The Wright brothers, Orville and Willbur, enjoyed important discoveries and success in early aviation. They pioneered the airplane. I was very impressed with two elements of their story. This is my focus for this blog entry.
- The method they used to study aerodynamics.
- Their unique approach to the problem of flight.
Let’s start!
1. Method
The Wright brothers built a wind tunnel in their bicycle shop. They methodically tested dozens of wing shapes and designs, and diligently calculated lift and drag, to understand the performance of each wing. Their careful and unsparing work revealed a treasure trove of important data, and illuminated the reason for poor lift in early trials (their own and that of others). Let’s take a peek into their mathematics :
In the following “Lift Equation” :
You will notice the small k. This is called the Smeaton value (also called “the pressure coefficient).
Traditionally, k was defined to be about 0.0054 (based on paper published by John Smeaton around 1759),
but actually, k is about 0.0033 on the surface of the earth.
Thus, it is impressive that the brothers worked through their own setbacks and discouragement, to find the cause of their failures. They diligently identified errors and made corrections and improvements needed to break new ground.
2. Approach to the Flight Problem
The Wright brothers were working on their flying machine at the same time as many others, and at a time technology that was making breakthroughs and motors were becoming available. Many strongly felt that the key to solving the problem of a heavier than air flyer centred on a powerful motor. The Wright brothers focused on control. They got their inspiration from two sources :
- experiencing how a bicycle leans on a turn
- observations of birds that change the angle of their wings to roll left or right
The Wright brothers designed well controlled steering into their planes and (amazingly) the design they constructed is still in use in airplanes today! If you would like to research more, you can look up the “three-axis control system” that they invented.
I am impressed that they looked to technological examples in the natural world (today known as a branch of science called Biomimicry), and that they stuck to an idea that was reasonable to them, even though it was against the general consensus.
