Monday, July 2, 2007

Dihedrals -- Symmetry and Stability


think about how the dihedral in the diagram enhances the stability of a kite. the keel produced by the two angled faces makes the kite track straight in the wind. solving for the effective area of the dihedral is simple trigonometry A'= cos@*2*A. this of course assumes that the keel between the faces is perpendicular to the wind. there are other ways of improving kite stability but this may be the most common application.

1 comment:

Laura Spencer said...

Have you built a kite like this?