Glide Ratio & Scale: Designing Gliders for Maximum Air Time/Distance

[herpamad]

Hi

I am looking into the design of gliders with good L/D / Glide Ratio.

It seems hard to find what is the most efficient full size glider, and the same goes to a scale r/c type one too.

So any ideas?

If i was to start from scratch, what should i be looking at to get the best l/d ratio possible?

The AIM is to get the most airtime and/or distance.

I read in a book that speed has little effect on the L/D ratio, is this true? If so, is this only true down to a certain speed, ie, stall speed?

Project needs to address to if the aircraft can be used with a powerplant.

Is the use of a glider for adaption to a low power, and long distance aircraft better than building an aircraft from scratch for this purpose?

My area of study is Mech Eng, but I want to get into Aero Engineering after graduation, and i have an interest in fluids and aviation in general, thus having an Aero themed project to try get some knowledge about Aero Engineering.

 

[Filip Larsen]

Flying gliders but not R/C model I'm not sure what you ask. A modern glider has a glide ratio around 40-50 with the airspeed for maximum glide a bit above the speed for minimum sink rate, as calculated as the "tangent" from the glide polar [1]. The glide ratio do vary with speed, enough so that flying with the "correct" speed is significant in competition flights [2] and you would usually also correct for wind speed so that you fly a bit faster in head wind and a bit slower in tail wind.

I assume the performance of a R/C glider somehow can be transformed from the performance figures of a real size glider using the "standard" scale laws in aerodynamics, but I suspect "heuristic" knowledge about build and flying R/C models is far more important than general theoretical knowledge about aerodynamics.[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_curve_(aviation)
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_to_fly

 

[Cyrus]

Hi

I am looking into the design of gliders with good L/D / Glide Ratio.

It seems hard to find what is the most efficient full size glider, and the same goes to a scale r/c type one too.

So any ideas?

If i was to start from scratch, what should i be looking at to get the best l/d ratio possible?

The AIM is to get the most airtime and/or distance.

I read in a book that speed has little effect on the L/D ratio, is this true? If so, is this only true down to a certain speed, ie, stall speed?

Project needs to address to if the aircraft can be used with a powerplant.

Is the use of a glider for adaption to a low power, and long distance aircraft better than building an aircraft from scratch for this purpose?

My area of study is Mech Eng, but I want to get into Aero Engineering after graduation, and i have an interest in fluids and aviation in general, thus having an Aero themed project to try get some knowledge about Aero Engineering.

Any aerodynamic behavior of a vehicle is a function of its angle of attack and sideslip. Airspeed does not dictate best L/D ratio, angle of attack does.

 

[herpamad]

Any aerodynamic behavior of a vehicle is a function of its angle of attack and sideslip. Airspeed does not dictate best L/D ratio, angle of attack does.

All i was wondering, thanks.