What is an interference drag?
Interference Drag is drag that is generated by the mixing of airflow streamlines between airframe components such as the wing and the fuselage, the engine pylon and the wing or, in the case of a military or other special purpose aircraft, between the airframe and attached external stores such as fuel tanks, weapons or …
What is an example of interference drag?
Airflow over top and underneath the wing mixes with airflow around the fuselage, creating interference drag. A Cessna 172 wing strut, for example, has fairings around the base and top of the strut, where the strut meets the fuselage and wing.
How do you find the drag polar of an aircraft?
As mentioned in section 1.9, to obtain the performance of an airplane requires the value of the drag coefficient of the airplane (CD) when the lift coefficient (CL) and Mach number (M) are given. The relationship between the drag coefficient and the lift coefficient is called ‘Drag polar’.
What are the three types of drag?
There are three types of parasite drag: form drag, interference drag, and skin friction.
What can be done to minimize interference drag?
Interference drag can be minimized by the appropriate use of fairings and fillets to ease the transition between components. Fairings and fillets use curved surfaces to soften the transition at the junction of two aircraft components.
When does interference drag occur in an aircraft?
Interference drag is generated when the airflow across one component of an aircraft is forced to mix with the airflow across an adjacent or proximal component.
How to calculate the drag of an airplane?
For battery-powered aircraft the weight of the airplane does not vary in time, so the endurance may be easily estimated. The power required for level flight is: P = D V In this case, the drag may be computed as described in the following sections with the substitution that Lift ≈ Weight.