The Work of Wings

Have you noticed the curved shape of a bird's wing? An airplane's wing
is curved also. A wing is designed for flight. It has a special shape called
an airfoil. Airfoil shapes can be found on wings, fans and propellers. The
airfoil shape provides a lifting force when air flows around it. An airfoil
has a thicker; rounded leading edge (front end) and a very thin trailing
edge (or back end). In between the leading and trailing edge it is curved
both on the top and bottom surfaces. The top surface usually has a
greater curve (or hump) than the bottom surface. When a surface is
curved we say it has camber.

An airfoil takes advantage of Bernoulli's Principle. Since the top surface

of the wing has more camber than the bottom surface, the air flows
faster over the top of the wing than it does underneath. This means that
there is less air pressure above the wing than there is beneath the wing.
The difference in air pressure above and below the wing causes lift.

How much lift does a wing make?

The amount of lift depends on these things:

1. the wing's airfoil shape

2. size (area) and shape of the wing
3. angle of attack
4. density of the air
5. speed of flight
The wing's airfoil shape:
An airfoil shape is used to give the greatest lift possible to an airplane. A
flat plate held at the proper angle of attack does generate lift, but also
generates a lot of drag. Sir George Cayley and Otto Lilienthal during the
1800's showed that curved surfaces generate more lift and less drag than
flat surfaces. Early research also showed that a round leading edge and a

sharp, flat trailing edge add to a wing's ability to generate more lift and
less drag.

Let's construct step-by-step an airfoil section.

A. The length of the airfoil section is determined by placing the leading
and trailing edges their desired distance apart. This length is called the
chord line.

B. Add curvature with the camber line. The amount of curvature is

determined by the camber line. This curvature greatly helps generate lift.

C. Add thickness above the camber line. The amount of thickness that is
added will depend on the amount of strength needed in the wing and the
speed the airplane will usually fly.

D. Add the same amount of thickness below the camber line.

E. Now you have an airfoil shape.

Different airfoil shapes generate different amounts of lift and drag. If an

airplane is being designed to fly at low speed (0 - 100 mph), it will have
a different airfoil shape than an airplane designed to fly at supersonic
speed (760 - 3,500 mph). That's because the air flows in slightly
different ways at different speeds and at different altitudes. In general,
low to medium speed airplanes have airfoils with more thickness and
camber.
Because the airplane is not moving through the air very fast the wing
needs to generate as much lift as possible at a slower speed. The air
density at lower altitudes is greater. More molecules in the air generate
more lift than fewer molecules in the same amount of air. Greater
camber gives greater lift at slower speeds. At faster speeds (supersonic)
and at higher altitudes airfoil shapes need to be thinner. That's because
when flying close to or at the speed of sound a shock wave forms at the
nose of the airplane. NASA researchers discovered that a thin airfoil
delays the formation of the shock wave. This reduces drag that is caused
as the airplane moves through the shock wave.
During the 1940's, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
(NACA) did research on different airfoil shapes. Their investigations
gave results that are still used today to influence the design of new
aircraft.

Size (area) and shape of the wing:

When engineers design a new airplane, the size and shape of the wings
are very important to efficient flight. Wings provide the majority of the
lift for an airplane, but wings also cause drag. Air flowing over the top
of a wing also tends to flow inward toward the fuselage. Meanwhile the
air flowing underneath the wing tends to flow outward. As these two
airflows meet along the trailing edge of the wing, they form a rotating
column of air that extends from the wingtips. This is called a wingtip
vortex. These are visible from a passenger's seat next to the wing on
humid days, cold, moist mornings or flying through mist.

Energy is lost in the process of making lift because of the airflow around
the wingtips. A wingtip vortex generates a lot of drag. If the lift is spread
out over a longer wingspan, the effects of the wingtip vortex are not as
great. Engineers have found that designing wings with greater aspect
ratio lessens that drag. Aspect ratio is a comparison between the length
and width of a wing.

Let's do the math. We will keep all other things about the wing the same
(weight, airfoil shape, material that the wing is made out of, speed at
which the airplane is designed to fly, things like that). We first measure
the wing's length and width. We then perform our calculation: length
divided by width. Our answer (the quotient) will imply just how great

the wingtip drag will be for this wing. The greater the number for aspect
ratio, the less the wingtip drag.
Let's look at an example. Take two wings with the same amount of area
(let's say 100 square units), but with different lengths and widths.

Now figure the aspect ratio for each wing. The wing with the greater
quotient will have less wingtip drag.
Experiments have shown that a wing built with a greater aspect ratio
tends to create less drag than a wing built with a lesser aspect ratio even
when their area remains the same.
Long slender wings like those on a sailplane are called "high aspect
ratio" wings, and are much more efficient at making lift without very

much drag. Low aspect ratio wings like on a fighter airplane have much
more of this type of drag.

The shape of a wing greatly influences the performance of an airplane.

The speed of an airplane, its maneuverability, its handling qualities, all
are very dependent on the shape of the wings. There are, for our
purposes here, 3 basic wing types that are used on modern airplanes:
straight, sweep and delta.
The straight wing is found mostly on small, low-speed airplanes.
General Aviation airplanes often have straight wings. Sailplanes also use
a straight wing design. These wings give the most efficient lift at low
speeds, but are not very good for high speed flight approaching the
speed of sound.

The swept wing (forward swept or sweptback) is the wing design of

choice for most modern high speed airplanes. The swept wing design
creates less drag, but is somewhat more unstable for flight at low speeds.
A high sweep wing delays the formation of shock waves on the airplane

as it nears the speed of sound. How much sweep a wing design is given
depends upon the purpose for which the airplane is designed to be used.
A commercial jetliner has a moderate sweep. This results in less drag,
while maintaining stability at lower speeds. High speed airplanes (like
modern jet fighters) have a greater sweep. These airplanes do not
generate much lift very during low speed flight. Airplanes with sweep
need to take off and land at high speeds.

From above, a delta wing looks like a large triangle. It has a high sweep
with a straight, trailing edge. Because of this high sweep, airplanes with
this wing are designed to reach supersonic speeds. The landing speed of
these delta-winged aircraft is also fairly fast. This wing shape is found
on the supersonic transport Concorde and the Space Shuttles.

Angle of attack:
A wing moves into the airstream (through the air molecules). This
airstream is also moving toward the wing. Tilt the wing up and angle

forms between the chord line and the oncoming airstream. This angle is
called the angle of attack.

As long as the airflow can move smoothly over and under the wing, the
lift will increase along with the angle of attack. At a certain point
though, the angle of attack is so great that the smooth (or attached)
airflow cannot follow the shape on the upper side of the wing. The
airflow will then stop following the shape of the wing. The airflow will
spread out and away from the wing's surface. This is called airflow
separation.

Every wing has a particular angle of attack for certain speeds at which
the airflow separates from the wing's surface. This point is called the
stall angle. When an airplane's wing reaches the stall angle, the wing
stops generating lift. (Exploring Aero animation from Lift segment)
Density of the air:
Air density is measured by how tightly compressed the molecules are.
Air molecules in the lower layers of the atmosphere are closer together

than the air molecules in the upper atmosphere. When there are more
molecules in the air (greater density), it is easier to generate lift. Fewer
molecules in the air make it more difficult to generate lift. That's why it
is easier to fly airplanes in the layer of atmosphere closest to the Earth's
surface. There are more molecules closest to the Earth's surface.
Speed of flight:
There is another kind of drag that has to do with compressing air
molecules in the atmosphere. When flying close to the speed of sound or
at the speed of sound (Mach 1), the airflow around an aircraft acts
differently than at slower speeds. As the aircraft moves through the air it
makes pressure waves. These pressure waves stream out away from the
aircraft at the speed of sound. This wave acts just like the ripples through
water after a stone is dropped in the middle of a still pond. At Mach 1 or
during transonic speed (Mach 0.7 - 0.9), the aircraft actually catches up
with its own pressure waves. These pressure waves turn into one big
shock wave. It is this shock wave that buffets the airplane. The shock
wave also creates high drag on the airplane and slows the airplane's
speed. As the airplane passes through the shock wave it is moving faster
than the sound it makes. The shock wave forms an invisible cone of
sound that stretches out toward the ground. When the shock wave hits
the ground it causes a sonic boom that sounds like a loud thunderclap.

The energy lost in the process of compressing the airflow through these
shock waves is called wave drag. This reduces lift on the airplane.