Airplane wings?

Question

Does the airplane's wingspan and/or wing design affect its maximum speed? Why?

Answer 1

The wingspan has a secondary related affect on the maximum speed, but the wing design plays a major role. Wings are tailor made for the desired performance of any aircraft and this means the maximum speed as well as the overall flight envelope. As a rule of thumb, the slimmer aerofoil sections are used where higher speeds are required and these are dependant on the airspeed rather than the lift factor to sustain flight.

Span, as you see in general aviation, is used where load carrying and endurance are the prime considerations. On these aircraft, the maximum speed is designed for the best fuel economy (fuel consumed per mile) rather than speed.
Here, it is a happy marriage between lift and speed.

Answer 2

The wingspan does no directly impact maximum speed. However, what happens is that very long and slender wings tend to be heavier per unit surface than short and stubby ones, because they have to be made thinner, and thus have to be stiffer without the proper thickness to do this easily. One of the main aspect that impacts the maximum speed a wing has, all things being equal, is the thickness to chord ratio. A thick wing will work better at low speed, while a thin one will be needed for higher speed. The reason for this is that the relative thickness, camber and angle of attack all contribute to the local overspeed of air on the upper surface of the wing, and that overspeed eventually reaches the speed of sound. When this happens, there will be the appearance of a shock wave, and those take away a lot of energy, leading to a sudden increase in drag. Moreover, flutter phenomenons (vibrations of the wing) will start when part of the wing sees speed equal to the speed of sound, requiring beefing up (and thus more material, i.e. a heavier design).

Sweepback wings will delay the onset of chordwise supersonic flow (which is why airliners have swept wings), so they can travel fast without too much of a drag penalty.

In the end, if supplied with enough trust, there is not real limit to how fast a wing can be moved; what matters is how fast a wing can be moved *economically*. And therein lies the art of the aerodynamicist.

Answer 3

The reason airplanes even fly is still just a theory. But the wing design does have an effect on performance and speed.

Review the following link. It's a cool little website full of information.

Stick your arms straight out, then sweep them back. Which angle do you think would cause more drag and slow you down if you were flying through the air?

Answer 4

Wings give the lift to an airplane but their shape and size does cause drag or friction which affects speed.

Answer 5

Yes, of Course. but not only, because max speed is when thrust/power avaiable is equal to drag/power needed. so both aerodynamic behaviour and powerplant determine max speed.
so Aerodynamic is important for the maximum speed and the wing is one of the most important parts for aerodynamic.
Drag can be divided into passive drag and induced drag.
induced drag is big at slow speeds, passive drag is big at fast speeds.
a big wingspan(more proper would be to talk about aspect ratio, but considering the surface constant a big wingspan mean a big aspect ratio) reduces induced drag, but increases passive drag, so it's good to fly relativly slowly and for a long time or long range.
a small wingspan reduces passive drag but increases induced drag, so it's good to fly at high speeds.
Swept wings help if you are near sonic speeds because the aerodynamic airframe "feels" the component of relative wind perpendicular to the leading edge, so it keeps"feeling" a subsonic speed also faster than other wings can....and something similar also for delta wings ecc....
also the taper ratio(well, the shape of the plant of wing) is important.(elliptic wings works better than staight tapered wings, and tapered wings better than rectangular )

Answer 6

Yes the 747 can be fitted at factory or retro-fitted with fuel tanks in the H stab. not a great idea as a few years back, a Lufthansa 747 was performing touch and goes using a newly delivered 747 with H stab tanks. they filled up the H stab completely, but only had the wings supplying fuel...eventually, the C of G became very unbalanced and caused the 747 to impact the runway tail-first. it was pilot error, but its alot more juggling if you have fuel weight in the H stab.

Answer 7

Yes. Choice of wingspan is a trade-off.
Long wing: better low speed characteristics,
more drag, lower cruise and maneuvering speeds.

Short wing: higher stall / landing speed, poor
low speed handling but less drag, higher
cruise / maneuvering speeds.

Different airfoils lend themselves to different
speed ranges.

Answer 8

Everything on an airplane effects everything about performance. It's all about compromise to get the airplane to performe the mission that it's designed for. No one design does everything. Good question.

Answer 9

Yes, swept wings will allow for faster flight, but they provide less lift so a higher takeoff speed is required... On at least one model of a US fighter jet, the wings were almost perpendicular to the airplane at takeoff, high lift configuration, and they swept back as the airplane approched the sound barrier for less resistance...

Answer 10

Wings give lift and stability--swept wings were a big help for jets--of course all parts of the planes affect speed and stability