AERODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF A DELTA KITE

Abstract

A kite despite being composed of a lightweight structure surrounded by a thin and light material, is designed to fly like a type of glider, however, fixed by a line. Mathematical and practical analyses can be done. The general objective of this work is to make a study of the aerodynamics behind kites, where the objective was to find the most effective aerodynamic factor on a kite in flight and propose changes in the design to optimize its performance. The study was done with a Delta Kite. This work is structured in two stages, first a literature review was made to study the history, types of kites and aerodynamic analysis. Subsequently, two analyses were performed, one mathematical and the other by the  Kite Modeler software, and finally the values were compared. The main result of this project was the verification that the element that most effectively influences the flight of the kite is the location of its rein point. In addition, lift force was the most important aerodynamic factor in determining the resulting stress on the control line. Thus, improvements in the design of the kite were suggested.