Theoretical symmetric span loading at subsonic speeds for wings having arbitrary plan form

A method is shown by which the symmetric span loading for a certain class of wings can be simply found. The geometry of these wings is limited only to the extent that they must have symmetry about the root chord, must have a straight quarter-chord line over the semispan, and must have no discontinuities in twist. A procedure is shown for finding the lift-curve slope, pitching moment, center of lift, and induced drag from the span load distribution. A method of accounting for the effects of Mach number and for changes in section lift-curve slope is also given. Charts are presented which give directly the characteristics of many wings. Other charts are presented which reduce the problem of finding the symmetric loading on all wings falling within the prescribed limits to the solution of not more than four simultaneous equations. The loadings and wing characteristics predicted by the theory are compared to those given by other theories and by experiment. It is concluded that the results given by the subject theory are satisfactory. The theory is applied to a number of wings to exhibit the effects of such variables as sweep, aspect ratio, taper, and twist. The results are compared and conclusions drawn as to the relative effects of these variables.