Newest Sailplane in the world on display at the 2016 SSA convention

On Mon, 08 Feb 2016 21:36:04 -0800, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:

I care that is why I commented. usually the air likes smooth
transitions. If you view the photos on FB there are hard bends in the
wing. I wonder what the purpose is, why they are not smooth transitions
and is there any separation on the hard edges of the bends?

You get interference drag at any dihedral break, but the amount of drag
is not linearly related to the angle between the panels. Consequently,
all other things being equal, a six panel wing will have less drag than a
four panel wing with the same span and tip height because the angles
between the panels are less.

At least, that is what I've heard from wing designers who know a lot more
about such matters than than I do. My design experience is limited to
free flight F1J power models and F1A gliders. I've usually designed and
built my own models and got decent competition results with them.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |