Its the return of the Biplane!!
NASA chose the Space Shuttle as the best means of getting into space.
NASA promotes Global Warming as our future climate.
It’s my guess that Braced Wings fall in the same catagory.
What’s next? Non retractable landing gear and propellers?
The concept is simple enough. A triangular structure is incredibly strong. Add another brace to make a triangular shape out of the wing, the fuselage, and this new structure. But wait, while this lets you build a lighter wing, now you have the drag of this new structure. Ahh, wait, put an airfoil on this new structure and it can produce lift as well. But wait, aircraft wings are incredibly strong through the concept of bend but don't break (Don't understand that comment? On your next airline flight, sit at the overwing exit and watch what happens to the wing during takeoff). OK, we'll tune the structure of the wing and the new surface until they both deflect the same amount under the same load. But wait, they're joined together so when they flex in one direction, one has to be longer than the other....
It goes on and on like this until only one conclusion can be reached. Aircraft are shaped they way they are because after a little more than a hundred years of refinement, that's the best shape there is. Until we can go outside of the atmosphere, aircraft aren't going to look a whole lot different than they do today. A few small tweaks, but nothing wholesale will change.
Ok, I’m starting to get some ideas...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rutan_quickie_q2.jpg
Start with the above plane. But make the upper wing and the lower wing angle towards eachother until they meet about 10-15’ from centerline. Then from that point, a single wing extends another 10’ ish out.
So the upper wing will be foward swept to the joining point, and the lower wing will be rear swept to the joining point. The upper wing will have a negative dihedral, and the lower wing a positive dihedral.
Yeah, I think I’d like the way it would look. Not so sure about how it would work though.
Jesus what did they do, detract money from important global warming research?
