MINIMUM INDUCED DRAG FOR WINGS WITH SPANWISE CAMBER

Linear theory is used to develop optimum circulation distributions and their associated minimum induced drag for wakes from lifting surfaces with various spanwise camber. The work is largely computational and results for cases previously investigated analytically are generally in good agreement. However, some previously published results are found to be in error, and a new solution for the induced drag of a wing with dihedral is given. New results are computed for polynomial and superelliptic camber lines. An empirical correlation is demonstrated between the induced drag factor and the inverse arc length for a variety of optimum cases. © 1990 M. V. Lowson.