What you can do with airframe of a similar size. So with 4 atm, I get a plane like Cessna 172 (145-180 hp), with engine of passenger car, like Fiat Punto 1.4 litre (95hp), and it flights with half of speed of Cessna, so roughly counting 110km/h? (in very rough calculation)
You need engines to provide 4 times the thrust, but since the speed is the same, you still need just 4 times the power. But then you just have 4 times the weight, so you can make the wings stronger and heavier.
Sure, you will then need the wings of the same size to carry 4 times the lift. You can take the same plane, propel it to the same velocity, and make it carry 4 times the load. Therefore a smaller engine can be used to propel the plane.Ģ) Change F. At 4 times the air density, a plane of the same weight and geometry will fly at 1/2 the speed, and need 1/2 the power to overcome the same drag. But although the engine is providing the same thrust, the power - product of thrust and speed - has to increase in a climb.Īnd vice versa - a plane in a denser atmosphere would find that although it encounters larger drag, the wings provide lift at a lower speed. The drag remains constant, because the lift does stay constant. Meaning that a plane has to increase speed to provide same lift at decreasing density. Since C depends on geometry and rho is dictated by the height where you climb, you have various options:ġ) Change uˇ2.
How to adjust that they work in denser atmosphere? Less wingspan? Smaller engine in relation to mass?Ĭonsider the equation for aerodynamic forces