Re: What is the term for neural dihedral of an aircraft wing?

Kristopher,

I am kinda guessing from your e-mail that this is an extra credit problem 
and I have likely taken too long in deciphering this.  Regardless, all I 
can come up with is an educated guess as to what you really mean.

A "Neural Dihedral" of an aircraft wing is probably spelled "Knurl 
Dihedral".  Knurl refers to a spinning knot or pocket of air, similar to a 
small whirpool in the water.  Neural refers to anything having to do with 
the nervous system (brain, nerves) or something that mimics this structure 
(like a neural circuit).  This is my guess since I also found no reference 
for Knurl Dihedral on the net or in my fluids book.  But, I can deduce what 
a knurl dihedral is.  I already said what a knurl is, and a dihedral means 
two instances of a 3D circular movement (kind of like a helix).  I am, by 
the way, paraphrasing the definitions, so PLEASE don't quote me word for 
word.  Look them up if you want the Webster's version.

So what is a knurl dihedral?  It is likely the downdraft caused by a finite 
length wing.  My fluids book has an excellent picture of the two downdraft 
vortices caused by an aircraft wing.  (Fluid Dynamics, Second Edition by 
Frank M. White:  McGraw-Hill pg. 485)  Most fluid dynamics books should 
have a section on downdrafts.  These are similar to the whirlpools caused 
by your paddle when canoeing.  As you pull your paddle through the water, 
you will get small vortices in the water on either side of the paddle.  
This is similar to the downwash caused by a plane.  An excellent photograph 
of this is real life can be found at:  http://www.simscience.org/fluid/green/downwash.html 

Anyway, I hope this came in time to help and that the explanation can guide 
you further if you need a more quantitative explanation.  Do your net 
searching under downdraft and fluid dynamics.  Best of luck.
BK