>From: "Colin" <crain...@cfl.rr.com> >Correct me if I am wrong gang but I have always been taught that winglets >were designed by NASA to reduce/eliminate induced drag caused by high >pressure air attempting to flow around the wingtip instead of smoothly out >the trailing edge from the underside. effectively increasing the lift area >without having to increase the wing area, just add the tip. I much cheaper >fix then adding more wing area etc... >Colin Rainey KR2(td)
Colin, during my commercial training that is what I learned. Their goal was to achieve what they called a "perpetual wing". Their definition of the end of the wing was not the tip but that point on the wing where lateral separation occurred in what you described. As I recall this point varied with speed, more square area at lower speed, less at higher speeds and was much more pronouned with tapered wings, ie., gliders not Cessnas, where the tips were much more narrow than the root. This point may make the addition of winglets to the KR a moot issue with it's relatively short wing and wide chord on the tip. The addition of winglets provided them with a means to definitively determine a constant square area of wing lift. Once again, I know enough about this to be dangerous................as I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night:-) Dana Overall 1999 & 2000 National KR Gathering host Richmond, KY RV-7 slider/fuselage, Imron black, "Black Magic" Finish kit ordered!! Buying Instruments. Hangar flying my Dynon. http://rvflying.tripod.com do not archive >From: "Colin" <crain...@cfl.rr.com> >Correct me if I am wrong gang but I have always been taught that winglets >were designed by NASA to reduce/eliminate induced drag caused by high >pressure air attempting to flow around the wingtip instead of smoothly out >the trailing edge from the underside. effectively increasing the lift area >without having to increase the wing area, just add the tip. I much cheaper >fix then adding more wing area etc... >Colin Rainey KR2(td) _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8: Get 6 months for $9.95/month. http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/dialup
