Why we don't use winglets (DarkAero 1 Wing Design)

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If you’re interested in aviation, you’ve probably spent enough time looking at airplanes to notice there's a huge variety in the size and shape of airplane wings. Long wings, short wings, folding wings, swept wings…. if you can imagine it, someone's probably already built it and tested it. But why are there so many different wing configurations, and how do engineers come up with all these designs for airplane wings? Let’s look at the wing design for the DarkAero 1 to begin answering these questions.

0:00 - Intro
0:28 - Design Requirements
1:45 - DarkAero 1 Wing Design
2:06 - Lift, Drag, Angle of Attack
2:46 - Lift Equation
6:18 - Stall Characteristics
7:59 - Drag Equation
9:16 - Parasitic Drag
11:42 - Lift Induced Drag & Winglets
13:59 - Summary

If you enjoyed this video and would like to see more of this type of content, follow along as we work to create the fastest, longest range aircraft you can build in your garage!

More information on DarkAero can be found on our website and other social media accounts:

[tomcoryell]

A complete wing design explanation and engineering lesson in less than 15 minutes. Brilliant! Thanks Riley!

[nostrilnick]

I'm a mechanical engineer who works in a field related to aircraft. I have no formal training in aeronautics and found this explanation of wing design to be one of the best I've ever seen. Well done, and thank you.

[peterhardester]

I am an old fart that loves aviation and greatly admires and respects what you are accomplishing! Your Monday morning engineering explanation of wing design was way over my head but very understandable. You have the unique ability to break very complex engineering concepts into at least relatable concepts. As a former AutoCad instructor myself, teaching adult learners, this is not easy.
Thank you and I look forward to more!

[aladincarpetcleaning]

That was about as thorough of an explanation I have ever seen, on understanding the lift and drag principles behind the design of wing. Excellent video!

[mister_murf]

Most impressive part is free handing the perfect airfoils on the white board! Love seeing the progress and detailed explanations!

[g.tucker]

What a great concise refresher course.
Being able to rapidly and clearly summarize convoluted technical concepts shows you really know your… stuff. You'd be a top-notch teacher.
(I hope this will make some of the armchair QBs think twice before chiming in with their (generally uninformed) criticisms).

[ericbean]

Fantastic job putting all of the calculations into layman's terms! I think that I can speak on behalf of the rest of your viewers, we are anticipating the next episode. Keep up the good work!

[RM-elgw]

Awesome explanation. Really appreciated the explanation for the absence of winglets, that makes so much sense now.

[RubyRhod]

I am a mechanical engineer for farming equipment from Germany.
This content here is pure gold!

Thank you very much!

[nitin]

Phenomenal video, and a world class lesson from Ryley. 11/10. Keep up the amazing work 👍

[kriswelsh]

Best ‘Engineering Explained’ tribute I’ve seen so far :D

[harmlesscreationsofthegree]

Fantastic vid and a concise, cogent explanation of the concepts 👌🏽

[blainerawdon]

This is an excellent lecture and a very interesting airplane. Two comments second-order aspects of wing design: First, wing stall characteristics are also important because they couple to the horizontal stabilizer via the downwash field behind the wing. An inboard stall reduces the downwash at the tail, resulting in pitch-down. This softens the stall behavior and causes a lot of stick travel and force before full wing stall. In contrast, a stall at mid semi-span may result in a strengthened downwash at the tail. As the mid-wing starts to stall, the airplane pitches up and the stall can then be very sudden with little stick travel or force. Second point: You note that induced drag can be reduced by increasing aspect ratio. This may or may not be true according to what you hold constant. I find that it a better mental model is that induced drag force is reduced by increasing wingspan. Primary elements of induced drag force are lift (weight), span, and dynamic pressure. Given these, aspect ratio has nothing to do with it. I wish you good progress with the project!

[-suncheez-]

That's probably the best explanation of the Lift-Drag math in the whole Internet. Thank you, guys, very-very much.

[veryrare]

that whiteboard layout is totally optimised for the lesson at hand....well done😳

[JonMulveyGuitar]

Great job. I assume you have presented this at your workshops. You were able to lay this out in a very efficient presentation. If your wing design performs as well as this clip you guys are in great shape! Love the content🙂 And the DarkAero. Go DA Go!!

[viktorkarlsson]

Really really intresting! When I met you guys in the beertent at Oshkosh and you told us about your plans I couldnt believe it but you guys really made progress and you make it understandable aswell!

[GavMystro]

MEng in Aerospace Engineering here. You will not find a better overview of wing design philosophy for people fresh to the topic on the Internet. Expertly broken down and explained

[howardhall]

Very well done! It has been maybe forty some years think I've thought about the basics, Thank for bringing all the basics back to the front of the room. Your quick direct talk covered maybe a week of lectures from the sixties. Well done! The science is really all the same whether flying a Dark Aero 1, F-117, F-35 or a B-787.

[xjet]

Another way to reduce lift-induced drag is to use a more tapered wing planform. This reduces tip-vortices without requiring an overall high aspect ratio. However, sharply tappered wing planforms aggrivate the tip-stalling tendencies. Good aerodynamic design (to meet desired performance criteria) is all about balancing the various factors to achieve the best result. Nice video, well presented and good explanations of the design choices that were made with the DarkAero.