Comparison of aerodynamic characteristics provided by wing with bell shaped lift distribution and generalized wings

Abstract

In this article different wings are computed by low and high-fidelity methods to compare their aerodynamic characteristics. Thanks to the unusual properties of the wing with the bell-shaped lift distribution, several general geometrical variants of the wings were calculated and their results are presented in this work. Three general wings are assumed and their geometry is defined as rectangular, trapezoidal and elliptical. Airspeed, total lift force, shape of airfoil and root chord are defined, and bending moment is assumed as a surrogate model for wing weight. The goal of optimization is minimization of aerodynamic drag.

A Study on Aerodynamics and Stability Characteristics of a Bell-Shaped Span-Load Wing

“…The wing with bell-shaped span-load characteristics shows a higher efficiency with minimum induced drag produced. Hospodar [5] proved the statement in his paper where it concludes that the bell-shaped span-load has the lowest aerodynamic drag compared to three general wings including rectangular, trapezoidal and elliptical.…”