The secret about Biplanes How it works

The secret about Biplanes 

How it works

   We all know what a biplane is it's a plane with two wings one above the fuselage and the other below which is one of the possible configurations in a fixed-wing aircraft but why aren't they so common today and why were they use in the past? we will answer these, a biplane is an airplane with two wings one above the other of almost the same size but if a plane has two wings and they are on the opposite sides of the fuselage then is a plane with tandem wings it's something different don't get it wrong but today we're going to talk only about biplanes.

   Everything goes back to the beginning of aviation the Wright brothers were the first to fly a motorized plane or at least as the official version since some people say it was Alberto santos-dumont with plane called 14 Bis but we're not talking about that now the plane developed by the Wright brothers was called the Wright Flyer and it was biplane since the materials available at the time were wood and fabric to cover the wings they needed to make a fairly strong and lightweight structure the configuration of two wings one above the other has the advantage of having more structural strength if they're reinforced using some pillars and tension lines the other important advantage was the lift is generated by two wings compared to one wing you can fly at slower speeds and with shorter wings something that came in handy especially if the engines from before didn't have much power either but placing a second wing doesn't double the amount of lift generated by the wings in fact, the lift is just 20% higher this deficiency is because of the proximity and position of the wings both interfere with each other in terms of aerodynamics.

    Before the Wright brothers mankind was already using very large kites that were modified in gliders large enough to carry a person in 1804 George Caley is the first to build a glider that could fly for a few seconds carrying a person George Caleywas an English engineer who managed to study the flight of birds and understand it to apply it on the first machine heavier than air it is called that since by then there were already hot air balloons and similar airships labeled"lighter than air aircraft" but nothing like an airplane this man is a true pioneer of the aviation in fact he was the one who identified the forces acting on the flight lift weight thrust and drag he also performed some aerodynamic experiments and discovered that a wing with a curvature was more efficient introducing lift.  

   Wright brothers studied his work and research to build their plane it turns out that that biplane was the most structurally safe configuration and that guaranteed the flight of the machine then the first world war came some people try to redesign these airplanes with only one wing but it was very difficult to take off this happened for two main reasons the engines at the moment were not powerful enough as the engines of today to propel the aircraft at higher speed at the same time the engines were somewhat heavy so removing a wing reduces that little extra lift that it can provide so the airplane needs more speed and less weight to take off something that cannot be done with the engines at that time but it was possible to make a single wing airplane as we know them today but the wings should be a little longer this will surely make the airplane fly the problem is that a lot of wings are weak and not very resistant to aggressive maneuvers and to be used in the world with this aggressive maneuvers was not recommended it is possible to make the wings shorter but remember more speed is needed to keep flying now if you want to keep the wings shorter you will need more speed and that requires a powerful engine so overall it was all about having a better engine something that will eventually come as the engines were in constant development.

    Remember that the materials use were still wood and fabrics biplanes were the standard after the first world war aluminum alloys began to be used in aircraft structures reinforcing the structural performance and allowing the design of monoplanes to be usable there were also new engines with   power-to-weight ratio after all the two wings have disadvantages that we haven't mentioned yet the first is the increase in our dynamic drag one element that creates a lot of drag in these planes is the bracing required to hold the two wings together there is also the aerodynamic interference generated between the two wings to mitigate this a little a wing is placed a little bit separated from the other in the horizontal and vertical axis to answer the question of why biplanes are not so common today I think the answer is clear biplanes are not the most efficient flying machines some biplanes are still in use in aerial displays.