Vortex lift

Image showing formation of vortices behind the leading edge of a delta wing at high angle of attack
A cloud of smoke shows the roll-up of the vortex sheet shed from the whole trailing edge of a wing producing lift from attached flow, with its core aligned with the wing tip. Vortex lift has an additional vortex close to the body when shed by a leading edge root extension or closer to the tip when shed by a sweptback leading edge.

Vortex lift is that portion of lift due to the action of leading edge vortices.[1] It is generated by wings with highly sweptback, sharp, leading edges (beyond 50 degrees of sweep) or highly-swept wing-root extensions added to a wing of moderate sweep.[2] It is sometimes known as non-linear lift due to its rapid increase with angle of attack[3] and controlled separation lift, to distinguish it from conventional lift which occurs with attached flow.

  1. ^ Aircraft Performance and Design, John D. Anderson, Jr., Tata McGraw-Hill Edition 2010,ISBN 978 0 07 070245 5, p.100
  2. ^ "Why's And Wherefore's Of Wings", B.R.A. Burns, Air International magazine, February 1979, p.82
  3. ^ Polhamus, E. C. (December 1966). "NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)" (PDF). Ntrs.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2020-11-02.