The Ground Effect (or Wing in Ground Effect) is a natural phenomenon that occurs due to vortices caused by a difference in pressure between the two sides of a wing. This effect can be very dangerous to inexperienced pilots, but can be utilized by creative engineers.
Nearly all pilots have experienced a strange phenomenon during landing. While everything is happening as it should during decent, a 'cushion' of air gets trapped below the wing during the last few meters to the runway. This throws off the rate of decent and can be dangerous if the pilot has already begun to flare up and decelerate for landing. This means the plane would climb again while slowing down, which would easily lead to a stall.
However, pilots who are aware of this effect can use it to their advantage. Pilots during World War II who had fuel leaks flew scant meters off the ground, conserving fuel until safe territory was reached.
This effect is not really caused by a cushion of air at all, rather, by vortices of air off the tips of the wings.
For a plane to create lift, its wings must create low pressure on top and high pressure on the bottom. However, at the tips of the wings, the high pressure pushes and the low pressure pulls air onto the top of the wing, reducing lift and creating a current flowing to the top. This current remains even after the wing has left the area, producing really awesome vortices.
This flow of air reduces the high pressure and increases the low pressure systems, thus reducing lift and increasing induced drag a great deal. However, once the plane nears the ground (usually half of the distance from the wingtip to fuselage) this flow is significantly reduced. Therefore, the lift is significantly increased. This is the ground effect.
Creative engineers can take advantage of the ground effect and create craft called Ekranoplans. These were gigantic boat planes built by the Soviet Union during the Cold War to transport large amounts of material quickly. These planes could only fly in the ground effect (over water, ice, or flat ground) but were very efficient.
They found that birds tilted their wings for balance and control, and tried to simulate this, developing a concept called “wing warping.” When they added a moveable rudder, the Wright brothers found they had the formula-on December 17, 1903, they succeeded in flying the first controlled flight of a power-driven airplane. Wilbur flew their plane for 59 seconds, at 852 feet, a crazy
First of all you will have to understand the principles of flight. An airplane flies because air moving over and under its surfaces, particularly its wings, travels at different velocities, producing a difference in air pressure, low above the wing and high below it. The low pressure exerts a pulling influence, and the high pressure a pushing influence. The lifting force, usually called lift, depends on the shape, area, and tilt of the wing, and on the speed of the aircraft. The shape of the wing causes the air streaming above and below the wing to travel at different velocities. The greater distance over which the air must travel above the curved upper surface forces that air to move faster to keep pace with the air moving along the flat lower surface. According to Bernoulli’s principle, it is this difference in air velocity that produces the difference in air pressure.
Introduction to Aerodynamics Aerodynamics is the study of the motion of fluids in the gas state and bodies in motion relative to the fluid/air. In other words, the study of aerodynamics is the study of fluid dynamics specifically relating to air or the gas state of matter. When an object travels through fluid/air there are two types of flow characteristics that happen, laminar and turbulent. Laminar flow is a smooth, steady flow over a smooth surface and it has little disturbance. Intuition would lead to the belief that this type of air flow would be desirable.
In conclusion it can be seen that lift is derived from the fact that for there to exist a lifting force created in the wings the wings must exert a force on the air around them. The wings are able to do this due to the viscosity of air and the Coanda effect. By manipulating the wing's curves and angle of attack a pilot may preform great stunts and feats not possible if lift were to be explained through other incorect models.
The basic concepts of lift for an airplane is seen. The air that is flowing splits to move around a wing. The air that that moves over the wing speeds up creating lower pressure which means that the higher pressure from the air moving slower under the wing pushes up trying to equalize the pressure. The lift generated can be affected by the angle at which the wing is moving into the flowing air. The more surface area of the wing resisting against the flow of air can either generate lift or make the plane dive. This can be easily simulated in everday life. Next time you are riding in a car with someone stick your hand out the window. Have your fingers pointing in the direction of the motion of the vehicle. Now move your hand up and down slightly. You can feel the lift and drag that your hand creates.
There were many milestones in creating “the first airplane.” Many inventors like Joseph Michael and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier who started all the talk that flying is actually possible by launching their first successful hot air balloon in 1783. However, the Wright brothers are accredited with the end result of the airplane’s first successful flight. The Wright Brothers invented and did their testing of their engine propelled airplane in Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. By 1903, the brothers built a biplane named through history as the Wright Flyer (Ethell 19). Through the works of the Wright brothers and other equally important contributors we prove that humans can fly. The entire world was abuzz at what the Wright Brothers had achieved. Finally, after all these years of enviously watching birds fly over their...
All flight is the result of forces acting upon the wings of an airplane that allow it to counteract gravity. Contrary to popular belief, the Bernoulli principle is not responsible for most of the lift generated by an airplanes wings. Rather, the lift is created by air being deflected off the wings and transferring an upward force to those wings.
plane and a boat's sail lifts and pushes it forward. Imagine the sail of a boat
It’s been said that, “A pilot’s second greatest thrill is flying. Landing is the first.” Without a doubt, while flying around may be fun, it’s not worth it if the pilot can’t land the plane safely. Flight schools spend approximately 50 percent of ground school time going over landing procedures with soon-to-be pilots. The process is not all that complicated, but every step in the process is important and there is a lot to remember.
Why does a skydiver accelerate as he leaps from the plane? The answer to this question is relatively simple: gravity. Gravity acts on all bodies in the universe, and each bodies' gravitional effects are related. The body that the majority of the human population is affected by is the planet earth. The gravitational acceleration produced from earth is approximately 9.8 m/s^2, which changes slightly as you move closer to or away from the earth's center of mass.
Lift is generated by the air flow around the plane's wing. This effect is explained mostly by Bernoulli's Principle which states that the pressure of the air decreases as the velocity of the air increases. The design of a plane's wing changes the airflow around the wing's surface. The air has farther to travel over the top of the wing than the air traveling below the wing. Therefore, the air traveling above the wing is traveling at a higher velocity than the air traveling below it. As air flows around the wing, a high pressure region with low air velocity is created below the wing, and a low pressure region with high air velocity is created above the wing. The difference between the two pressures generates the lift force. (JEPPESEN 1-11)
The history of flying dates back as early as the fifteenth century. A Renaissance man named Leonardo da Vinci introduced a flying machine known as the ornithopter. Da Vinci proposed the idea of a machine that had bird like flying capabilities. Today no ornithopters exist due to the restrictions of humans, and that the ornithopters just aren’t practical. During the eighteenth century a philosopher named Sir George Cayley had practical ideas of modern aircraft. Cayley never really designed any workable aircraft, but had many incredible ideas such as lift, thrust, and rigid wings to provide for lift. In the late nineteenth century the progress of aircraft picks up. Several designers such as Henson and Langley, both paved the way for the early 1900’s aircraft design. Two of the most important people in history of flight were the Wright Brothers. The Wright Brothers were given the nickname the “fathers of the heavier than air flying machine” for their numerous flights at their estate in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Orville and Wilbur Wright created a motor-powered biplane in which they established incredible feats of the time. The Wright Brothers perfected their design of the heavier than air flying ma...
It affects a rubber band airplane with gravity and itself because it helps the plane be balanced on the top and bottom. Bernoulli's Principle and Angle of Attack are both factors in lift. Bernoulli's Principle states: that as there is an increase in velocity the air pressure will decrease. Bernoulli's Principle relates to the lift of an airplane because the velocity on top of the wing moves faster than the underside which creates a vacuum on the top side of the wing and creates lift. The other factor of lift is Angle of Attack which is the angle from horizontal to the chord line. This creates lift because the air hitting the bottom of the airfoil pushes the wing upward. For example, when you stick your hand out of a car window and then tilt it you are changing your Angle of
This feat is accomplished through the use of a wing, also known as an airfoil. Like drag, lift can exist only in the presence of a moving fluid. It doesn't matter if the object is stationary and the fluid is moving (like with a kite on a windy day), or if the fluid is still and the object is moving through it. What really matters is the difference in speeds between the object and the fluid.