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#1
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Why don't wings have dimples?
Hi all,
I always wanted to build my own airplane but the time and money has eluded me. So I've decided to design and build my own recumbent trike, with farings. This brings me to my question, if golf balls have dimples, to help them sail further, why don't wings -- especially for STOL aircraft? Would putting dimples in my faring reduce my wind resistance? Just curious. Chris |
#2
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Why don't wings have dimples?
"Dancing Fingers" wrote in message
ups.com... Hi all, I always wanted to build my own airplane but the time and money has eluded me. So I've decided to design and build my own recumbent trike, with farings. This brings me to my question, if golf balls have dimples, to help them sail further, why don't wings -- especially for STOL aircraft? Would putting dimples in my faring reduce my wind resistance? Just curious. Chris Dimples work on round things under a relativly narrow range of reynolds numbers (a function of speed, size and properties of air) by helping keep the boundry layer attached. Golf balls happen to fit into that range and have the right shape. Gliders sometimes use "turbulator" tape to trip a laminar boundry layer and make it turbulant so it will stay attached longer - but the placement is critical (and only works if you have a very laminar wing to begin with). So, if you are having boundry layer seperation problems due to the shape of your fairing aft of the maximum "thickness", then dimples or other boundry layer devices may or may not help but most likely they will not. -- Geoff The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate. |
#3
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Why don't wings have dimples?
"Dancing Fingers" wrote in message ups.com... Hi all, I always wanted to build my own airplane but the time and money has eluded me. So I've decided to design and build my own recumbent trike, with farings. This brings me to my question, if golf balls have dimples, to help them sail further, why don't wings -- especially for STOL aircraft? Would putting dimples in my faring reduce my wind resistance? Just curious. Chris You may hear stories of the "Golf Ball Effect" improving performance of aircraft - usually from those trying to sell hail damaged aircraft. bildan |
#4
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Why don't wings have dimples?
When air moves past a rotating sphere or cylinder the surface friction can induce a rotational component into the airflow. This shifts the pressure distribution and causes a net lift. The lift allows a golf ball to achieve a longer flight. The dimples 'dirty' the surface and increase this rotational effect. Lift on a wing can be considered in different and equivalent ways. Some of the ways to look at lift from a wing a -Deflection of the ambient air is a mass pushed down which results in a force up on the aircraft. -Faster airflow on the upper surface and slower airflow on the lower surface create a pressure difference and lift. -The wing induces a circulation in the ambient air which can be directly related to lift. It is interesting to note that a vortex in free air must be closed. Just like a common smoke ring. But the wing is finite. The vortex peels off the wing in an approximately elliptical distribution across the span and is left behind both wing tips as the aircraft flys away. Aside from friction eventually stopping the circulation a few minutes after the aircraft is passed, theoretically the vortex continues back behind the flight path all the way to the runway where the plane took off where the first inch of movement of the wing began a very small vortex and very small lift. A baseball pitcher gets a similar effect when the spinning ball does not sink as fast as it should thus fooling the batter. On the other hand a knuckle ball appears to stagger like it was drunk and makes the batter queasy. eww! James Dancing Fingers wrote: Hi all, I always wanted to build my own airplane but the time and money has eluded me. So I've decided to design and build my own recumbent trike, with farings. This brings me to my question, if golf balls have dimples, to help them sail further, why don't wings -- especially for STOL aircraft? Would putting dimples in my faring reduce my wind resistance? Just curious. Chris |
#5
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Why don't wings have dimples?
Dancing Fingers wrote: Hi all, I always wanted to build my own airplane but the time and money has eluded me. So I've decided to design and build my own recumbent trike, with farings. This brings me to my question, if golf balls have dimples, to help them sail further, why don't wings -- especially for STOL aircraft? Would putting dimples in my faring reduce my wind resistance? Just curious. Chris Because wings are'nt supposed to spin, or hook, or slice. MadDog "The early bird may often get the worm, but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese". |
#6
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Why don't wings have dimples?
Actually, Vortex Generators on wings are a common device for increasing
usable angle of attack, on everything from supercubs to airliners. The idea is similar to your golfball dimples. Cause turbulence in the air flowing over the wing, thus allowing it to continue to follow the wing surface a bit longer. There is some engineering data in the NACA web library. This was all I found with a quick search, but there may be more. http://naca.larc.nasa.gov/reports/19...-rm-e53l15.pdf "Dancing Fingers" wrote in message ups.com... Hi all, I always wanted to build my own airplane but the time and money has eluded me. So I've decided to design and build my own recumbent trike, with farings. This brings me to my question, if golf balls have dimples, to help them sail further, why don't wings -- especially for STOL aircraft? Would putting dimples in my faring reduce my wind resistance? Just curious. Chris |
#7
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Why don't wings have dimples?
Dancing Fingers wrote:
if golf balls have dimples, to help them sail further, why don't wings because birds hav'nt.... -- Pub: http://www.slowfood.fr/france Philippe Vessaire Ò¿Ó¬ |
#8
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Why don't wings have dimples?
In article . com,
"Dancing Fingers" wrote: Hi all, I always wanted to build my own airplane but the time and money has eluded me. So I've decided to design and build my own recumbent trike, with farings. This brings me to my question, if golf balls have dimples, to help them sail further, why don't wings -- especially for STOL aircraft? Would putting dimples in my faring reduce my wind resistance? Just curious. Chris First of all, golf balls have dimples because in order to create lift they need to influence the air passing by them with the golf ball's spin. The dimples help to make the air slow down beneath the ball and speed up above it; creating downward flow. Wings produce that downward flow with their shape. |
#9
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Why don't wings have dimples?
Dancing Fingers wrote:
if golf balls have dimples, to help them sail further, why don't wings Philippe Vessaire wrote: because birds hav'nt.... Dang. That's a lot of feathers for the fellow to have to glue to his wings. Daniel |
#10
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Why don't wings have dimples?
A few years ago someone was marketing a perforated tape to stick on your propeller leading edges to act as vortex generators, improving thrust and therefore performance. I have never seen any of this stuff on a prop, and don't know if it was worthwhile or just another of the gimmicks to get a poor pilot's money. Anybody else see it? Dan |
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