wing\weight

[FANG]

how would i work out wingspan and suface area from a bodyweight?

[Mokele]

Of what? Are you trying to work out the wings needed to lift something of a given weight?

 

You also need to know velocity - lift increases with velocity squared, so you need much bigger wings for slow flight than for fast.

[FANG]

yea i wus tryin to work dat out

 

how would you work out an efficiant velocity then???

[Mokele]

It depends on your propulsion - flapping flight, propeller, jet, rocket?

[FANG]

flapping

[Mokele]

For birds, the generally accepted limit of wing loading is 25 kg/m2, but most of the truly huge birds have a loading of about 15 kg/m2.

[FANG]

so for a 30kg bird it would need 2 m2

[Mokele]

Yep.

[FANG]

ok thanks, any idea of energy requirement equations???

[Mokele]

For birds, just google "birds" and "net cost of transport", but be aware that biological organisms are far more economical than anything we can build.