The Discussion What Was Wright Brothers Key of Success

Wright-brothers had started research on manned aircraft. Several earlier attempts failed due to the inappropriate shape of their airfoils. Besides, the science of aerodynamics was not developed at that time and theoretical understanding of the mechanisms of lift and drag was poor. Researchers and flight enthusiasts who relied on the theories known at that time failed because reliable models of the effects of viscosity on fluid flow were unavailable as the problem is quite complex defying solution. But these effects are very important in determining lift, drag and stall which are important parameters for flight. Thus, the Wright brothers did not have any real theoretical work to guide them, and they had to rely on experimental work alone, based on only empirical guidelines. 

They were aware that the lift to drag ratio (L/D) was the major factor in aerodynamic efficiency. Thus the important aspect of good aerodynamics is to produce more lift with as small a drag as possible, i.e., an aircraft should be designed to have as large a lift to drag ratio as possible. During early experiments, the Wrights used an aspect ratio of 3 for their airfoil. By conducting experiments in a wind tunnel they discovered that higher aspect ratio produces a higher lift to drag ratio. Immediately they adopted another aspect ratio of 6 for their wing. In their observations, they found out that L/D ratio of the wing with aspect ratio 6 produced many desirable results when compared to the wing with aspect ratio 3. This became the key to success for the Wright brothers.

Accordingly, they also started developing blimps, gliders, and drones etc., with-out engines. George Cayley’s in 1809-1810 by his experiment shown that aircraft operates by four forces namely lift, drag, weight & thrust. Lift is the upward force which acts perpendicular to aircraft and lift is generated due to the pressure distribution on the wing. Drag is the opposite force which resists the oncoming flow velocity. Weight is the downward force which is opposite to the lift force. Thrust is the parallel force produced by an aircraft. Aircraft works on Newton’s third law i.e. for every action there is reaction. When the aircraft is at a constant speed & altitude then its resultant forces equal to zero which is known as equilibrium in the state. 

The key to the success of the Wright brothers was the shape of the airfoil they used. They carried out numerous wind tunnel experiments of wing and airfoil shapes.