DIY Aircraft building and its Aerodynamics (& Hydrodynamics related) issues

< Thread Split from http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/sailboats/desperate-sail-47763-7.html as a place to discuss "aircraft building and aerodynamics and its relation to hydrodynamics" (post 7) >

He didn't say ‘‘design’’ he said ‘‘build’’, here's one of the many that every plumber (as well as many others) can build . . . :idea:

Cheers,
Angel

P.S. - Here's a video in Dutch/Flemish, Bart Verhees developed and offers the plans.

 

Aircraft plumbing is very important, and the aircraft itself will fly better if it is built plumb.

 

Nope. But I know of a couple of bicycle mechanics that did. Never net them though.

They were known as the Wright brothers.

Petros was probably referring to home built airplanes, not home designed ones.

The Wright brothers were probably not trained in engineering science, but were kick *** in applying scientific reasoning. They read all the aeronautic literature that was available, then went on from there. It turned out they were much more effective than their European rivals, who probably were trained engineers, not to mention their American one, a Dr. Langley, were in coming up with the first real airplane.

 

The Wright brothers were in essence, self educated engineers. they invented the first wind tunnel, they tested everything before they put it on their airplanes, they approached every detail with the highest level of scientific scrutiny. The even understood the problem of stability and control better than most scientists and other inventors at the time. They had intentionally design the stability margins into their designs, something few understand well even to this day, unless they specifically study it.

Plumbers, carpenters, welders, auto mechanics all build home built airplanes from plans, some of the plans are even amateur designed too (usually with some professional guidance). the plans are the key, they are are the necessary knowledge to so that a craftsman or enthusiastic hobbyist can build a well behaved aircraft. Just like building a boat; there are far more builders of boats than there are designers. Even a skilled amateur can produce a top performing boat from good plans.

you have all more or less added to my contention, that good up wind performance was not really possible on most sailing ships until the last half of the 1800s (when deep keels were more common), and most cargo/passenger ships with the long shallow keels were designed to travel the already established trade routes, where there was little/no need for up wind sailing. All commercial shipping was done down wind.

 

I think it's also worth pointing out that a lot of fluid dynamics theory to
do with lift and drag was not very well understood until about 1904 when
Prandtl defined the concept of the aerodynamic boundary layer.
Anderson wrote a good article about Prandtl's revolutionary discovery
in Physics Today:
http://www.aps.org/units/dfd/resources/upload/prandtl_vol58no12p42_48.pdf

Before that, flight was very much the domain of great experimentalists,
like the Wright brothers and their predecessors as Petros and others have noted.

 

and more importantly, not very widely known until much later, according to that excellent document

"The delayed acceptance of the boundary-layer concept is illustrated by the fifth and sixth editions of Horace Lamb’s classic text Hydrodynamics .
The fifth edition, published in 1924, devoted only one paragraph to the boundary-layer concept and described Prandtl’s work as follows: “The calculations are necessarily elaborate, but the results, which are represented graphically, are inter- esting.”

In contrast, the sixth edition, published in 1932, had an entire section on boundary-layer theory and the governing equations.
Since the mid-1920s, work aimed at advancing, ex-tending, and applying boundary-layer theory has in-creased exponentially."

 

I think this subject about aircraft building and aerodynamics and its relation to hydrodynamics deserves its own thread so this one can carry on with Laukejas' original topic, so let's ask the Moderator for a split off . . .

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Note to Moderator, we're side drifting here . . .

Please make a split off thread on the forum Open Discussion: All Things Boats & Boating, or on Hydrodynamics and Aerodynamics, containing the posts from #100 till now plus possibly next responses on this side drift.

Suggestion for the name of the new thread: ‘‘ DIY Aircraft building and its Aerodynamics (& Hydrodynamics related) issues ’’

Please put a note + link on top of the new post#1 that the new thread is a split off from this one. Also please leave a note + link here to the new split off thread.

Sorry for the trouble . . .

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Kind regards,
Angélique

 

( Now split into this new thread from http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/sailboats/desperate-sail-47763-7.html so that thread can stay more on topic )

 

Cool. Thanks.

 

Dito ! - - To the Mod

Cheers,
Angel​

 

The only boundary layer I ever worried about had Flora and Fauna growing all over it.
Take care when approaching that Foundry layer!