Dr.

Tom Gally

Airfoils
Airfoils are the basic building block of airplanes!
You find airfoils when you take cross sectional cuts of
the wing, horizontal and vertical stabilizers,
propellers, compressor and turbine blades, etc.
The various uses of airfoils are:
produces forces normal to the flow
reduces forces in the direction of flow
accelerate and/or energize the flow

This semester we will learn all about airfoils and their

3-D counterpart, wings.
9/13/2015

Airfoils Terminology
The geometry of airfoils and wings are described
using the a specific nomenclature as shown below:
Mean camber
line

Thickness
Leading Edge
Camber

Trailing Edge

Chord line
Chord, c

We will discus these in detail later on, but an important

concept is the chord length, c.
The chord is the distance between the most forward and
most aft points (leading and trailing edges).
It is the length we use as a reference in non-dimensional
parameters.
9/13/2015

ASE 450 Applied Aerodynamics

Dr. Tom Gally

Wing Terminology
We have another set of terms associated with wings:
We define chord lengths and areas using the Planform View.

Root chord,

Taper ratio = ct/cr

cr

Sweep, c/4

Tip chord,
ct
Span, b

The reference length and area of a wing is defined by:

Mean chord, c = (cr + ct)/2
Wing area, S = b c
9/13/2015

Wing Terminology
However, wings can be complex three dimensional
shapes so there are other views and terms as well:
Dihedral angle,

Front view
root chord line

Twist, t

(negative as shown)

tip chord line

Side view

Later we will see how these geometries effect the

aerodynamics.
9/13/2015

ASE 450 Applied Aerodynamics

Dr. Tom Gally

Dimensional Analysis
A dimensional analysis of the relationships between
aerodynamic forces and flow/geometry properties yields the
following force coefficients:

L
D
Lift Coefficient
Drag Coefficient
CD
q S
q S
M
Moment Coefficient (nose up is positive)
CM
q Sc

CL

The coefficients are functions of the other important nondimensional variables, angle-of-attack, Mach number, and
Reynolds number:

C L f L , M , Re c

C D f D , M , Re c

C M f M , M , Re c
9/13/2015

Dimensional Analysis
Airfoils have similar force coefficients, however, the
forces and moments are all in per unit span (into
page):
l

L
span

D
span

M
span

So, the force coefficients are just:

cl

l
q c

cl f l , M , Re c

cd

d
q c

cd f d , M , Re c

cm

m
q c 2
cm f m , M , Re c
9/13/2015

ASE 450 Applied Aerodynamics

Dr. Tom Gally

Pressure and Friction Coefficients

The pressure coefficient is a non-dimensional form of
pressure.
Subtract ambient pressure, p, to remove altitude
dependence.
Divide by freestream dynamic pressure, q, to nondimensionalize.

cp

p p p p

V2
q

1
2

There is also a surface skin friction, , which is nondimensionalized like pressure:

cf 1 2
V
q

2
9/13/2015

Experimental Results (airfoils)

Lift curve plots: cl versus
For cambered airfoils there
can be lift at zero
Angle-of-attack for zero lift is
called the zero lift , or L=0

Cl

Cl max

ao

stalled

L=0

For symmetric airfoils, L=0 = 0

Clmax

Linear behaviour at moderate

Inviscid theory says:

cl = 2l=0) in radians)

Thus, the lift curve slope = dcl/d = 2also called ao or Cl)

At high and low , separation occurs and the linearity
disappears

The maximum value of cl is called, obviously enough, clmax

The corresponding angle-of-attack is, clmax
At angles-of-attack beyond clmax the airfoil is stalled!
9/13/2015

ASE 450 Applied Aerodynamics

Dr. Tom Gally

Experimental Results NACA 2415 Airfoil

AE 301 Aerodynamics I

85

9/13/2015

2-D Wind Tunnel Results (continued)

Also have influence of Rec (See data in Appendix D)
Very small influence of Rec at moderate s
Strong influence of Rec near separation
To be expected since separation is viscous phenomenon
Note: the greater Rec, the later the separation.

Also note effect of standard roughness or boundary layer

trip on airfoil.
This result is not typical - the standard roughness used in
these tests was huge compared to modern standards.

Note effect of simple flap on lower surface

Provides much more lift
Unfortunately, also provides much more drag
9/13/2015

ASE 450 Applied Aerodynamics

Dr. Tom Gally

2-D Wind Tunnel Results (continued)

Drag polars, cd versus cl
Plots of cd versus cl look something like parabolas for most
airfoils
Strong influence of Rec as expected since drag is due to
friction forces
Note that camber tends to the center of the polar to positive
lift coefficients.

Moment coefficients: cmc/4 and cmac

For symmetric airfoils, cmc/4 = cmac 0
For cambered airfoils, cmc/4 and cmac are both negative, I.e.
nose down pitching moment.
cmc/4 gets more negative with (or lift), cmac is constant
9/13/2015

Experimental Results NACA 2415 Airfoil

AE 301 Aerodynamics I

ASE 450 Applied Aerodynamics

88

9/13/2015

Dr. Tom Gally

Calculating Forces on Airfoils

As we know, a fluid interacts with a solid boundary
through surface pressures and shear stress (friction).
p(s)

(s)

If we know (or can measure or calculate) P and on

the surface, then we would need to integrate these
along the surface arc length to get the resultant
forces.
9/13/2015

Normal and Axial Forces

When integrating forces it is easier to use angles
relative to the body.
This will give us normal and axial (N and A) forces.
However, what we really want are lift and drag!
L

N
D

9/13/2015

ASE 450 Applied Aerodynamics

Dr. Tom Gally

Calculating cl from Cp
Lift can be calculated by integrating the pressure
difference between upper and lower surfaces

p
s

ds

c
TE

N W

TE

pl cos l sin ds W pu cos u sin ds

LE

LE

N
dy
dy

pl l dx pu u dx
W 0
dx
dx
0
9/13/2015

Calculating cl , cd and cm
By dividing the equation by dynamic pressure and
chord length, we get force coefficients cn and ca:

dy
dy

c f ,l d x
cn c p ,l c p ,u c f ,u
c
dx
dx

0
1

A similar calculation for the axial force gives

dy
dy
ca c p ,u c p ,l c f ,u cl ,u d x
c
dx u
dx l
0

And, the lift and drag coefficients are obtained by

rotation to the wind axis
cl cn cos ca sin

cd cn sin ca cos
9/13/2015

ASE 450 Applied Aerodynamics

Dr. Tom Gally

Calculating cl and cd
In practice, skin friction makes very little contribution
to normal force (or lift) and is usually ignored.

cn c p ,l c p ,u d x
1

However, both pressure and friction contribute to

drag friction is generally larger at low angles while
pressure is larger at high angles (or separation).
For the moment about the quarter chord, c/4,
pressure is the donate contributor, and can be
calculated by:

cm ,c / 4 c p ,l c p ,u 0.25 x d x
c
c
1

9/13/2015

Wind Tunnel Airfoil Measurements

In practice, it is very hard to measure skin friction
and is usually not done.
Instead, drag on airfoils is obtained by doing a Wake
Survey basically measure the momentum loss is the
airfoil wake and relating it to drag force.

9/13/2015

ASE 450 Applied Aerodynamics

Dr. Tom Gally

Wind Tunnel Wing/Aircraft Measurements

For wings and aircraft, the problem is compounded
by the need to make measurements at multiple span
locations.
In those cases, the forces are usually directly
measured using a balance. This is also sometimes
used in airfoil measurements.

9/13/2015

ASE 450 Applied Aerodynamics

10