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Contents
Description
Form drag
Skin friction drag
Profile drag
See also
References
Description
In flight, lift–induced drag results from the lift force that must be produced so that the craft can maintain
level flight. Induced drag is greater at lower speeds where a high angle of attack is required. As speed
increases, the induced drag decreases, but parasitic drag increases because the fluid is striking the object
with greater force, and is moving across the object's surfaces at higher speed. As speed continues to increase
into the transonic and supersonic regimes, wave drag grows in importance. Each of these drag components
changes in proportion to the others based on speed. The combined overall drag curve therefore shows a
minimum at some airspeed; an aircraft flying at this speed will be close to its optimal efficiency. Pilots will
use this speed to maximize the gliding range in case of an engine failure. However, to maximize the gliding
endurance (minimum sink), the aircraft's speed would have to be at the point of minimum drag power, which
occurs at lower speeds than minimum drag.
At the point of minimum drag, CD,o (drag coefficient of the aircraft when lift equals zero) is equal to CD,i
(induced drag coefficient, or coefficient of drag created by lift). At the point of minimum power, CD,o is
equal to one third times CD,i. This can be proven by deriving the following equations:
where:
is the dynamic pressure and
where
Form drag
Form drag or pressure drag arises because of the shape of the object. The general size and shape of the
body are the most important factors in form drag; bodies with a larger presented cross-section will have a
higher drag than thinner bodies; sleek ("streamlined") objects have lower form drag. Form drag follows the
drag equation, meaning that it increases with velocity, and thus becomes more important for high-speed
aircraft.
Form drag depends on the longitudinal section of the body. A prudent choice of body profile is essential for
a low drag coefficient. Streamlines should be continuous, and separation of the boundary layer with its
attendant vortices should be avoided.
Skin friction is caused by viscous drag in the boundary layer around the object. The boundary layer at the
front of the object is usually laminar and relatively thin, but becomes turbulent and thicker towards the rear.
The position of the transition point from laminar to turbulent flow depends on the shape of the object. There
are two ways to decrease friction drag: the first is to shape the moving body so that laminar flow is possible.
The second method is to increase the length and decrease the cross-section of the moving object as much as
practicable. To do so, a designer can consider the fineness ratio, which is the length of the aircraft divided by
its diameter at the widest point (L/D). It is mostly kept 6:1 for subsonic flows. Increase in length increases
Reynolds number. With Reynolds no. in the denominator for skin friction coefficient's relation, as its value
is increased (in laminar range), total friction drag is reduced. While decrease in cross-sectional area
decreases drag force on the body as the disturbance in air flow is less. For wings of an aircraft, a decrease in
length (chord) of the wings will reduce "induced" drag though, if not the friction drag.
For comparison, the turbulent empirical relation known as the One-seventh Power Law (derived by
Theodore von Kármán) is:
Profile drag
Profile drag is a term usually applied to the drag acting on a wing. With a 2-dimensional wing there is no
lift-induced drag so the whole of the drag is profile drag. With a 3-dimensional wing the total drag minus the
lift-induced drag is the profile drag[4] - it is defined as the sum of form drag and skin friction.[5]
See also
NACA duct
Skin friction line
References
1. Clancy, L.J. (1975). Aerodynamics, Sub-section 5.9. Pitman Publishing. ISBN 0 273 01120 0
2. "Skin friction coefficient -- CFD-Wiki, the free CFD reference" (http://www.cfd-online.com/Wiki/
Skin_friction_coefficient). www.cfd-online.com. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
3. Introduction to Flight, John Anderson Jr., 7th edition
4. Anderson, John D. (1984). Fundamentals of Aerodynamics, p.192, 233. McGraw-Hill Book
Company ISBN 0-07-001656-9
5. "Profile drag definition and meaning - Collins English Dictionary" (http://www.collinsdictionary.c
om/dictionary/english/profile-drag). www.collinsdictionary.com. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
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