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Sailplane polar coefficients

Posted 1 year ago

Hi
I want to find the coefficients a & b for the equation (a*V^3+b = Ws). I have a hand-drawn graph, which is an empirically-derived polar of sink rate vs speed for a sailplane polar

The graph can also be described by the quadratic (aV^2+bV+c = Ws), and I am able to derive these coefficients, using formulae given in Reichmann (p105) with 3 sets of coordinates read from the physical graph. This gives a pretty good fit.

However, it's reported that the cubic form a*V^3 + b is more accurate. I don't know, but would like to try and derive the a & b coefficients. However, I don't have handy algebraic solutions. I have tried iterating over a range of possible solutions in Python but, at 4+ billion loops, it's a rather clumsy process.

Can anyone suggest a Wolfram function that would factorize or expand this cubic and thus simplify the muscling required, or alternatively know of an algebraic method?

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POSTED BY: Denis Buckley
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Ok, here is a rational function that approximates the whole black curve:

(-2021.93 + 66.0922 x - 0.71923 x^2 + 0.00306214 x^3)/(-2393.81 + 
 30.8477 x)

If you need to fit only the part to the right, this polynomial of degree 2 gives a good approximation:

2.01015 - 0.0260691 x + 0.000125399 x^2

I also tried the degree 3, but the improvement is very small, and not worth the complication, however, here it is:

1.87598 - 0.0233908 x + 0.000108471 x^2 + 3.40822*10^-8 x^3
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POSTED BY: Gianluca Gorni
Posted 1 year ago
POSTED BY: Denis Buckley
POSTED BY: Gianluca Gorni
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