seek q due t o the vortex of strength I', and our development so far
tells us that q is a function of the solid angle w. I t is apparent that w
would change if the point P were moved from the surface or, equally,
if the vortex surface were moved from the point. The latter approach,
it develops, is easiest to analyze. We must move the sheet along a, hold-
190
BASIC JPI'lrC A S D A I R F O I L T H E O R )
T H E FINITE WING
a3
(9.20)
As we have moved the vortex sheet parallel to itself only, the direction
and length of dr is constant. Hence we may remove dr from the integral
[Eq. (9.21)] as follows:
fdT,
du = dr
(9.22)
To digress a moment,
dr-Vw
d r - f y
and
Substituting in Eq. (9.18),
&/,
,
ds sin 9
a dB
d~ = sin 0
192
01 and when s = B, 0 =
02,
and, sub-
I'
Equation (9.27) is a common form of the Biot-Savart law. I t demonstrates first of all that, as the vortex segment is approached, the induced
9 "
(9.28)
q,h.
el
e3 = 0 and
Of interest is the fact that the induced velocity exists beyond the
"end" of a vortex, although its value is small (Fig. 9.13).
The replacing of a wing by a simple lifting-line vortex and the proper
use of the Biot-Savart law are illustrated in subsequent chapters.
193
9.4. Downwash at the Wing for Any Spanwise Distribution of Circulation. Undoubtedly the most important effect of the trailing vortices
FIG.9.13. Values of induced velocity near the "end" of a vortex segment, I'
It per sec.
=400~
sq
is the increase of drag they produce through altering the flow angle a t
the wing. Secondarily, the manner in which they alter the flow at the
wing is important, too, as usually the induced velocity is not constant
across the span, and the local angle
of attack varies over a large range.
Let us call the downwash velocity w and the wing span b. Orient
the wing so that the x axis coincides with the forward airplane
longitudinal axis, the y axis coin- 1:
cides with the bound, or lifting,
vortex, and the z axis is downward.
(Downwash is positive in the downward direction.)
Yz
Since the circulation decreases toFro. 9.14.
ward the tips (it must be zero at the
tip), between the points y and y
dy on the span the circulation changes
+--
- ar
-dy.
a~
-------
191
Equation (9.31) hence defines the amount of downwash that will occur
at point yl for any arbitrary distribution of circulation described by
dr
-.
8~
Using the local down~vashw, ~i-emay then find the local angle of
attack and local lift and finally the approximate span load distribution.
Repeating the process, we could in theory find the actual span loading
by eliminating the effect of each new downwash distribution on the
original assumed span loading. However, the problem is extremely
complex, and we shall usually confine ourselves to considering a uniform
or an elliptic span loading in this and the following chapter. (In Chap. 12
two methods for getting the span loading for arbitrary planforms are
discussed.)
9.5. Downwash at the Wing for Elliptic Distribution of Circulation.
Before proceeding further it is in order to discuss the terms span loading,
spanwise lift distribution, and spanwise lift coeficient distribution. Since
[Eq. (4.4)]the lift is a function only
of the density, velocity, and circulation, for a given set of conditions
an elliptic distribution of circulation would also be an elliptic distribution of lift. However, the relation between the section lift and
the section lift coefficient involves
no.9.15.
the local chord, and hence elliptic
lift or distribution of circulation may or may not mean elliptic distribution of cl. I n fact, the only case where all three distributions are elliptic
is that of the properly twisted rectangular wing.
Proceeding now to the case of elliptic loading ("loading" as we have
seen may be either lift or circulation), we assume a wing that has a circulation roat mid-span which decreases elliptically until it is zero a t the
wing tips (see Fig. 9.15). We write
or
Then
195
Substituting into Eq. (9.31), we get that the downwash a t point yl on the
span is
The integrations of Eq. (9.35) is complicated by the fact that the value
of the integrand is infinite when y = yl, b/2 or -b/2.
The complete
integration is given in Appendix 3, and we may hence state
But yl is any point on the span, and hence this relation applies to every
point on the span.
-M
197
198
(9.43)
a, = -
as is shown in Fig. 9.18. The changes in lift and velocity are small and
may be neglected, but the effect on
drag may be large.
Considering the dragwise component
of the lift Di,we have
L
D,
(3
L tan a; = L -
(9.44)
D, = (p/2) V 2rb2
(9.45)
FIG.9.18.
Multiplying both sides of the equation by V and dividing by 550 to get horsepower we have, since the lift
must equal the weight W in steady unaccelerated flight,
Equation (9.47) demonstrates that the horsepower required to overcome induced drag is a function of the s p a n loading, the velocity, and the
density and gives a clearer insight into the problem than the usual
CL*
CDi = T A.R.
T H E FINITE W I N G
199
which may be found from Eq. (9.45). Equation (9.48) seems t o indicate that induced drag is a function of aspect ratio, where, more accurately, only the drag coefiient varies with aspect ratio, and the area
changes t h a t occur with changing aspect ratio and constant span are
such that. the induced drag remains constant with constant weight and
speed.
It should be noted that Eqs. (9.45), (9.47), and (9.48) were derived
for elliptic loading only.
PROBLEMS
9.1. If a wing of 6 f t chord has a local lift coefficient of 0.6 and is operating in a
100-mph airstream, what is the local circulation?
9.2. Prove that the untwisted elliptic wing gives elliptic distribution of circulation.
9.3. What is the downwash in feet per second at the wing centerline of a wing
with uniform loading if its lift is 10,000 Ib, span 30 ft, V = 200 mph, and the air
standard sea-level density?
9.4. Find the induced velocity 4 ft from a doubly infinite vortex of strength
r = 30 sq f t per sec.
REFERENCES