Introduction
my glider was designed to be stable and glide a long distance and be easy to construct due to it being mostly rectangles.. The final goal was to make the glider fly 50 feet forward. I used the canard style when designing my glider because it would make a more stable and long flight. Gliders work by using flowing air to push the craft forward with lift generated by the wings to prolong the flight distance. The constraints I had were to use one piece of wood for the wing, horizontal stabilizer and the tail not multiple pieces of wood which would make the construction process easier. The design process we followed required that we had to learn how to use the aery program and make a successful glider that the aery software said would fly. Aery would then print the plans for construction on multiple sheets for the different parts and dimensions.
Design
Summary
My glider worked well however; it did not seem to be able to go far enough. To fix this problem I tried to hand launch it, but I could not accurately throw it. I soon went back to the rubber band launcher and added foil tape as flaps to increase lift. I then realized the distance the glider travelled almost doubled. At first, I only added flaps to the wings and the test flight showed that the front of the glider started to dip down shortly after flight, so I added flaps to the horizontal stabilizer. This fixed the issue and increased flight distance. I followed the directions well other than missing the wedge under the horizontal stabilizer. I also slightly misaligned the horizontal stabilizer, so it was turned slightly to the left. My glider started off by gliding half the required distance. The addition of flaps solved this issue during an unofficial flight the glider made the 50-foot goal. I then did an official flight, but the glider turned right midflight. I believe my glider would have made the goal if the launcher could provide more power to the launch because of my gliders increased mass. I also think that the canard style increased stability for the longer flight. I followed the design process by creating a successful glider in the aery program. In addition to following the plans I used sandpaper of the edges to create airfoil shapes and round off the sharp edges to decrease drag on the.
Conclusion
1. To see which design elements contribute to the success of the challenge
2. Aery did not predict the force required to launch at the designated speed for perfect flight
3. Smaller scale glider to apply more force because of the decreased mass the rubber band can provide greater launching speed
2. Aery did not predict the force required to launch at the designated speed for perfect flight
3. Smaller scale glider to apply more force because of the decreased mass the rubber band can provide greater launching speed