Dear John
I'm just a simple human and I have no problem admitting that I don't know much about these issues nor comprehend fully.
However, I read and listen to what other people says and take what I find most reasonable.
One of the sources I found creditable is Stanford university's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The page I linked to is a study called
AA 241A,B Aircraft Design: Synthesis and Analysis. If you go to the link
Course Notes, and look for page 7.5 in the right frame, you will find the link I refered to
7.5 CLmax for SSTs (Low Aspect Ratio Wings at High Angles of Attack)
The course notes is a "pre-release development version of a system of programs and textbook material to be released shortly on CD" by a company called
Desktop Aeronautics, Inc.
Of interest to the Concorde accident, I wonder at what speed and alpha the votex would burst? From the photage, show on TV again and again after the accident, the AOA did
n't seem particularly high.
Edit: Ouups - didn't
[ 02 September 2001: Message edited by: cosmo kramer ]