PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Tip stall - Caused by sweep, taper or both?
Old 21st Mar 2011, 23:33
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Mad (Flt) Scientist
 
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More or less.

Where you have to be very careful is that statements about the relationship between sweep and increased likelihood of tip stall, or taper and increased likelihood of tip stall, both assume that all other variables are held constant.

Since, as mentioned above, the consequences of tip stall, especially on a swept wing, are undesirable, the designer will do a lot to avoid that stall, using many additional tricks - including washout and variation of the section along the span, tuning of inboard devices to prompt an early inboard stall, and so on. It is therefore dangerous to simply compare, say, the sweep of a number of aircraft and their stalling characteristics without being aware of the details of the wing design. Add in leading edge devices across part of the span and the story becomes even more complex.
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