What are the differences between parasitic drag and induced drag?

Question

What are the differences between parasitic drag and induced drag?

Answer 1

simply put:

Parasitic drag is the resistance from simply moving the

airframe through the air at zero incidence.

Induced drag is the drag added by the creation of lift

or control inputs.

Answer 2

In aerodynamics, lift-induced drag, induced drag, vortex drag, or sometimes drag due to lift, is a drag force which occurs whenever a lifting body or a wing of finite span generates lift. With other parameters remaining the same, as the angle of attack increases, induced drag increases.Parasitic drag (also called parasite drag) is drag caused by moving a solid object through a fluid. Parasitic drag is made up of many components, the most prominent being form drag. Skin friction and interference drag are also major components of parasitic drag

Answer 3

parasite drag is from the air hitting the front of the airplane, as if you where driving in your car and put your hand out the window, you would feel the wind pushing your hand back.  the more you increase your speed, the more parasite drag you get.   Induced drag is caused by the lift of the wing.  The greater the angle of attack (lift)  the more induced drag you have. so at slower airspeeds you have a greater angle of attack to maintain the required lift and hence more induced drag. if you look at the wikipedia link you will see that induced drag is the "rearward component of lift" in the little diagram.  If you graph out parasite and induced drag, as in the other link,  the point where these lines meet, is the point where you have the least drag ( L over D max).  This is usually your best glide speed or the speed you fly at to get the best range.   Im not an engineer so im sure there is more to it and i have not done this CFI thing in awhile so i hope i made some sense.

here are the links:

this one shows induced drag and what way the force acts in relation to lift, i think the diagram shows it best.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lift-induce...

this one shows a graph of parasite and induced drag and if you combine them to get your total drag, you have the point where you get the least amount of drag shown by the horizontal yellow line.

http://www.dynamicflight.com/aerodynamic...

Answer 4

Induced Drag - a byproduct of lift.  According to Isaac Newton, for any action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  If you produce lift, you produce an equal and opposite force.  This is called induced drag.  Induced drag is the greatest whenever the angle of attack of the wing is the greatest.  That is why induced drag increases as airspeed decreases.  The slower you go, the higher the angle of attack, and the more induced drag you create.

Parasite Drag - there are several types of parasite drag.  One is form drag, which is just like sticking your hand out of a moving car's window.  If you put a solid object in free-flowing air, it will create drag.  Your hand is no different from an airplane.  Another type of parasite drag is skin friction drag.  No surface is completely smooth.  Due to microscopic imperfections in aircraft wings, drag is created because these imperfections cause disturbances in airflow.  Another type is known as interference drag, which exists where two or more surfaces and their resultant airflow collide.  An example of this is where the fuselage and wing attach.  The airflow patterns along the fuselage and wing are very different, because they're situated at different angles from each other.  Because of these different angles and resultant differences in airflow, the air collides and creates drag.

Basically, induced drag is a product of lift, while parasite drag is due to the presence of a rigid object (an airplane) in free-flowing air.

Answer 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lift_to_dra...

read this link  it is explained better than i can ok gilermo

Answer 6

Another important point is that induced drag decreases with airspeed but parasite drag increases. Thus if you could imagine a graph of the two drags, there would be a U shape.