As pilots can tell you, flying near the ground (or an open expanse of water) gives one an aerodynamic boost. Essentially, the surface acts like a mirror, reflecting and dissipating Keep reading
Tag: ground effect
Vortices and Ground Effect
Though typically unseen, the vortices that swirl from the tips of aircraft wings are powerful. Here you see a Hawker Sea Fury equipped with a smoke system used to visualize Keep reading
Flying Fish Aerodynamics
Flying fish, strange as it sounds, have aerodynamic prowess comparable to hawks. The fish aren’t true fliers, but they do glide for hundreds of meters using their large pectoral and Keep reading
Testing a Supersonic Car
How do you test a supersonic car like the Bloodhound SSC in a wind tunnel? With free-flying objects like airplanes, wind tunnel testing is relatively straightforward. Mounting a stationary model in Keep reading
Wingtip Vortices in Ground Effect
[original media no longer available] If you’ve ever watched airplane contrails fade, you’ve probably observed the Crow instability, which causes the trailing wingtip vortices of the plane to interact and Keep reading
Ground Effect Vehicles
Ground effect vehicles (a.k.a. wing-in-ground-effect vehicles) rely on their proximity to a flat surface to inhibit the wingtip vortices that create lift-induced drag. This effectively increases the lifting capabilities of Keep reading
The Ekranoplan
The ekranoplan, the monster of the Caspian Sea, was a Soviet-era aircraft nearly 74 meters in length and weighing 380,000 kgs fully loaded. (In contrast, the C-17 is 53 m Keep reading
Flying Fish Aerodynamics
New research using wind tunnel measurements of (dead) flying fish is giving new insight into how these fish are able to fly over the waves. Lift and drag data indicates Keep reading