Graphene gliders

This is about Bill Collum's story in Soaring, "New Sailplane
Material". I respect Bill's knowledge and enjoy reading his stories
in Soaring. In it he suggests a 50 Lb 15 meter glider will be
possible and I don't doubt it.

Certainly assembling it would be much easier, but to get reasonable
penetration, wouldn't it need water ballast? Now, many fly without
water but with a 50 Lb airframe, that wouldn't be an option. Every
flight would be 'wet' offsetting the ease of assembly with the water
filling hassle.

You might see an increase in the number of the 12 meter gliders but I
don't see many 12 meter gliders entered in 15 meter contests. No
matter how light, I don't think the performance is really there.

Ultimately, if you reduce the density of a glider to that of air, you
have a glider shaped balloon. What's the L/D of a balloon?

But think what could be done to the aspect ratio.....

Mark

I would add ballast in the form of more lithium polymer batteries, to
drive the electric sustainer motor.

Chris N

On Dec 28, 6:35*pm, Mark Jardini wrote:
But think what could be done to the aspect ratio.....

Mark

Can you say "low Reynolds number?"
UH

On 12/28/2010 6:59 PM, wrote:
On Dec 28, 6:35 pm, Mark wrote:
But think what could be done to the aspect ratio.....

Mark

Can you say "low Reynolds number?"
UH

Curable by speed! :-)

Clearly 'practical graphene' will require extensive, systemic thought (and
probably not a little new 'aereodynamic' research), but my nickel is on it
happening. After all, who can seriously imagine glider designers whining about
having a material so good it *hurts* their ability to improve performance
because it's too light?!?

Regards,
Bob W.

On Dec 28, 7:29*pm, Bob Whelan wrote:
On 12/28/2010 6:59 PM, wrote:

On Dec 28, 6:35 pm, Mark *wrote:
But think what could be done to the aspect ratio.....

Mark

Can you say "low Reynolds number?"
UH

Curable by speed! *:-)

Clearly 'practical graphene' will require extensive, systemic thought (and
probably not a little new 'aereodynamic' research), but my nickel is on it
happening. After all, who can seriously imagine glider designers whining about
having a material so good it *hurts* their ability to improve performance
because it's too light?!?

Regards,
Bob W.

My bet would be designers will use the immense strength to eliminate
Va, Vb and Vne speeds. A glider would reach terminal velocity first.
A higher turbulence penetration speed would facilitate higher inter-
thermal speeds. It would be especially beneficial for high altitude,
long distance XC wave flights. Imagine a 300 knot low pass.

At the SSA Conference in PHL we're doing a session on Future
Composites and I'll be discussing the latest graphene and smart
materials technology. We are indeed approaching a tipping point where
nano-reinforcements and active materials will change the structural
paradigm, which in turn will drive aerodynamic advancements.

Bob

On Dec 28, 5:21*pm, bildan wrote:
This is about Bill Collum's story in Soaring, "New Sailplane
Material". *I respect Bill's knowledge and enjoy reading his stories
in Soaring. *In it he suggests a 50 Lb 15 meter glider will be
possible and I don't doubt it.

Certainly assembling it would be much easier, but to get reasonable
penetration, wouldn't it need water ballast? *Now, many fly without
water but with a 50 Lb airframe, that wouldn't be an option. *Every
flight would be 'wet' offsetting the ease of assembly with the water
filling hassle.

You might see an increase in the number of the 12 meter gliders but I
don't see many 12 meter gliders entered in 15 meter contests. *No
matter how light, I don't think the performance is really there.

Ultimately, if you reduce the density of a glider to that of air, you
have a glider shaped balloon. *What's the L/D of a balloon?

Hype, hype and more hype in Bill Collums story, pure vapor-ware.
Going from a single layer of graphene molecules to a structural part
is not around the corner - unless its the corner of some distant
galaxy. Remember buckyballs? We were going to have string materials
of unbelievable strenght, space elevators everywhere to get payloads
for pennies into orbit, surely a hazard to soaring activities.
In my uneducated view graphene is an oddity for materials researchers
to mull over and write papers, nothing to see here folks, move
along...

Herb, J7

Hype, hype and more hype in Bill Collums story, pure vapor-ware.
Going from a single layer of graphene molecules to a structural part
is not around the corner - unless its the corner of some distant
galaxy. *Remember buckyballs? *We were going to have string materials
of unbelievable strenght, space elevators everywhere to get payloads
for pennies into orbit, surely a hazard to soaring activities.
In my uneducated view graphene is an oddity for materials researchers
to mull over and write papers, nothing to see here folks, move
along...

Herb, J7

Like Herb said, and time for the monthly complaint about Snoaring
Magazine content. Graphene, and advice to use Lemon Pledge in the
centerpiece story about how to clean your canopy. (Hint. Don't) In the
meantime, nothing about how to fly better, what's going on with actual
glider designs we might see in our lifetimes, new instruments under
development, how to fly safer, racing techique, strategy, developments
around the world, new airfoils, modifications and improvements,
interesting places to fly or much else. If they just reprinted
articles from S&G, Gliding international, and other sources it would
be better.

OK, the answer is stop crabbing and write. I'll pony up a contest
corner if the rest of you send in some interesting articles!

John Cochrane

On 12/29/2010 2:22 PM, John Cochrane wrote:


Like Herb said, and time for the monthly complaint about Snoaring
Magazine content. Graphene, and advice to use Lemon Pledge in the
centerpiece story about how to clean your canopy. (Hint. Don't) In the
meantime, nothing about how to fly better, what's going on with actual
glider designs we might see in our lifetimes, new instruments under
development, how to fly safer, racing techique, strategy, developments
around the world, new airfoils, modifications and improvements,
interesting places to fly or much else. If they just reprinted
articles from S&G, Gliding international, and other sources it would
be better.

OK, the answer is stop crabbing and write. I'll pony up a contest
corner if the rest of you send in some interesting articles!

John Cochrane


Well, in all fairness to the SSA members who never write anything, the
problem is with the way that the Board chose the new editor a few years
ago.

The editor of Soaring must be good at two things. First, he must have
wide contacts in the soaring community, and be interested in all the
various topics that John describes above. With that background, he can
approach people for the articles that make for an interesting magazine.

Second, the editor must know how to produce a magazine.

Ideally, the Board would have hired a part-time editor who was good at
the first, and a full-time assistant editor who was good at the second.
As a team, they could turn out a good magazine.

But instead the Board looked for a single person to do both jobs. Maybe
there are people out there who would be good at both, but the present
editor is not the right fellow. He probably is quite qualified at the
second job described above, but certainly not at the first.