What are the parts of an airplane wing?
(“There’s… something… out… on… the… wing!” - Twilight Zone)Easy there, Jim! For passengers, let’s start by looking out the window at a typical airliner wing.(Courtesy of history.nasa.gov)Not pictured above are spoilers and vortex generators. Spoilers are large panels on the inboard upper surface of the wing, typically just forward of the inboard flaps. Vortex generators are the row of small vertical fins arranged in a curved line across the mid-chord upper wing surface.For all the aero guys and gals out there, the nomenclature of wing cross sections. These characteristics determine the fundamentals of how the wing performs:(Wikipedia holds forth, as always)And finally, for all you wrench-turners and structural engineers out there, the interior of a classically constructed semi-monocoque wing, shown in various stages of assembly.(Awesome graphics courtesy of the Seattle Times, covering Boeing’s 737 plant)And from here we go from the practical to the nuts and bolts of engineering the performance and functionality of a wing, which Kyle answers.
Why do older planes have double levels of wings ?
In layman terms, a plane needs wingspan in order to increase the surface area of which the force lift can act on it. This is because of only one major reason- their engines weren't strong enough.This thus meant that aeroplanes could only fly slowly. This required an even lower stalling speed, which in turn required a low wing loading, combining both large wing area with light weight. A biplane wing of a given span and chord has twice the area of a monoplane the same size and so can fly more slowly, or for a given flight speed can lift more weight. Alternatively, a biplane wing of the same area as a monoplane has lower span and chord, reducing the structural forces and allowing it to be lighter. Given the slow speed and low power of early aircraft, the drag penalty of the wires and struts and the mutual interference of airflows were relatively minor and acceptable factors. As such, in order to increase the surface area of the wings, rather than just horizontally, creating layers of wings was an innovative and successful idea. This helped the early planes (biplanes) to generate lift easily and fly to higher altitudes and if you could beat your enemy's plane, you basically had air superiority. As such, biplanes continued to be in fashion until the invention of better engines, materials and structural design after World War 1 which saw the monoplane replace it.
Why are the tips of some airplane wings bent upward?
In an aircraft wing the lift is produced due to the difference in pressures on the upper and lower side of the wing. The upper side of the wing is subjected to lower pressure and higher velocity air (bernoulli's principle) and the lower side to high pressure. Difference in this pressure leads to a force being exerted on the wing in upward direction called lift force. The tips of the wings that are permenantly bent are called winglets. Due to the pressure difference high pressure air from lower side of the air tries going towards the upper side from the ends in an effort to equalise pressure. Such movement of air causes a vortex to form at the wing tip which results in loss of lift and an additional drag component called vortex drag. The presence of the winglet is an effort to reduce this unwanted migration of air from lower to upper side and thus reduce vortex drag.this type of vortex drag is found in axial compressors. but since there is no way in an axial compressor that a winglet can be fitted, losses are encountered.
Find the pressure difference on an airplane wing where air flows over the upper surface?
with a speed of 120 m/s and along the bottom surface with a speed of 105 m/s. Pa? If the area of the wing is 40 m2, what is the net upward force exerted on the wing? N? (Use the density of air = 1.29 kg/m3 in this problem. Also, you may neglect the thickness of the wing-- though could you do this if it was given?)
Could someone please explain why the lift force acts on the wing of the aeroplane?
this is actually a subject that still invokes controversy among those who write about aviation there are two types of reasons given: a) those invoking Bernoulli's equation b) those using Newton's 2nd law rather than try to describe these in detail, let me refer you to a very good site (that has some nice graphics which I could not possibly reproduce here) that goes through the arguments well...see this link and other pages at the site:
How are the wings of large planes attached so that they can support the weight of the engines and the fuselage without breaking off?
Since the wings of a large aircraft are supporting the fuselage, it is more correct to say that the fuselage (body of the aircraft) is supported or mounted to the wings. While the wings are typically seen as two wings, in reality, they are designed and assembled to become one continuous and complete unit before the fuselage is mounted on it.Note that the current conventional fuselage is typically mounted to the wings by several pairs of hinges and bolts to allow “movement” of the wings. While the gaps between fuselage and wings appear to the general public to be “solidly” connected, they are actually just covered by non-structural fairings to provide aerodynamic smoothness.The wing mounted engines are also supported by just a few hinges! In fact, the hinges are designed just strong enough to withstand the expected loads experienced in normal operations with some safety margins, but “weak” enough that the engine can break away from the wing (or fuselage) when huge unbalanced loads occur such as when the rotor bursts. It is better to lose an engine rather than breaking the wing!