Wave Drag - Other Drag Reduction Methods

Other Drag Reduction Methods

Several other attempts to reduce wave drag have been introduced over the years, but have not become common. The supercritical airfoil is a new wing design that results in reasonable low speed lift like a normal planform, but has a profile considerably closer to that of the von Kármán ogive. All modern civil airliners use forms of supercritical aerofoil and have substantial supersonic flow over the wing upper surface.

Busemann's biplane avoids wave drag entirely, but is incapable of generating lift, and has never flown.

Read more about this topic:  Wave Drag

Famous quotes containing the words drag, reduction and/or methods:

    Dying smokers sense
    Walking towards them through some dappled park
    As if on water that unfocused she
    No match lit up, nor drag ever brought near....
    Philip Larkin (1922–1986)

    The reduction of nuclear arsenals and the removal of the threat of worldwide nuclear destruction is a measure, in my judgment, of the power and strength of a great nation.
    Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)

    How can you tell if you discipline effectively? Ask yourself if your disciplinary methods generally produce lasting results in a manner you find acceptable. Whether your philosophy is democratic or autocratic, whatever techniques you use—reasoning, a “star” chart, time-outs, or spanking—if it doesn’t work, it’s not effective.
    Stanley Turecki (20th century)