An Improvement to Prandtl’s 1933 Model for Minimizing Induced Drag

Abstract

We consider Prandtl’s 1933 model for calculating circulation distribution function \(\Gamma \) of a finite wing which minimizes induced drag, under the constraints of prescribed total lift and moment of inertia. We prove existence of a global minimizer of the problem without the restriction of nonnegativity \(\Gamma \ge 0\) in an appropriate function space. We also consider an improved model, where the prescribed moment of inertia takes into account the bending moment due to the weight of the wing itself, which leads to a more efficient solution than Prandtl’s 1933 result.