3 ms·
Thanks for the long post! I want at the very least to just get my derivation and results reviewed. I hope to avoid minutia of academic formatting, diction, etc
by lordvon 8y ago
Thanks for the long post!
I want at the very least to just get my derivation and results reviewed. I hope to avoid minutia of academic formatting, diction, etc. before getting any reviews...
Honestly, it's a really simple idea with significant consequences (if correct, of course). I have written a full draft and it is no more than 3 pages. Basically all aerospace engineering undergrads get taught early on that airfoil drag is just zero in 2D incompressible and inviscid flows, unless you want to use complicated, empirical viscosity imitation or wake momentum thickness methods (e.g. XFOIL). So my theory if correct would be quite impactful because it is so relevant to what all aerospace undergrads are taught.
My theory asserts that there is an omission of physics that is fundamental to understanding airfoil lift and drag, and how they are physically coupled. In my theory, drag is calculated as naturally as lift is, unlike what is currently taught. Although I strongly believe the physics and derivation are correct, I would not be confident enough to submit it for review if the results didn't match so well with airfoil experimental data (NACA TR-824).
I basically want my theory disproven or validated by qualified people. After that, I don't mind conforming to whatever minutia towards publication.
- gus_massa 8y ago> Basically all aerospace engineering undergrads get taught early on that airfoil drag is just zero in 2D incompressible and inviscid flows, [...] Don't you need some adicional hypothesis, like that all the path integrals of the wind field are zero? Most of the easy part of the analysis of the lift in a wing assumes that air is inviscid (except for the initial generation of the vortex around the wing). [And if the speed is much smaller than the speed of sound, you can approximate that the fluid is incompressible.] For example see https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/cyl.html https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/cyl.html
- lordvon 8y agoI am not sure what you are trying to say. Thin Airfoil Theory and Vortex Panel Methods all predict zero drag. XFOIL predicts drag by tacking on a wake momentum thickness method.