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220px-Wing.two.arp.600pix INTERVIEW QUESTION: Explain the aerodynamic characteristics of different wings

Research and compare the different types of wing and their aerodynamic effects. Consider some of the following features of wings.

Aircraft wings may feature some of the following:

  • A rounded leading edge cross-section
  • A sharp trailing edge cross-section
  • Leading-edge devices such as slatsslots, or extensions
  • Trailing-edge devices such as flaps or flaperons (combination of flaps and ailerons)
  • Ailerons (usually near the wingtips) to roll the aircraft clockwise or counterclockwise about its long axis
  • Spoilers on the upper surface to disrupt the lift and to provide additional traction to an aircraft that has just landed but is still moving.
  • Vortex generators to help prevent flow separation in transonic flow
  • Wing fences to keep flow attached to the wing by stopping boundary layer separation from spreading
  • Winglets to keep wingtip vortices from increasing drag and decreasing lift
  • Dihedral, or a positive wing angle to the horizontal. This gives inherent stability in the roll direction. Anhedral, or a negative wing angle to the horizontal, has a destabilizing effect
  • Folding wings allow more aircraft storage in the confined space of the hangar deck of an aircraft carrier
  • Variable-sweep wing or "swing wings" that allow outstretched wings during low-speed flight (i.e., take-off and landing) and swept back wings for high-speed flight (including supersonic flight), such as in the F-111 Aardvark, the F-14 Tomcat, the Panavia Tornado, the MiG-23, the MiG-27, the Tu-160 and the B-1B Lancer warplanes

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matf INTERVIEW QUESTION: Explain the aerodynamic characteristics of different wings

 

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