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LONGITUDINAL STABILITY OF FLEXIFOIL?



In <1993May26.192623.17143@das.harvard.edu> sasaki@netop3.harvard.edu (Marty Sasaki) writes:


>In article <1u0bpm$9v2@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>, byang@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Been-Der Yang) writes:
>>WHY THE FLEXIFOIL CAN MAINTAIN THE LONGITUDINAL STABILITY?

>This is a really good question. If you get a definitive answer, then
>be sure to tell the inventors why it works, they would be really
>interested.

>Ray Merry, one the inventors has often said that he doesn't know why a
>flexi should fly, just that it does. They have done experiments to
>determine the best shape of the airfoil, the best aspect ratio, etc. I
>imagine that if an engineer or a scientist were to spend enough time
>examining things they could come up with an answer, but so far no one
>has taken the time.

i'm pleased to learn this. Last year, whilst building some flexis,
I posted similar queries to the net, but no-one seemed to have much
idea. I even got hold of the flexi patents; they were full of
language such as `it is believed that...', from which I deduced
that they weren't sure either ;-)

        john N

>--
>Marty Sasaki            Harvard University           Sasaki Kite Fabrications
>sasaki@noc.harvard.edu  Network Services Division    26 Green Street
>617-496-4320            10 Ware Street               Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
>                        Cambridge, MA 02138-4002     phone/fax: 617-522-8546

-- 
john nicoll (jkn@ohm.york.ac.uk)



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