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Aeronautical Engineering/Wetted area
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What exactly is wetted area?
Richard
Wetted area is a term used to compute skin friction drag of a body or wing. Since drag is proportional to area and skin friction depends on all the surfaces exposed to the airflow, wetted area is the total area exposed to the flow. For wings the wetted area is the sum of the upper and lower surface areas not counting the portion inside the fuselage. Because of surface curvature, the wing wetted area of a section is greater than twice the chord times length. In other words, for a body or wing it is the surface area that would get wet if it were immersed in water.
Paul
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Paul Soderman
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Aeronautics, Fluid Mechanics, Aeroacoustics, Noise Control, Muffler Design, Wind Tunnel Research.... I know nothing about India - do not ask about schools, jobs, application requirements, career choices, etc. for India. Please, no text message verbiage; I prefer full words in full sentences. Thanks.
Experience
38 years as research engineer at NASA
Publications
AIAA, NASA
Education/Credentials
B.S. and M.S. Aeronautical Engineering - U. of Washington
Graduate work Standford U.
Awards and Honors
AIAA Associate Fellow (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics)
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