A supercritical airfoil is designed for delaying the shock wave and the onset of wave drag when the aircraft in flying in subsonic speed. The supercritical airfoil usually has a flattened upper surface, a highly cambered or curved aft section and greater leading-edge radius.
By using the supercritical airfoil, jet aircraft could have a higher critical Mach number without having a large sweep angle which benefits the low-speed aerodynamic characteristics and also improves the fuel efficiency.
Typical examples of aircraft using the supercritical airfoil design are the Boeing 777,787 and all the Airbus commercial jet fleet.
Bernoulli's principle and air deflection create the total aerodynamic force and it can be resolved into two vectors - vertical one is the lift and conquers the weight of the aircraft and the horizontal one is the byproduct induced drag.
The high-pressure air below the wing likes to swirl around the wingtip towards the low-pressure above the wing. The twisting vortex forms behind the wing deflecting the behind airflow downward.
And, it results in the lift vector tilting backward in contributing to total drag.
So in an order word, the higher the pressure diff created by AOA, the downwash would be stronger. And the stronger the induced drag and wingtip vortex. Is it also means, once the aircraft approaching critical AOA, separation is happening, and that would hv less drag on the aircraft?Thanks
@9up ATVpilot haha. This is a great question because I don't know. But I guess the total drag is greater.
After reaching the critical AoA, the wing is unable to generate sufficient lift (but not zero lift I must say!) due to the separation of airflow above the aerofoil.
However, the airflow seperation causes the turbulent flow there, this causes drag. Plus, the horizontal vector of the total aerodynamic force, which is induced drag, is larger than before due to large AoA.
That's absolutely Induced drag.Because the downwash from the trailing edge of the wingIt will produce the horizontal component which is drag.Please correct me if i make something wrong!
@Tom Choi i think u r right! Kinda reminds me how those fighter do a vertical climb. Flying like a rocket
Todays discussion What is a supercritical airfoil? Which aircraft has it?
And of course, higher AoA creates higher lift as well as higher induced drag based on above mentioned mechanism.
Thank you.
It is the induced drag.
Bernoulli's principle and air deflection create the total aerodynamic force and it can be resolved into two vectors - vertical one is the lift and conquers the weight of the aircraft and the horizontal one is the byproduct induced drag.
The high-pressure air below the wing likes to swirl around the wingtip towards the low-pressure above the wing. The twisting vortex forms behind the wing deflecting the behind airflow downward.
And, it results in the lift vector tilting backward in contributing to total drag.
That's absolutely Induced drag. Because the downwash from the trailing edge of the wing It will produce the horizontal component which is drag. Please correct me if i make something wrong!
Lets discuss! That horizontal component of lift, which of coz is drag on the aircraft. Is it induced drag? or parasite drag? And why