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Old 22nd Apr 2011, 06:19
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CliveL
 
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twochai

Was the vortex lift characteristic of the ogee wing aerodynamics fully understood before the aero configuration of Concorde was finalised?
I would say that it was. Remember that the design went through several phases before it was finalised and we did an awful lot of testing and tweaking of the detailed geometry to eliminate a gradual pitch-up and to increase the vortex lift at any given AoA, so by the time we defined the production aircraft wing we knew pretty well all there was to know about vortex development from the AoA at which it started right through to the AoA at which the vortices burst.

How much did the BAC 221 (the Fairey Delta II analog of Concorde) contribute to the understanding of vortex lift of this wing?
The BAC221 didn't contribute much to the details of this understanding as it was rather too late to help in prototype definition and the production development was all about the details of planform, camber and twist. But then the 221 wasn't intended to study vortex development; it was built to examine the handling characteristics of slender ogee wings at supersonic speeds.

CliveL
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