motorgliders as towplanes

On 19 Mar, 19:48, Martin Gregorie
wrote:

There is a question in the UK Bronze badge written paper about the
proportion of lift provided by the top and bottom surfaces of a wing
that's just as wrong. The so-called "correct" answer is 70/30, but as a
wing is a device for imparting momentum to an air mass its a meaningless
question.

Oh no. Not that one.

At the surface of the wing, it exerts a force on the air mass. A long
distance away (typically 2 chord lengths) it's a momentum change. In
between the effect of the wing is a pressure change /and/ a momentum
change.

Overall, the integrated pressure across the top surface is about 70%
of the total lift force, and the intergrated pressure across the
bottom surface is about 30% of the total lift.

Significance? Irregularities on the top surface will reduce lift by
more than the same irregularities on the bottom surface. Hence top-
surface-only airbrakes: they are more effective there than underneath,
because they destroy more lift, necessitating a bigger and draggier
change of AoA to compensate.

Ian