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MIT and NASA engineers demonstrate a new kind of airplane wing
phys.org ^ | April 1, 2019

Posted on 04/02/2019 6:55:52 AM PDT by BenLurkin

click here to read article


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To: BenLurkin

41 posted on 04/02/2019 7:48:28 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (This Space For Rent)
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To: Texas Fossil

technology or the swamp...which is worse?...or...????
******************
GyG@PlanetWTF?
****************************************


42 posted on 04/02/2019 7:49:56 AM PDT by gunnyg ("A Constitution changed from Freedom, can never be restored; Liberty, once lost, is lost forever...)
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To: BenLurkin

AS others have noted ... “Everything old is *new* again.”


43 posted on 04/02/2019 7:54:34 AM PDT by _Jim (Save babies)
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To: Red Badger

FYI...

Wright Brothers bike shop was just 3 blocks from my childhood home (thru 4th grade).

They also had their first test flights a few blocks away in an open field known as Huffman Hills.


44 posted on 04/02/2019 7:56:12 AM PDT by newfreep ("INSIDE EVERY PROGRESSIVE IS A TOTALITARIAN SCREAMING TO GET OUT" - DAVID HOROWITZ)
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To: blackdog
Well to be fair, Bernoulli and the Hershey Company.

A "Hershey bar" wing? You win the aviation division of the Internet! Not a lot of "ground pounders" will get the joke!

45 posted on 04/02/2019 7:56:35 AM PDT by Ace's Dad (Trump in 2020!)
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To: allendale

You do realize that 99% of flying is done by computers right?


46 posted on 04/02/2019 7:58:29 AM PDT by fuzzylogic (welfare state = sharing of poor moral choices among everybody)
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To: tired&retired

Ha ha—too likely!


47 posted on 04/02/2019 7:59:51 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: VTenigma

I guess the author never hard of the Wright brothers.


You’d be surprised (or perhaps not) buy how little coverage the Wright Brothers get in today’s textbooks. Last one I used, did have a picture of the Wright Flyer, but didn’t mention them in the body of the text. It is as if one of the great inventions of the 20th century really wasn’t a part of American history. And if you google “American inventors”, see what you get.


48 posted on 04/02/2019 8:06:22 AM PDT by hanamizu
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To: BenLurkin

When I first started hang gliding the foldable wings had evolved from single surface Rogallo style kite wings to very efficient double surface structures with battens to maintain the proper airfoil shape. These wings were much more efficient and improved the glide ratio from approximately t to 4 to up to 1 to 8 or sometimes even up to 1 to 10.

Previously if you wanted this type of efficiency you had to purchase or build a non-foldable double surface hang glider such as a “Mitchel Wing”. And the pioneers of long distance hang glider records at that time such as George Worthington used this type of hang glider to establish their world records.

The problem with the double surface folding wings and the non-folding “Mitchel Wing” type of hang gliders as compared to the simple single surface Rogallo kite type of wings were that the stall speeds were much higher which made them more difficult to land safely. So single surface gliders evolved which had a high aspect ratios similar to the double surface foldable gliders minus the bottom surface.

But I mention all of this because the battens in the foldable double surface gliders evolved from stiff pieces of aluminum tubing to flexible pieces of fiberglass or carbon fiber which were designed to flatten out at higher speeds. With one of these new style gliders at low speeds the chord of the wing is much thicker at slow speeds which reduces the stall speed and makes it easier to land. But when you fly more quickly the battens flatten out which increases the wing’s glide ratio. It is a fairly simple but ingenious solution which reminds me of this “new” style of aircraft control.

I of course put quotes around “new” because as others have already noted here and in the comments attached to the source article the Wright brother’s early aircraft used wing warping and not ailerons to bank and control direction. So this form of directional control is a return to the roots of aviation.


49 posted on 04/02/2019 8:09:53 AM PDT by fireman15
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To: Texas Fossil; BTerclinger; Phinneous; dp0622; onedoug
Hmmm, so much for a little humor, ack!

The reality is, levity is the real secret to making everything in the world run right.

God truly is in control. He's a funny guy, but nobody likes a wise guy. It's a tough crowd out there, even though people have been warned that He is going to destroy the wisdom of the wise.

Case in point... the Levites were put in charge of the Temple:

levity (n.)

1560s, "want of seriousness, frivolity," from French levite, from Latin levitatem (nominative levitas) "lightness," literal and figurative; "light-mindedness, frivolity," from levis "light" in weight, from PIE root *legwh- "not heavy, having little weight." In old science (16c.-17c.), the name of a force or property of physical bodies, the opposite of gravity, causing them to tend to rise.

How long before some slacker comes along to admonish me that I can't do that. Well I just did.

It's life from the dead. Lifted right up on eagles' wings. The stuff that just sits there wanting to fly.

"You know that new sound you' looking for? Well listen to this."

50 posted on 04/02/2019 8:10:29 AM PDT by Ezekiel (The pun is mightier than the s-word.)
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To: Ace's Dad
A “Hershey bar” wing? You win the aviation division of the Internet! Not a lot of “ground pounders” will get the joke!

We own a 1969 Piper Cherokee with a "Hershey Bar" wing. We also have a homebuilt airplane with a constant chord non-tapering rectangular wing. But these days most Hershey bars have actually lost their aerodynamic shape.

51 posted on 04/02/2019 8:19:51 AM PDT by fireman15
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To: Texas Fossil

One of our cars has a feature that partially opens the windows and sunroof. It has done that on it’s own when it was raining.


52 posted on 04/02/2019 8:20:34 AM PDT by Cold Heart (Oregon, tyranny, taxes and tolls)
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To: Ezekiel

Yes, there are people who don’t trust those who never smile.

I was told by some of my ME friends that they did not trust General Votel, because he never smiled. I replied, well if you answered to President Obama would you smile? Later when Trump was president, you would not believe how much they liked General Votel. And General Votel was a great defender of them.

So, your point is correct. We should be careful how important we think our own abilities really are. God probably is getting a chuckle about what he sees.

So, what about the ComDem know it alls in US government? Who daily thumb their nose at the very concept of God.

Who will get the laugh on that?


53 posted on 04/02/2019 8:21:26 AM PDT by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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To: CrazyIvan

Makes sense...interesting thought.


54 posted on 04/02/2019 8:22:35 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: BenLurkin

Uh, the Wright Brothers did this over a century ago.


55 posted on 04/02/2019 8:23:08 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: allendale

Yes, not to mention all the little tiny extra moving parts that would all be additional potential points of failure in the system.

Might be a cool idea, but sometimes you want to keep it simple, even if it means you are 1% less efficient than you could be.


56 posted on 04/02/2019 8:25:10 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: tired&retired
Please note the Chinese spy in the picture collecting information.
My first thought too! While gifted American aeronautics engineers are performing their meticulous testing, making sure to stay in compliance with onerous government regulations, the insect race will have stolen the technology and used it to transport their invading forces to African. And if a plane or two or three should happen to go down over the Pacific . . . well, there are several billion more worker bees available.
57 posted on 04/02/2019 8:27:52 AM PDT by Blurb2350
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To: BenLurkin

The muslims won’t be pleased with all those Star of David structures / geodesic-like structures built into airplane wings.


58 posted on 04/02/2019 8:28:18 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: Cold Heart

hee hee

What a hoot. Programming issues?

One of the ladies that helps take care of my father had an issue with her care last year and they replaced her battery. Now it was having issues with starting remotely to warm up. And there were warnings about the battery.

I suggested she have the dealership check out the programming, I had a Ford Explorer burn the battery up, over charged on long trip and I suspect evaporated the water. Source of the problem? The stupid engineers used the main on board computer to control the voltage regulation on the car. After the battery was replaced the problem remained, they had to update the software on the main computer to fix the voltage issue.

Simple works. Computers invariably ad complexity.

What engineer would want the onboard auto main computer to control the voltage of the charging system? One that was thinking that the computer is more intelligent than the people who design and repair them. Honestly they do it to make fixing one so complex that you have to go back to the dealership for any repair. That is the motive behind this nonsense.

I better quit here, this is a major issue with me.


59 posted on 04/02/2019 8:29:55 AM PDT by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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To: piasa
The muslims won’t be pleased with all those Star of David structures / geodesic-like structures built into airplane wings.


60 posted on 04/02/2019 8:30:16 AM PDT by dfwgator (This week I'm dfwredraider)
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