Transition Reynold's Number Range

[AeroGavin]

If you calculate the Reynold's number of the fuselage to be about 10^6 and the wings to be about 3e5 of a high-speed, small-scale aircraft, is it possible to have a higher profile drag on the wings than the fuselage?

I'd appreciate any help on the subject, and would love to get references with page numbers. I've been using Hoerner's and Raymer's books, but I would like confirmation.

 

[pretender75]

With out doing the math myself .... (I dont have your model) but it should be possible. Given drag is results dirrectly in proportion to surface area as well as the area of first contact (leading edge or nose of the fusilage) so if the total surface area is greater on the wings and or the leading edge areas is greater...).

Dont forget that there are areas of greater resistance to airflow around wheels struts and any non-conforming pods/bays holding them if they close for flight.

If this is too simple an answer then youre stuck doing the math again.

 

[aviat]

What most agree on is that for a low Reynolds number flow, the inertia forces are negligible compared with the viscous forces, whereas in a high Reynolds number flow, the viscous forces are small relative to the inertia forces. And at low Re skin friction drag dominates, while at high Re pressure drag dominates unless separation can be avoided.
RE = Inertia Forces/Viscous Forces

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Theories_of_Flight/Real_Fluid_Flow/TH9.htm

http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~tph/L6.pdf

http://www.ame.arizona.edu/courses/ame331/Lectures/Chp9_331.pdf

For text book see “Aerodynamics or Naval Aviators” page 54-60.
Chears!

 

[AeroGavin]

Thanks for the info! I'm assuming that this is a clean aircraft (no landing gear, pylons, et cetera). However, due to the fact that Re is below critical Re (<500,000) for the wings and above critical Re for the fuselage, I seem to be getting higher profile drag contributions from the wings than the fuselage. Intuitively, one would think that the profile drag of the fuselage would be greater than the wings.