Airfoils, Lift and Bernoullis Principal

History
Ancient Discoveries
Chinese and kites Early flight explorers Lilienthal and Cayley in the 1800s

Camber
Top of the airfoil curved like a hump

Airfoil

Airfoil

Trailing Edge

Leading Edge
Angle of Attack

Bernoullis Principle
The pressure of a fluid decreases as the speed of the fluid increases
The principle was first discovered in the 1700s. When a fluid moves quickly, its pressure decreases. Since air is considered a fluid, this principle can be applied to the design of a wing.

Lift
Bernoullis Principle
When a fluid moves fast, its pressure decreases. Since air is considered a fluid, this principle can be applied to the design of a wing.

Bernoullis Principle

Both streams must meet at the end of the wing at the same time. Stream A has farther to go; therefore, it must travel faster.

Bernoullis Principle
Bernoulli proved that as fluids move faster, their pressure decreases. This principle explains why a plane rises.

Factors that Affect Lift

The Object: Shape and Size The Motion: Velocity and Angle of Attack The Air: Mass, Viscosity, Compressibility

Factors that Affect Lift

The Object Wing geometry
Airfoil shape Wing size Aspect ratio: Mathematical relationship between the wing span (overall length) to the wing area

Factors that Affect Lift

Motion Move the object
Velocity (speed) Angle of attack (how the object is tipped toward the wind)

Factors that Affect Lift

Air Mass
Viscosity
Stickiness

Compressibility
Springiness

Density Altitude
Density of air molecules at a given altitude

Airfoil Shapes and Lift

Wing or Airfoil?
Airfoil is a shape designed to generate as much lift as possible while incurring as little drag as possible. The wing is attached to a plane and must take into consideration drag and the lift created.

Angles and Airfoils

Angle of Incidence
The tilt of the wing with respect to its attachment to the body of the airplane (fuselage)

Angles and Airfoils

Angle of Attack
The tilt of the airfoil with respect to the airflow

Angles and Airfoils

Tilt with respect to airflow

Airflow must remain smooth

Small angle of attack; air flows smooth on the surface

Angles and Airfoils

Angle of attack becomes too steep
Airflow is disrupted and the airplane loses lift or stalls Critical Angle of Attack is the point where it stalls

Angles and Airfoils

Causes of stall
Flying at too steep an angle Real-life flying situations
Sudden gust of wind decreases the planes forward speed, decreasing the airflow over the wing Flying too slow (indicated airspeed)

Wing icing
Changes the shape of the airfoil

Amount of Lift
Amount of lift produced by an airfoil depends on may factors
Angle of attack Lift devices used (flaps, etc.) Density of the air Area of the wing Shape of the wing Speed at which the wing is traveling

Now follow along as we prove Bernoullis Principle is True!

Image Resources
Aerospaceweb.org. (2009). Ask-Us Parts of an airplane. Retrieved June 26, 2009, from http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/design/q0101.shtml Microsoft, Inc. (2008). Clip art. Retrieved June 26, 2009, from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). (n.d.). Virtual skies: Aeronautics tutorial. Retrieved June 24, 2009, from http://virtualskies.arc.nasa.gov/aeronautics/tutorial/intro.html National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). (n.d.). FoilSimU beta version 1.5a. Retrieved June 19, 2009, from http://www.lerc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/aerosim/applet/vj402.html