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are in common use in airplane design.

Laminar flow airfoils were originally developed for the purpose of

making an airplane fly faster. The laminar flow wing is usually thinner
than the conventional airfoil, the leading edge is more pointed and its
upper and lower surfaces are nearly symmetrical. The major and most
important difference between the two types of airfoil is this, the
thickest part of a laminar wing occurs at 50% chord while in the
conventional design the thickest part is at 25% chord.
 

The effect achieved by this type of

design of a wing is to maintain the
laminar flow of air throughout a
greater percentage of the chord of
the wing and to control the transition
point. Drag is therefore considerably
reduced since the laminar airfoil
takes less energy to slide through the
air. The pressure distribution on the
laminar flow wing is much more even
since the camber of the wing from
the leading edge to the point of
maximum camber is more gradual
than on the conventional airfoil.
However, at the point of stall, the
transition point moves more rapidly
forward.
 Rear Spar

ront Spar
Types of wings
 Types of wings
›ircraft designers have designed several wing types that have different aerodynamic properties.
These have different shapes and attach to the aircraft body at different angles at different points
along the fuselage. Not all of these planes have a practical use-some have just been use for
research.
The conventional straight wing extends out from the fuselage at approximately right angles. On
early biplanes, one wing often was suspended above the fuselage by some sort of bracing supports
while the second crossed directly under the fuselage. On monoplanes, designers positioned the
wings at different heights depending on the design-some crossed above the fuselage while others
were attached at the lower part of the fuselage.
The swept-back wing extends backward from the fuselage at an angle.
The delta wing looks much like a triangle when viewed from above (or the Greek letter "delta" D.)
It sweeps sharply back from the fuselage with the angle between the front of the wing (the leading
edge) often as high as 60 degrees and the angle between the fuselage and the trailing edge (the
back edge of the wing) at around 90 degrees. The tip of a delta wing is often, but not always, cut
off.
The forward-swept wing gives an airplane the appearance of flying backward. The wing is angled
toward the front of the aircraft and is usually attached to the airplane far back on the fuselage. ›
small wing called a canard is often attached to the fuselage near the front on this type of aircraft.
› variable-sweep wing can be moved during flight-usually between a swept-back position and a
straight position.
The flying wing is an aircraft design where the wing forms virtually the entire airplane and it
sweeps back from the center of the aircraft. The fuselage is a very narrow section in the center that
joins the wings without any seams.
The term "dihedral" is used to describe wings that are angled upward from the fuselage. Dihedral is
the angle at which the wings are slanted upward from the root of the wing (where it is attached to
the fuselage) to the wing tip. "Canards" are small wings placed toward the front of the fuselage.





Selecting the wing span is one of the most basic decisions to made in the
design of a wing. The span is sometimes constrained by contest rules,
hangar size, or ground facilities but when it is not we might decide to use
the largest span consistent with structural dynamic constraints (flutter).
This would reduce the induced drag directly.
However, as the span is increased, the wing structural weight also
increases and at some point the weight increase offsets the induced drag
savings. This point is rarely reached, though, for several reasons. The
optimum is quite flat and one must stretch the span a great deal to reach
the actual optimum.

Concerns about wing bending as it affects stability and flutter mount as

span is increased.

The cost of the wing itself increases as the structural weight increases.
This must be included so that we do not spend 10% more on the wing in
order to save .001% in fuel consumption.

The volume of the wing in which fuel can be stored is reduced.

It is more difficult to locate the main landing gear at the root of the wing.

The Reynolds number of wing sections is reduced, increasing parasite

drag and reducing maximum lift capability.

The wing area, like the span, is chosen based on a wide variety of
considerations including: Cruise drag

Stalling speed / field length requirements

Wing structural weight

uel volume


Wing sweep is chosen almost exclusively for its desirable effect on
transonic wave drag. (Sometimes for other reasons such as a c.g.
problem or to move winglets back for greater directional stability.) It
permits higher cruise Mach number, or greater thickness or CL at a given
Mach number without drag divergence.

It increases the additional loading at the tip and causes spanwise

boundary layer flow, exacerbating the problem of tip stall and either
reducing CLmax or increasing the required taper ratio for good stall.
It increases the structural weight - both because of the increased tip loading,
and because of the increased structural span.

It stabilizes the wing aero elastically but is destabilizing to the airplane.

Too much sweep makes it difficult to accommodate the main gear in the
wing.
 
The distribution of thickness from wing root to tip is selected as follows: We
would like to make the t/c as large as possible to reduce wing weight
(thereby permitting larger span, for example).
Greater t/c tends to increase CLmax up to a point, depending on the high lift
system, but gains above about 12% are small if there at all.
Greater t/c increases fuel volume and wing stiffness.
Increasing t/c increases drag slightly by increasing the velocities and the
adversity of the pressure gradients.

The main trouble with thick airfoils at high speeds is the transonic drag rise
which limits the speed and CL at which the airplane may fly efficiently.

The wing taper ratio (or in general, the planform shape) is determined from
the following considerations: The planform shape should not give rise to an
additional lift distribution that is so far from elliptical that the required twist
for low cruise drag results in large off-design penalties.

The chord distribution should be such that with the cruise lift distribution, the
distribution of lift coefficient is compatible with the section performance.
›void high Cl's which may lead to buffet or drag rise or separation.

The chord distribution should produce an additional load distribution which is

compatible with the high lift system and desired stalling characteristics.

Lower taper ratios lead to lower wing weight.

Lower taper ratios result in increased fuel volume.

The tip chord should not be too small as Reynolds number effects cause
reduced Cl capability.

Larger root chords more easily accommodate landing gear.

Here, again, a diverse set of considerations are important.

The major design goal is to keep the taper ratio as small as possible (to keep
the wing weight down) without excessive Cl variation or unacceptable stalling
characteristics.

Since the lift distribution is nearly elliptical, the chord distribution should be
nearly elliptical for uniform Cl's. Reduced lift or t/c outboard would permit
lower taper ratios.

Evaluating the stalling characteristics is not so easy. In the low speed

configuration we must know something about the high lift system: the flap
type, span, and deflections. The flaps- retracted stalling characteristics are
also important, however (DC-10).

The wing twist distribution is perhaps the least controversial design
parameter to be selected. The twist must be chosen so that the cruise
drag is not excessive. Extra washout helps the stalling characteristics
and improves the induced drag at higher CL's for wings with additional
load distributions too highly weighted at the tips.

Twist also changes the structural weight by modifying the moment

distribution over the wing.

Twist on swept-back wings also produces a positive pitching moment

which has a small effect on trimmed drag. The selection of wing twist
is therefore accomplished by examining the trades between cruise
drag, drag in second segment climb, and the wing structural weight.
The selected washout is then just a bit higher to improve stall.

  ! !
The main function of the wing is to pick up the air and power plant loads and
transmit them to the fuselage. The wing cross-section takes the shape of an
airfoil, which is designed based on aerodynamic considerations. The wing as
a whole performs the combined function of a beam and a torsion member. It
consists of axial members in stringers, bending members in spars and shear
panels in the cover skin and webs of spars. The spar is a heavy beam
running
spanwise to take transverse shear loads and spanwise bending. It is usually
composed of a thin shear panel (the web) with a heavy cap or flange at the
top and bottom to take bending. › typical spar construction is depicted in
ig. 1.11. › multiple-spar wing construction is shown in ig. 1.1.
Wing ribs are planar structures capable of carrying in-plane loads. They
are placed chordwise along the wing span. Besides serving as load
redistributers,
ribs also hold the skin stringer to the designed contour shape.
Ribs reduce the effective buckling length of the stringers (or the
stringer-skin
system) and thus increase their compressive load capability. igure
1.12
shows a typical rib construction. Note that the rib is supported by
spanwise
spars.
The cover skin of the wing together with the spar webs form an efficient
torsion member. or subsonic airplanes, the skin is relatively thin and may
be designed to undergo postbuckling. Thus, the thin skin can be assumed
to make no contribution to bending of the wing box, and the bending
moment
is taken by spars and stringers. igure 1.13 presents two typical wing
cross-sections for two-spar subsonic aircraft. One type (ig. 1.13a) consists
only of spars (the concentrated flange type) to take bending. The other type
(the distributed flange type, ig. 1.13b) uses both spars and stringers to
take bending.
Supersonic airfoils are relatively thin compared with subsonic airfoils. To
withstand high surface air loads and to provide additional bending capability
of the wing box structure, thicker skins are often necessary. In addition,
to increase structural efficiency, stiffeners can be manufactured (either by
forging or machining) as integral parts of the skin.
 wingtip
  " are usually intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-
wing aircraft.[1] There are several types of wingtip devices, and though they
function in different manners, the intended effect is always to reduce the
aircraft's drag by altering the airflow near the wingtips. Wingtip devices can
also improve aircraft handling characteristics and enhance safety for
following aircraft. Such devices increase the effective aspect ratio of a wing
without materially increasing the wingspan. ›n extension of span would
lower lift-induced drag, but would increase parasitic drag and would require
boosting the strength and weight of the wing. ›t some point, there is no
net benefit from further increased span. There may also be operational
considerations that limit the allowable wingspan (i
, available width at
airport gates).
 Winglet
Stretching wingspan or increasing aspect ratio certainly reduces induced drag.
Designers, though,
have to balance the benefits of less induced drag against the costs of structural
weight increases,
more parasitic drag or cost considerations. or those reasons, they've often fitted
their aircraft with
winglets during the last two decades. The trend is increasing.
Winglets work because they efficiently produce aerodynamic side forces that divert
the inflow of air
from the tip vortex. That takes a rather sophisticated small wing, one that is sized,
shaped, cambered
and canted for a specific application and mounted on the wingtip where it will
produce the most
benefit and the least drag. › simple, large end plate would block the vortex, but an
increase in span
produces a much better lift-to-drag improvement because it is a more-efficient lifting
surface than a
flat sheet of metal or composite.
The winglet has a tip, just like a wing, so it also produces a tip vortex, albeit a much
weaker one. The
winglet's tip vortex is located far above the airflow over the wing, thus it has little
influence on the
airflow over the main wing. Whitcomb said that winglets might be termed "vortex
diffusers."
Winglet
 Winglet

the main purpose and direct benefit

of winglets are reduced airplane drag.
 Winglet

the main purpose and direct benefit of winglets are reduced airplane drag.