Dihedral (aircraft) - Using Dihedral Angle To Adjust Dihedral Effect

Using Dihedral Angle To Adjust Dihedral Effect

During the design of a fixed-wing aircraft (or any aircraft with horizontal surfaces), changing dihedral angle is usually a relatively simple way to adjust the overall dihedral effect. This is to compensate for other design elements' influence on the dihedral effect. These other elements (such as wing sweep, vertical mount point of the wing, etc.) may be more difficult to change than the dihedral angle. As a result, differing amounts of dihedral angle can be found on different types of fixed-wing aircraft. For example, the dihedral angle is usually greater on low-wing aircraft than on otherwise-similar high-wing aircraft. This is because "highness" of a wing (or "lowness" of vertical center of gravity compared to the wing) naturally creates more dihedral effect itself. This makes it so less dihedral angle is needed to get the amount of dihedral effect needed.