Just Wright for Flight

Overview

Objectives/Goals The goal for this project was to find out if golf ball dimpling on the top surface of delta wing glider can increase its aerodynamics efficiency to a point which affects measurable performance. I defined performance as flight distance and time aloft. Methods/Materials I used 1" thick R-Max foam insulation as the raw material to build a delta wing glider of my own design. I ran 50 indoor trials with the glider as my control group. Next, I used a 1/2" drill bit to create standard concave dimples on the top surface of the glider. I then repeated 50 more trials according to protocol for my experimental group. Results The data showed that the dimpled glider had a 23.9% increase in average flight distance; however, the average time aloft decreased by 5.5%. Conclusions/Discussion I had expected an increase in flight distance due to what physicists refer to as the "golf ball dimpling effect'. In simple terms, dimpling decreases turbulent airflow and therefore reduces air friction, enabling a golf ball and my glider to fly farther. The unexpected decrease in time aloft is most likely due to a human variable. The short flight times were difficult to measure accurately with a stopwatch.

Competition history

• CSEF 2013 Aerodynamics/ Hydrodynamics (Junior Division Only) · Entry J0114

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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