How Is Downforce Calculated on an Inclined Plane Using Aerodynamics?

[fredmd3]

How would you go about working out the downforce of an inclined plane if you know the surface area of the wing, the angle of the wing and the windspeed, and obviosly without doing anything in terms of practical work? Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[rcgldr]

obviosly without doing anything in terms of practical work

A wing performs work on the air by accelerating it downwards.

You're also missing some inputs. The chord length (distance front to back) and the wing span (distance from tip to tip) are needed to describe how the wing area is distributed. The area alone isn't enough information.

I didn't have time to do a throurough search to answer your original question. Do a web search for

airfoil polar

and you should be able to sift through all the hits and find an answer for the lift and drag characteritics of a flat board.

 

[charng]

The downforce of an inclined plane can be calculated using the principles of aerodynamics. First, we would need to determine the lift coefficient of the wing at the given angle of inclination and windspeed. This can be done using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations or through experimental data from wind tunnel tests.

Once the lift coefficient is known, we can use the formula for lift force (L = 1/2 * ρ * v^2 * A * CL) to calculate the lift force acting on the wing. Here, ρ represents the air density, v is the windspeed, A is the surface area of the wing, and CL is the lift coefficient.

Since we are interested in the downforce, we would need to calculate the component of the lift force perpendicular to the inclined plane. This can be done by multiplying the lift force by the cosine of the angle of inclination.

In addition, we would also need to consider the weight of the wing itself, which would contribute to the downforce. This can be calculated by multiplying the mass of the wing by the acceleration due to gravity.

Finally, the downforce of the inclined plane can be obtained by subtracting the weight of the wing from the component of the lift force perpendicular to the inclined plane. This would give us a numerical value for the downforce, which can then be further analyzed and interpreted.

In summary, to calculate the downforce of an inclined plane, we would need to determine the lift coefficient, consider the weight of the wing, and use the formula for lift force. This can be done through theoretical calculations or through experimental data.