Wings in FAR and what different ones offer

[Sovek]

I know a bit about aviation, but I must admit, my knowledge in aerodynamic theory is... lacking.

Right now I'm using B9 Pwings to get the size and shape of wings I need just to get stuff off the ground. I know some basics though... Swept wings offer decreased drag at sub-sonic speeds, straight wings offer increased lift but lots of drag as the speed increases... Delta, not sure.

Right now I'm designing aircraft meant to get to most/all of the biomes on Kerbin in the 3x Harder solar system. This means extended range and flight time. I have an experimental 4 engine jet that can get 8-10 hrs flight time (get there and back BTW) at 12,000m. Its a Delta wing design, and I did reach mach 0.86 at level flight. It might get faster as it looses fuel.... could probably also climb faster. I doubt AJE has supersonic jets in the .625m size so upgrading may be out.

Seriously guys, some pointers on wing design please.

[ferram4]

Swept wings offer reduced zero-lift drag at subsonic speeds, and generally reduced drag (even with lift) at transonic and supersonic speeds, but offer less lift at the same angles of attack, greater drag due to lift at low subsonic speeds, and introduce very strong dihedral effects that you might not want.  Straight wings are as you said, delta wings are basically the same as swept but with a much lower taper ratio and sweep angle (technically, true delta wings must have a taper ratio of 0 to have their wingtips come to a point).  Tapered wings always have benefits over non-tapered wings, so tapering is always something you should do.

If your goal is maximum range, you don't want delta wings or supersonic flight, but transonic is fine.  You want to build something that looks like a boring-as-hell jet airliner.  If your goal is maximum speed, then you should probably stick to delta wings.  In either case, you want to area-rule your plane to decrease transonic and supersonic drag as much as possible, but that's less to do with wing design and more to do with have the fuselage account for wing shape and tail placement.  If you're going to try and keep your speed below about Mach 0.6, you shouldn't bother sweeping wings at all.

[Sovek]

Essentially the goal is decent range+good speed. I don't have jets that can really handle transonic speeds, and it really maxes out at mach .86.

The design I have is not a true delta. its a Cropped Delta. It can super-cruise for about 10 hours, with a range of about 9k Km, I havn't fully tested its stall speed and service ceiling yet. Though I suspect I might get similar range with a typical swept wing deisgn with less weight. Those tanks in the wing can carry more fuel, but its difficult as heck to get off the runway.

[Streetwind]

4 hours ago, Sovek said:

Essentially the goal is decent range+good speed. I don't have jets that can really handle transonic speeds, and it really maxes out at mach .86.

The design I have is not a true delta. its a Cropped Delta. It can super-cruise for about 10 hours, with a range of about 9k Km, I havn't fully tested its stall speed and service ceiling yet. Though I suspect I might get similar range with a typical swept wing deisgn with less weight. Those tanks in the wing can carry more fuel, but its difficult as heck to get off the runway.

"Supercruise" implies supersonic flight though, I thought? If your engines max out below mach 1, you're not truly supercruising.