Wing area

The wing area on the wings of an aircraft is the area that is circumscribed by the wing outline.

In aircraft construction , a distinction several wing surfaces:

• the gross wing surface area: it includes in addition to the smooth surface of the wing, the landing and other dampers, and also the rudder ( side , elevation and aileron )
  • as well as that part of the wing that protrudes into the fuselage if one imagines its leading or trailing edge to be extended to the aircraft axis.
  • Transitions and cladding do not count towards the wing surface.
• the net wing area: it corresponds to the gross area, but minus those parts that protrude into the fuselage.
• The wetted surface: It is that part of the wing that is exposed to an air flow.

There are also some proprietary definitions, e.g. from Airbus , Boeing / McDonnell Douglas and Fokker .

From the surface of the wing and the mass of the aircraft, the important parameter that follows wing loading . The flight behavior can be estimated from it, the air resistance and the drive .

calculation

The gross area of ​​the wing is formed by its projection area in the plane spanned by the longitudinal axis and the transverse axis . For a rectangular wing , the area is equal to the product of the span and the profile depth : ${\displaystyle A}$ ${\displaystyle b}$ ${\displaystyle l}$

${\displaystyle A=b\cdot l}$

With the usual profile depth that is not constant over the transverse axis , the integration over the span provides the wing area: ${\displaystyle y}$

${\displaystyle A=\int \limits _{-{\frac {b}{2}}}^{+{\frac {b}{2}}}l(y)\,dy}$

If the wings on both sides of the plane spanned by the aircraft's longitudinal and vertical axes are symmetrical to one another, the calculation can be simplified to:

${\displaystyle A=2\cdot \int \limits _{0}^{+{\frac {b}{2}}}l(y)\,dy}$