Last (but not least...) I saw David's DA2 and Stelio's Ikaros airfoils. Here are the polars:
The purple line shows the best lift/drag ratio is almost the same for both (DA2 wins for just a little). Ikaros has a bigger lift coefficient and a more negative moment coefficient (it's not a problem...). Ikaros has also a bigger drag coefficient for low AoA's (due to it's rather big nose). I think I'd prefer Ikaros, but I'm concerned about the very big drag for low AoA. I guess this behavior should close the wind window and make going upwind very difficult. What do you think?
For more comparisons here are a gathering of other polar plots:
Ok. I haven't decided wich one is my favorite yet,
and of course there are many other matters to take into account,
related to kite shape, purpose, etc., but although I know there's
still so much I have to learn, I'm closer now to understand how a
kite flies...
I'll sincerely appreciate your comments (I read
english much better than I write...).
Thank you!
go to First page