jayt
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2003
- Messages
- 654
If you ever reasearch the topic you'll find that there is mixed consensus within the aeronautics community about that. Half the industry believes what we all were taught in school - that the higher velocity of the air on the top of a curved wing reduces the pressure, producing lift from the higher pressure air underneath.That's what makes an airplane fly too.
However, the other half dispute this - see the NASA papers below. Clearly symetrical wings work very well on high performance aircraft, so a wing does not need to have a curved upper surface and a flat underside to produce lift. I'm not taking sides here, but everyone should know that the subject is much more complex than just Bernoulli. As far as sponson shape and water is concerned - theory is nice, but results on the water are what matter.
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/wrong1.html
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/bernnew.html
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