Structural Panels as wings

[The_Rocketeer]

This came as a bit of a revelation to me today, so forgive me if it's generally understood elsewhere, but...

I was making a test flight of a stock autogyro design that I'm developing, which used a spinning plate sandwiched between two fixed plates as the rotor bearing assembly. The rotor section is pitched up about 15 degrees The only wings on the craft were the rotor arms, plus a vertical stabiliser at the back. Whether the design is fundamentally flawed or my engineering ability failed me, the whole rotor assembly exploded and flew away as soon as I separated the stage. But it's what happened next that struck me as interesting.

In my frustration, I decided to throw the rest of the craft down the runway. And... it took off. And flew. And it flew well - better than many a spaceplane design I've tested! Granted it had 2 1.25m reaction wheels to stabilise it, but the thing actually generated an astonishing amount of lift.

So I went back to the hanger and knocked together a new craft just to test this out, and here's a picture of it flying with the aero indicators on:

So, what I'm wondering is, whether people widely understand that this is a thing, and if so, has anybody done a comparative study of using Stuctural Panels as wings instead of wing parts? I realise they weigh a bit more, but as a low-tech solution to early flight (for some reason structural panels are higher tech than structural wings...?) this seems to have a lot of potential.

Edited September 27, 2015 by The_Rocketeer

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Holy Cow thats amazing!!!

Why didnt think of it earlier with the whole aero-overhaul and Lifting-body-Dynamics....

[ostrich]

This might work for armoured wings.

[Rithsom]

I knew that was a thing for a while now, but I never bothered to post anything about it. Really goes to show how much detail went into the aerodynamic overhaul.

[EdusacconBR]

you can do a f-117 that will fly like the real thing

[wx7]

I wonder if you can use extended sideways airbrakes as wings...

Could be great for small, compact craft.

[DocMoriarty]

Question is, do you also get a lift vector in VAB/SPH for them ?

[The Aziz]

Planes with new composite-made wings! Now come with 100% more crash resistance!

[The_Rocketeer]

I wonder if you can use extended sideways airbrakes as wings...

Could be great for small, compact craft.

I guess in theory this might work, but seeing as those parts are intended to cause drag, it might not give the desired result.

Question is, do you also get a lift vector in VAB/SPH for them ?

No you don't. I think the CoL only applies to parts with an actual 'lift rating'.

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

I made some gifs.

With SAS

Without SAS

[RA3236]

Why didn't I think of that? Oh wait, I'm too busy trying to blow up the Mun... :D

[Arsonik]

I wonder if you can use extended sideways airbrakes as wings...

Could be great for small, compact craft.

I like this idea simply because it would make retractable wings..... Use it for a small re-entry vehicle that has to be in fairings during launch for example. Idk, think I'm gonna go test it and see if this works at all.

Yeah. Doesn't really work so well in practice. Not in FAR at least

Edited October 3, 2015 by Arsonik

[Goddess Bhavani]

This is all sorts of hilarious. No wonder structural panels are so high up in the tech tree! They're magical composite airfoils

And dear old stupid me has been doing it backwards, using wings as structural panels because of better fit and finish on ground vehicles!

[Mat2ch]

Ain't she pretty?

[klgraham1013]

Really goes to show how much detail went into the aerodynamic overhaul.

Details like non-aerodynamic surfaces providing lift?

I shouldn't speak to soon. I've never personally tried to fly a metal panel in real life.

[Red Iron Crown]

Details like non-aerodynamic surfaces providing lift?

I shouldn't speak to soon. I've never personally tried to fly a metal panel in real life.

Flat surfaces can provide lift, this is the principle by which paper airplanes work.

[juanml82]

This is great for Duna, where landing often means a wing hits the ground - the structural panels have a large impact tolerance so they are far more likely to survive a bumpy landing.

The problem is seeing the CoL in the SPH. Maybe someone can make a mod to make the CoL take non wing parts into account and we to take advantage of this exploit?

[Val]

Details like non-aerodynamic surfaces providing lift?

I shouldn't speak to soon. I've never personally tried to fly a metal panel in real life.

Like RIC said flat panels create lift.

And they do it the same way regular wings do, by redirecting the airflow that's passing by them. Flat panels just create much more drag doing so.

[Mat2ch]

Yep, they fly. But my plane has a pretty high start and land velocity, so you either angle them up or you go very fast, very carefully...

[Mat2ch]

The problem with the structural panels is that they produce a lot of drag. This is not really realistic, but what is... Someone should write a particle simulator and run drag and lift simulations for all the parts

[Rath]

Perfect for BD