SLOTTED AIRCRAFT WING

摘要

An aircraft wing includes a leading airfoil element (36) and a trailing airfoil element (38). At least one slot (12) is defined by the wing during at least one transonic condition of the wing. The slot (12) may either extend spanwise along only a portion of the wingspan, or it may extend spanwise along the entire wingspan. In either case, the slot (12) allows a portion of the air flowing along the lower surface (18) of the leading airfoil element (36) to split and flow over the upper surface (20) of the trailing airfoil element (38) so as to achieve a performance improvement in the transonic condition.