Posts by user "asc12" [Posts: 6 Total up-votes: 0 Page: 1 of 1]¶

I hate to go back several pages, but I still have a basic question about the lift generation when the AoA was more moderate.

When not generating vortex lift, was the airflow attached over both the upper and lower wing surface?

The mental picture I have is that during supersonic flight and also during subsonic but high-IAS phases, the wing was generating lift in a way Newton and Bernoulli would have immediately recognized. As the IAS decreased and AoA increased, the vortex started at the leading edge, and gradually grew in both size and contribution to overall lift until the vortex (or vortices) accounted for all the lifting force.

Dare I ask for the more complicated version?

Sidebar: in a supersonic wind tunnel test, do you get a sonic boom?

No, I probably couldn't.

Let me ask it this way: Could a student in Aeronautical Engineering calculate the lift and drag for (non-vortex) Concorde using the same equations he would use to calculate lift and drag for say, a 777?

In other, other words... I understand that there's a very different phenomenon developing a chunk of lift at high AoA. But the wing still has a very unique shape and camber, so I wonder if-- when the AoA is *not* as high-- phenomena responsible for our 777 staying up fully apply to Concorde.

If I'm just missing the boat completely here, just give me the stern eye and ask me to reread some physics.

I was in Seattle for a wedding this weekend, and got to see BOAG at the Museum of Flight.

It was gratifying, but I can't say she's in stellar condition. I'd give her a solid "B" grade. For one thing, it drives me nuts that all the literature and display placards all say "the Concorde." I far prefer Concorde to stand on her own. Her paint was dull and oxidized, and the exhibit sort of stands alone, without much in the way of history or surrounding material. It pained me a bit to see her outside in the Seattle weather, too. The interior is nice, being cordoned off by plexiglass that could stand a replacement sometime soon. I didn't see peeling paint.

That said, it was a spectacularly more enjoyable experience than the last time I saw Concorde F-BVFA at the Udvar Hazy museum in DC, thanks completely to this thread. I noticed things I'd never seen before, and took a much more profound appreciation of things like the curve and droop of the wing leading edge and the complexity of the engine intakes... and I loved seeing the difference in fuel consumption numbers between Concorde and the SR-71 also on display. My wife thinks I'm a genius because I knew why #4 engine was N1 limited below 60kt and what the little 3/4 tag to the left of the engine EGT gauges was for.

Thanks again to all the knowledgeable individuals on this thread.

My wife thinks I'm a very odd, slightly obsessed, guy who knows too much about airplanes he doesn't fly.

I bet I know more about Concorde than the Cirrus I'm actually able to fly. Don't look at me that way-- no forum I frequent has ever had a "Cirrus Question" topic nearly as engaging as this one.

The exhibit at the Seattle Museum of Flight (Alpha Golf, I think) has the story of the flight engineer who placed his cap in what's called "the expansion joint."

But I can't figure out how the "expansion joint" got itself closed when the airplane was cold, and open when the airplane was hot. Seems backwards to me.

In my mind, the cool airplane has smaller parts, and therefore larger gaps in the joints.

What am I missing?

(I shudder to ask this question, since I have the tingle on the back of my neck that usually tells me I'm missing something simple.)