Aerodynamic Research Help

[Wistelee]

I'm currently doing some research on aerodynamics for a book that I'm writing. I'm absolutely useless with formulas and such and was hoping that someone could help me. Basically I was wondering about wing width of an object compared to length of that object. If its 10ft long, roughly what width of wings would it have, and what is the basic ratio? Since the objects I'm writing about could be anywhere up to 20ft in length. Sorry for being so vague, but since I'm still in research mode, you can understand why I am wary of being more specific

[DrRocket]

I'm currently doing some research on aerodynamics for a book that I'm writing. I'm absolutely useless with formulas and such and was hoping that someone could help me. Basically I was wondering about wing width of an object compared to length of that object. If its 10ft long, roughly what width of wings would it have, and what is the basic ratio? Since the objects I'm writing about could be anywhere up to 20ft in length. Sorry for being so vague, but since I'm still in research mode, you can understand why I am wary of being more specific

 

 

 

For a ten foolt fuselage the wing span will be precisely [math] 50 \pm 50 [/math] feet long (give or take a bit), depending on anticipated flight speed, altitude, engine thrust and weight.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutan_Voyager

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_X-33

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_U-2

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_rocket

[Wistelee]

thank you very much

 

For a ten foolt fuselage the wing span will be precisely [math] 50 \pm 50 [/math] feet long (give or take a bit), depending on anticipated flight speed, altitude, engine thrust and weight.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia....i/Rutan_Voyager

 

 

http://en.wikipedia....h_American_X-15

 

http://en.wikipedia....eed_Martin_X-33

 

 

http://en.wikipedia....ki/Lockheed_U-2

 

 

http://en.wikipedia....ki/Delta_rocket

[ewmon]

For a ten foolt fuselage the wing span will be precisely [math] 50 \pm 50 [/math] feet long (give or take a bit), depending on anticipated flight speed, altitude, engine thrust and weight.

Wistelee, I hope you realize that (I hope) the good doctor was exercising some jocularity here because 50±50 feet is 50–50 feet to 50+50 feet, better known as 0 to 100 feet.

 

A more realistic range would be roughly ½ to 2 times the craft's length, depending on its application. A 10-foot fuselage length would have a wing span low limit of roughly 10 feet due to a few factors, one being that a wing's lift surfaces would probably not include the fuselage (most wing designs "pierce" the fuselage), which can be assumed to be a minimum of about 2 feet wide. At that extreme, you're flying in something like this: (

)

 

[DrRocket]

Wistelee, I hope you realize that (I hope) the good doctor was exercising some jocularity here because 50±50 feet is 5050 feet to 50+50 feet, better known as 0 to 100 feet.

 

 

I am pretty confident that the range quoted is sufficient to cover most practical designs.

 

Note that the OP did not specify the type of craft, so rockets are fair game. Likewise low speed specialized endurance aircraft like the Voyager, or more ambitious future craft of that genre, could be in the mix.

Edited December 17, 2011 by DrRocket