I don’t understand all the internet explanations using terms like “Range of attack” “Stall speed”
I’m trying to understand why it matters that the wing has a blunt front, if just angling a flat sheet slightly upwards should in my theory still lift it up at speed.
Although those round edges intuitively make sense somehow, i just want to understand why they work.
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Gusts and maneuvering and stuff change the angle at which air hits the leading edge. If the leading edge is sharp its response to those varying conditions isn’t as smooth.
And because it’s the leading edge you get a stagnation line anyway. There’s a line where the air has to choose between going over the top or the bottom. Air that can’t pick one or the other builds up and creates a slippery ridge of pressure that splits other flow-lines. So a blunt leading edge doesn’t make much more drag than a sharp one. It just behaves better.
That’s the explanation for old-school airfoils. There are wing designs from the mid 20th century to now that use sharp leading edges, slotted edges, all kinds of weird stuff. The details of aerodynamics are complicated enough that you really need wind-tunnel and flight testing. (Computers help you get close but they’re still not good enough to trust.)
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