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Old 05-25-2012 | 12:07 PM
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BFoote
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From: Issaquah, WA
Default RE: constant depth, tapered wing?

WHAT?

NO!

It is the opposite. This is wash IN, not wash out!

Thicker camber sections will stall SOONER as the airflow will have to move farther compared to the root of your wing, therefore its separation bubble will be larger and when it bursts will dump more lift than if it is a same camber wing section because the thicker cambered airfoil section will have a higher coefficient of lift generally. Therefore its stall will be even sharper than a normal tapered constant cambered wing. HIGH wing tip loading is NOT a good thing. Add in change in reynolds numbers and the problem increases unless you know the CL/AoA curves for different Reynolds numbers at different camber(thickness values).

If you can guarantee that your plane will never go over the stall angle at low speed landing, then tip loading and therefore aileron authority, can be thought of as a good thing except it loads your wing spar up unnecessarily.

Washout definition is that the wing ROOT will stall BEFORE the wing tip. Therefore giving you aileron authority in all conditions. This can be done through several methods. Change the airfoil that has a higher stall angle than the root. Rotate the wingtips downward with the same airfoil. Add dihedral giving effective washout. If you know the landing speed and therefore its Reynolds number you can pick an airfoil that has a higher AoA at a lower Reynolds number than the Root of the wing. Usually this requires fairly extensive wing taper.

Sorry, no free lunch.

Your described method is opposite of what you think you are getting. It does provide more lift at the wing tips and aileron authority, but regarding stalling is bad.

ORIGINAL: Rodney

Yes, this is quite common. Generally a favourable result as it works a bit like washout does, the wing section being a thicker percentage of thickness at the tip slightly lowers the stall speed of the tip section thus tends to allow lower speed without tip stall.