31/05/2015

BridlePointGeometryDefinitions

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Anexcellentwaytogainanunderstandingandafeelfortheinteractionofforcesonanobjectistoflyakite.Kiteflyingis
funwhendonesafelyandyoucanstudymanyofthefundamentalsofairplaneaerodynamicsbecauseakiteworksvery
muchlikeanairplane.Thereare,however,someimportantdifferencesintheresponseofakitetoexternalforcesthatdo
notoccurinanairplane.Anairplaneinflightrotatesaboutitscenterofgravitywhichistheaveragelocationoftheweightof
allthepartsoftheairplane.Akiteinflightdoesnotrotateaboutitscenterofgravitybecauseitispinnedbythebridleto
thecontrolline.Inflight,thekiterotatesaboutthebridlepointwhichistheplacewherethelineisattachedtothebridle.
(Akiteinflightismorecloselyrelatedtoahingeddoorthantoanairplaneinflight.Thecenterofgravityofahingeddooris
inthecenterofthedoor,butthedoorrotatesaboutthehinges.)
Thelocationofthebridlepointrelativetothecenterofgravity(cg)andcenterofpressure(cp)determinesthebalanceof
torquesonthekiteandthetrimangleatwhichthekiteflies.Onthispageweshowyouhowtocomputethelocationofthe
bridlepoint.WehaveaninstalledanXYcoordinatesystemonthekitewiththeoriginatthebottomofthekitetheYaxis
isalongtheheightHofthekite,theXaxisisperpendiculartotheYaxisandgoesthroughthebottomofthekite.TheX
axisisusedasthereferencelineinthecomputationofcgandcp.ThelengthofthebridleiscalledBandismeasuredfrom
theorigintothetopofthekitealongthebridlestring.Thebridleisattachedtothecontrollinewithaknot.Thedistance
fromtheknottotheoriginislengthK.Theknot(bridlepoint)isinclinedatanangletoYaxiswhichiscalledtheknotangle
A.ThecoordinatesofthebridlepointareXbandYbandfromtrigonometry:
Yb=K*cos(A)
Xb=K*sin(A)
wherecosandsinarethetrigonometriccosineandsinefunctions.
TodeterminetheangleA,weneedtodoalittlealgebra.Here'sasketchofthebridlegeometrywithsomeauxiliarylines
drawnin:

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BridlePointGeometryDefinitions

Wehavesplitthetriangleformedbythebridleintotworighttriangles.Fromthedefinitionofcosine,wehave:
Eq.1:cos(A)=d/K
Weneedtofindthevalueofd.Fromtheconstructionwehave:
Eq.2:c+d=H
AndfromthePythagoreanTheoremappliedtobothtriangles:
Eq.3:K^2=d^2+b^2
Eq.4:(BK)^2=c^2+b^2
Eliminateb^2fromthesetwoequationsbysubtractingEq.4fromEq.3.:
K^2(BK)^2=d^2c^2
NowsubstituteforcfromEq.2:
K^2(BK)^2=d^2(Hd)^2
K^2(BK)^2=d^2(H^22*H*d+d^2)
K^2(BK)^2=H^2+2*H*d
Eq.5:[K^2(BK)^2+H^2]/(2*H)=d
NowsubstitutethevalueofdinEq.5intoEq.1:
cos(A)=[K^2+H^2(BK)^2]/(2*K*H)
TheKiteModelercomputerprogramcanbeusedtocalculatethevariousgeometricvariablesdescribedonthispageand
theireffectsonkiteperformance.
Activities:
GuidedTours
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BridlePointGeometryDefinitions

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