Gotcha, okay makes sense. Thanks 3DDave!
One other thing I forgot to mention; we have also been exploring Cascade Fins, which are an offshoot of Grid Fins where the lattice density is reduced and they align 0/90 rather than ±45. A few studies have shown they have about twice the aero...
Complex indeed! I've been through a fair share of research docs at this point, and while I'm getting more comfortable it still makes my head spin from time to time. I can provide some of the details you've asked about though...
-We operate in the subsonic range, ~M0.1 to 0.3.
-Our materials...
We most certainly could use an AE - I've been trying to make that case haha. But doing what we can for now. I'll stick with the planform area as everyone has mentioned. Thanks all for insight!
That's what I figured, use the same area for both. Like I mentioned, the Cd's I was calculating using the plan view / flow facing planar area seemed to be on point. I've been using the same area for the Cl, but my Cl / Cd values are coming out much lower than the studies I was looking at...
Hi All,
I have some test data from a wind tunnel for several designs of grid fins with minor design tweaks. I'm trying to plot the aero efficiency (C.L / C.D) to compare them, but I feel like my resulting values aren't quite making sense. Compared to some studies I've looked at, my drag...