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Old 22nd October 2008 | 03:23
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Mad (Flt) Scientist
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From: La Belle Province
It all depends what you mean.

Firstly, by talking about "induced" drag there are complications introduced by the higher profile drag of the flaps down case.

By not defining "high alpha" anything is possible.

Certainly, at alphas where the clean wing is starting to see flow separation, the flaps down case will win the drag comparison.

But also, certainly, at some lower alpha the clean wing must win, otherwise you'd cruise with the flaps down, and someone might conclude that your wing design was "non optimised".

So there must be a cross-over alpha. It all depends if that's above or below your definition of "high" alpha
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