Sweepback and Wing Taper: The Effect of Sweepback on the Lift, Drag, and Aerodynamic Centre of a Tapered Wing

Abstract

1. IN R. & M. 2596 and another report, the I latter concerned mainly with compressibility effects, the writer has considered the aerodynamic loading due to incidence of a number of wings of varying aspect ratio and sweep‐back. The information given in these reports was obtained by the use of a lattice of vortices for the computation of downwash and by the subsequent determination of the constants in the equation representing the vortex sheet. It is well known that the potential solutions obtained by this simplified representation are not necessarily of more than moderate accuracy when applied to problems in which wing thickness and viscosity are present, and those published have not been carried to a degree sufficient to give accurate detailed pressure distribution in the region of a discontinuity. It has, however, been shown in a later report on the measurement of pressure distribution at the surface of a sweptback wing that the accuracy as regards spanwise load grading and local aerodynamic centre is surprisingly good and it has been thought well worth while to extend the range of information provided in the above reports before proceeding to the more complex task of computing the detailed pressure distribution at the surface of a wing with allowance for viscosity.

Citation

Falkner, V.M. (1950), "Sweepback and Wing Taper: The Effect of Sweepback on the Lift, Drag, and Aerodynamic Centre of a Tapered Wing", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 22 No. 10, pp. 296-300. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb031952