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LAND SAILING AND AERODYNAMICS/AVIATION “…Every
great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of
imagination…” -
John Dewy Aerodynamics: It is the scientific study of how objects move
through the air. It also explains what happens when air, or for that
matter, any gas moves rapidly. Aerodynamics deals with air moving
against a gadget – let us say an airplane moving through air in the
sky, or, let us assume, like wind filling the sails of a boat. In both
the cases – in airplane and the sailboat, the principle, the law, is
the same! Man has developed a craving, an insatiable desire to fly, the
culprits being birds! Flying like a bird could only be possible if man
had an understanding of aerodynamics. This quest began some 200 years
ago! Bernoulli’s Principle: A Swiss Mathematician – Daniel Bernoulli, was
investigating what really happened to water flowing through a pipe when
it got blocked. What he discovered was that the water flowed faster as
it went past an obstacle. He also found that when water flowed faster,
it lost some quantity of its normal pressure. If the speed is slow, the
pressure is high, if the speed is great than the pressure is low. Giovanni Venturi: Basing the Bernoulli’s
principle, but using air instead of water, Venturi developed a tube,
called Venturi tube.
The air pressure dropped at the neck level, though the force increased greatly. You can see a similarity is shape between the wing a airplane and the neck pattern of the venturi tube.
The pressure on the topside of the wing is less, as
the wind speed is great. The pressure on the bottom side o f the wing is
great as the wind speed is less, resulting in the wing rising above the
ground.
In an airplane you have Aileron, Rudder and
Elevators for controlling the right and left banking, for left and right
turns and for climbing and diving.
Rudder
Control Position
Elevator
Control Position
In a wind yacht, there is no thrust of its own and no lift, but drag is there. What propels is the force of wind.
In a land sailing yacht, the aileron and rudder are
in the sail positioning in relation to the direction of the wind. The wings of an airplane and the sails of a wind
sailing yacht (both on water or on land) can work best only when the air
flows very smoothly over them. This is possible only if the shape of the
sail is correct together with the angle of air attack in the proper
position.
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