Gliding Flight - Lift To Drag Ratio

Lift To Drag Ratio

The lift-to-drag ratio, or L/D ratio, is the amount of lift generated by a wing or vehicle, divided by the drag it creates by moving through the air. A higher or more favourable L/D ratio is typically one of the major goals in aircraft design; since a particular aircraft's needed lift is set by its weight, delivering that lift with lower drag leads directly to better fuel economy and climb performance.

The effect of airspeed on the rate of descent can be depicted by a polar curve. These curves show the airspeed where minimum sink can be achieved and the airspeed with the best L/D ratio. The curve is an inverted U-shape. As speeds reduce the amount of lift falls rapidly around the stalling speed. The peak of the 'U' is at minimum drag.

As lift and drag are both proportional to the coefficient or Lift and Drag respectively multiplied by the same factor (1/2mv2S), the L/D ratio can be simplified to the Coefficient of lift divided by the coefficient of drag or Cl/Cd, and since both are proportional to the airspeed, the ratio of L/D or Cl/Cd is then typically plotted against angle of attack.