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Flight loads

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Old 06-30-2004 | 12:21 PM
  #1  
fnp
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Default Flight loads

I wanted to know if there is some way to check if there is any way to test to see if my wing will stand up to its flight loads. also how do you know how many Gs the airframe is enduring.fnp.
Old 06-30-2004 | 01:51 PM
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Default RE: Flight loads

You could estimate the maximum G's your airplane could pull in a loop by doing the following:

1. Find the Clmax of the airfoil your using from a CL vs. alpha graph (this is where the curve peaks)... it should be a number on the order of 1.8-2.2 depending on the airfoil you're using.
2. Estimate the maximum speed of your airplane (this is probably where most of the error in this approximation comes from... picking the speed).
3. Determine the maximum lift force your wing can produce using the following equation:
L=0.5*rho*V^2*S*CLmax
where:
rho is the air density (in slugs/ft^3) (0.0023769 for sea level)
V is your aircraft speed in ft/s
S is your wing area (in ft^2)
CLmax is the maximum CL from the CL vs. alpha graph in step 1.
This should give you the maximum lift force your wing can make in lbs.

4. Take the lift force you calculated in step 3, and divide it by the weight of your model (both in lbs)... The number you get is the theoretical maximum number of Gs your aircraft can pull.

*phew*... I hope I haven't confused you...

Tom
Old 07-02-2004 | 01:11 AM
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Default RE: Flight loads

support the wings on either side of the fuse at the center of lift, roughly 1/2 way to the tip. Weigh the fuselage to see how much force is going to be applied at the wing center. If you determine that your plane can take 9G, find some weights adding up to 8 x the fuselage weight and pile it on the fuse a little bit at a time, so that weight of fuse + extra weight = 9 times the fuse weight. If you know how fast your plane is flying relative to it's stall speed in level flight, you can figure the G-load under maximum lift (square factor). I would use 1.0 - 1.5 for Clmax on an airfoil without flaps at low Reynolds number.

2 times stall speed = 4G
3 times stall speed = 9G

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