An airfoil (in American English) or aerofoil (in British English) is the shape of a wing or blade

(of a propeller, rotor or turbine) or sail as seen in cross-section.

An airfoil-shaped body moved through a fluid produces a force perpendicular to the motion
called lift. Subsonic flight airfoils have a characteristic shape with a rounded leading edge,
followed by a sharp trailing edge, often with asymmetric camber. Foils of similar function
designed with water as the working fluid are called hydrofoils.

The lift on an airfoil is primarily the result of its shape (in particular its camberline) and its angle
of attack. When either or both are positive, the resulting flowfield about the airfoil has a higher
average velocity on the upper surface than on the lower surface. This velocity difference is
necessarily accompanied by a pressure difference, via Bernoulli's principle, which in turn
produces the lift force. The lift force can also be related directly to the average top/bottom
velocity difference, without invoking the pressure, by using the concept of circulation and the
Kutta-Joukowski theorem.

A fixed-wing aircraft's wings, horizontal, and vertical stabilizers are built with airfoil-shaped
cross sections, as are helicopter rotor blades. Airfoils are also found in propellers, fans,
compressors and turbines. Sails are also airfoils, and the underwater surfaces of sailboats, such as
the centerboard and keel, are similar in cross-section and operate on the same principles as
airfoils. Swimming and flying creatures and even many plants and sessile organisms employ
airfoils; common examples being bird wings, the bodies of fishes, and the shape of sand dollars.
An airfoil-shaped wing can create downforce on an automobile or other motor vehicle,
improving traction.

Any object with an angle of attack in a moving fluid, such as a flat plate, a building, or the deck
of a bridge, will generate an aerodynamic force (called lift) perpendicular to the flow. Airfoils
are more efficient lifting shapes, able to generate more lift (up to a point), and to generate lift
with less drag.
Lift and Drag curves for a typical airfoil

A lift and drag curve obtained in wind tunnel testing is shown on the right. The curve represents
an airfoil with a positive camber so some lift is produced at zero angle of attack. With increased
angle of attack, lift increases in a roughly linear relation, called the slope of the lift curve. At
about 18 degrees this airfoil stalls, and lift falls off quickly beyond that. The drop in lift can be
explained by the action of the upper-surface boundary layer, which separates and greatly
thickens over the upper surface at and past the stall angle. The thickened boundary layer's
displacement thickness changes the airfoil's effective shape, in particular it reduces its effective
camber, which modifies the overall flowfield so as to reduce the circulation and the lift. The
thicker boundary layer also causes a large increase in pressure drag, so that the overall drag
increases sharply near and past the stall point.

Airfoil design is a major facet of aerodynamics. Various airfoils serve different flight regimes.
Asymmetric airfoils can generate lift at zero angle of attack, while a symmetric airfoil may better
suit frequent inverted flight as in an aerobatic aeroplane. In the region of the ailerons and near a
wingtip a symmetric airfoil can be used to increase the range of angle of attacks to avoid spin-
stall. Ailerons themselves are not cut into the airfoil, but extend it. Thus a large range of angles
can be used without boundary layer separation. Subsonic airfoils have a round leading edge,
which is naturally insensitive to the angle of attack. For intermediate Reynolds numbers already
before maximum thickness boundary layer separation occurs for a circular shape, thus the
curvature is reduced going from front to back and the typical wing shape is retrieved.

Supersonic airfoils are much more angular in shape and can have a very sharp leading edge,
which — as explained in the last sentence — is very sensitive to angle of attack. A supercritical
airfoil has its maximum thickness close to the leading edge to have a lot of length to slowly
shock the supersonic flow back to subsonic speeds. Generally such transonic airfoils and also the
supersonic airfoils have a low camber to reduce drag divergence. Modern aircraft wings may
have different airfoil sections along the wing span, each one optimized for the conditions in each
section of the wing.

Movable high-lift devices, flaps and sometimes slats, are fitted to airfoils on almost every
aircraft. A trailing edge flap acts similar to an aileron, with the difference that it can be retracted
partially into the wing if not used (and some flaps even make the plane a biplane if used).

A laminar flow wing has a maximum thickness in the middle camber line. Analysing the Navier-
Stokes equations in the linear regime shows that a negative pressure gradient along the flow has
the same effect as reducing the speed. So with the maximum camber in the middle, maintaining a
laminar flow over a larger percentage of the wing at a higher cruising speed is possible.
However, with rain or insects on the wing or for jetliner speeds this does not work. Since such a
wing stalls more easily, this airfoil is not used on wingtips (spin-stall again).

Schemes have been devised to define airfoils — an example is the NACA system. Various
aerofoil generation systems are also used. An example of a general purpose airfoil that finds
wide application, and predates the NACA system, is the Clark-Y. Today, airfoils can be designed
for specific functions using inverse design programs such as PROFOIL, XFOIL and AeroFoil[1].
XFOIL is an online program created by Mark Drela that will design and analyze subsonic
isolated

Airfoil terminology
The various terms related to airfoils are defined below:[3]

 The mean camber line is a line drawn midway between the upper and lower surfaces.
 The chord line is a straight line connecting the leading and trailing edges of the airfoil, at
the ends of the mean camber line.
 The chord is the length of the chord line and is the characteristic dimension of the airfoil
section.
 The maximum thickness and the location of maximum thickness are expressed as a
percentage of the chord.
 For symmetrical airfoils both mean camber line and chord line pass from centre of
gravity of the airfoil and they touch at leading and trailing edge of the airfoil.
 The aerodynamic center is the chord wise length about which the pitching moment is
independent of the lift coefficient and the angle of attack.
 The center of pressure is the chord wise location about which the pitching moment is
zero.

An airfoil section is displayed at the tip of this Denney Kitfox aircraft, built in 1991.
From top to bottom:

 laminar flow airfoil for a RC park flyer;

 laminar flow airfoil for a RC pylon racer;
 laminar flow airfoil for a manned propeller aircraft;
 laminar flow at a jet airliner airfoil;
 stable airfoil used for flying wings;
 aft loaded airfoil allowing for a large main spar and late stall;
 transonic supercritical airfoil;
 supersonic leading edge airfoil.

Colours:
Black = laminar flow,
red = turbulent flow,
grey = subsonic stream,
blue = supersonic flow volume

[edit] Thin airfoil theory

Thin airfoil theory is a simple theory of airfoils that relates angle of attack to lift. It was devised
by German mathematician Max Munk and further refined by British aerodynamicist Hermann
Glauert and others[4] in the 1920s. The theory idealizes the flow around an airfoil as two-
dimensional flow around a thin airfoil. It can be imagined as addressing an airfoil of zero
thickness and infinite wingspan.

Thin airfoil theory was particularly notable in its day because it provided a sound theoretical
basis for the following important properties of airfoils in two-dimensional flow: [5][6]
(1) on a symmetric airfoil, the center of pressure lies exactly one quarter of the chord behind the
leading edge
(2) on a cambered airfoil, the aerodynamic center lies exactly one quarter of the chord behind the
leading edge
(3) the slope of the lift coefficient versus angle of attack line is units per radian

As a consequence of (3), the section lift coefficient of a symmetric airfoil of infinite wingspan is:

where is the section lift coefficient,

is the angle of attack in radians, measured relative to the chord line.

(The above expression is also applicable to a cambered airfoil where is the angle of attack
measured relative to the zero-lift line instead of the chord line.)

Also as a consequence of (3), the section lift coefficient of a cambered airfoil of infinite
wingspan is:

where is the section lift coefficient when the angle of attack is zero.

Thin airfoil theory does not account for the stall of the airfoil which usually occurs at an angle of
attack between 10° and 15° for typical airfoils. [7]

Derivation of thin airfoil theory

The airfoil is modeled as a thin lifting mean-line (camber line). The mean-line, y(x), is
considered to produce a distribution of vorticity γ(s) along the line, s. By the Kutta condition,
the vorticity is zero at the trailing edge. Since the airfoil is thin, x (chord position) can be used
instead of s, and all angles can be approximated as small.

From the Biot-Savart law, this vorticity produces a flow field w(s) where

where x is the location at which induced velocity is produced, x' is the location of the vortex
element producing the velocity and c is the chord length of the airfoil.

Since there is no flow normal to the curved surface of the airfoil, w(x) balances that from the
component of main flow V which is locally normal to the plate — the main flow is locally
inclined to the plate by an angle α − dy / dx. That is
This integral equation can by solved for γ(x), after replacing x by

as a Fourier series in Ansin(nθ) with a modified lead term A0(1 + cos(θ)) / sin(θ)

That is

(These terms are known as the Glauert integral).

The coefficients are given by

and

By the Kutta–Joukowski theorem, the total lift force F is proportional to

and its moment M about the leading edge to

The calculated Lift coefficient depends only on the first two terms of the Fourier series, as

The moment M about the leading edge depends only on A0,A1 and A2 , as

The moment about the 1/4 chord point will thus be,

From this it follows that the center of pressure is aft of the 'quarter-chord' point 0.25 c, by
The aerodynamic center, AC, is at the quarter-chord point. The AC is where the pitching moment
M' does not vary with angle of attack, i.e.

AeroFoil Version
2.2 is a full-featured airfoil
analysis program, integrated with
the very best multi-point inverse
airfoil design tool available, and all
at a very affordable price.

You may down-load a free copy of

Version 2.2 and evaluate it for 14
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of the calculations of airfoil design
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any data. After 14 days, it will
automatically convert to AeroFoil
Lite. The lite version will perform Surface velocity around an NLF-0414F at 5.5 degree
all calculations, but only on a angle of attack

limited set of airfoils. You may

continue to use AeroFoil Lite as
long as you like and it may be
registered at any time.
 AeroFoil is an airfoil design and
analysis program written in Visual
Basic. It is intended to be the most
"user-friendly" of its type. AeroFoil
uses the vortex panel method and
integral boundary layer equations to
calculate drag, lift, and airfoil
pitching moment at different angles
of attack. Direct comparisons of up
to three airfoils at a time may be
performed.

Airfoil design with AeroFoil is both

easy and powerful. Changes to the
performance characteristics of an
airfoil may be made in seconds.

Calculations are performed at either

Pressure Coefficient around an NLF-0414F at 5.5
degree angle of attack
constant velocity, as in a wind
tunnel, or in one of two simulations
of the actual conditions of an airfoil
in flight. The airfoil is defined by
readily available coordinate data,
created using NACA methods, a
simple transformation model, or
generated from a user-defined
velocity profile through what is
known as inverse design.

Results show an excellent comparison to published wind tunnel data.

When compared with XFoil Version 6.94, AeroFoil has a higher degree of
accuracy, particularly in the estimation of post-stall behavior and the
maximum coefficient of lift and angle of attack at which the maximum will
occur.
Lift, pitch moment, and drag comparisons between experimental results, AeroFoil, and XFoil for an NLF-0215F at
a Reynolds Number of 9,000,000

AeroFoil's most powerful feature is its ability to create new airfoils using
what is known as inverse design. The design process is fully automated and
requires no unusual knowledge of aerodynamics.

Using nothing more than slider bars and radio buttons, the AeroFoil user
can tailor specific regions of an airfoil to meet the desired design
parameters. No other inverse design software is as simple to use.
The local air velocity over
an airfoil defines all of its
performance
characteristics. Using
AeroFoil, the designer
creates a specific velocity
profile and AeroFoil does
the rest.

It takes only seconds to

alter the performance
characteristics of your new
airfoil.

Maximum lift, pitch

moment, drag coefficient,
and even airfoil
dimensions are changed
with just a mouse click and
drag.

The vast majority of other airfoil design programs which claim to perform
inverse design are based on trail-and-error re-drawing of the airfoil. True
inverse design is vastly different and has previously been reserved for
aerodynamic experts. AeroFoil puts the inverse design process within reach
of anyone with a general knowledge of how a wing works.

AeroFoil is currently in use at The University Of Virginia in their

undergraduate Aerospace Engineering program. Try it and see for yourself.

AeroFoil is available for download now. It comes with a free 14 day

evaluation period and a single user license for between $20 and $150. If you
choose not to register your copy of AeroFoil by the end of the trial period, it
will automatically convert to AeroFoil Lite. All calculation options will be
available, but only on a limited set of airfoils. AeroFoil Lite may be
 registered at any time to restore features.

Airfoil Design

   It is far from accidental that there is a basic similarity between the wings of birds and the wings
of airplanes. A bird's wing is nothing more than an airfoil, and man has merely copied its shape,
modified its design and structure, and developed mechanical power sources as substitutes for his
own inadequacies in this area - and so he too flies.

   In the sections devoted to Newton's and Bernoulli's discoveries, we have already discussed in
general terms the question of how a bird's wings or the wings of man's flying machine sustain
flight when both the bird and the machine are heavier than air. Perhaps the explanation to the
whole riddle can best be reduced to its most elementary concept by stating that lift (flight) is
simply the result of fluid flow (air) about an airfoil - or in everyday language, the result of
moving an airfoil (wing), by whatever means, through the air.

   Since it is the airfoil which harnesses the force developed by its movement through the air, we
will further discuss and explain this "magic" structure, as well as some of the material presented
in previous discussions on Messrs. Newton's and Bernoulli's laws. We can, in this way,
emphasize the principles that are basic to an understanding of airfoils and airflow.

An airfoil is a structure designed to obtain reaction upon its surface from the air through which it
moves or that moves past such a structure. Air acts in various ways when submitted to different
pressures and velocities; but we will confine this discussion to the parts of an airplane that we are
most concerned with in flight; namely, the airfoils designed to produce lift. By looking at a

 typical airfoil profile

such as the cross
section of a wing you
can see several obvious
characteristics of design
(Fig. 17-4). Notice that
there is a difference in
the curvatures of the
upper and lower
surfaces of the airfoil
(the curvature is called
camber). The camber of
the upper surface is
more pronounced than
that of the lower
surface, which is
somewhat flat in most
instances.
   In Figure 17-4 note that the two extremities of the airfoil profile also differ in appearance. The
end which faces forward in flight is called the leading edge, and is rounded, while the other end,
the trailing edge, is quite narrow and tapered.

   A reference line often used in discussing the airfoil is the chord line, a straight line drawn
through the profile connecting the extremities of the leading and trailing edges. The distance
from this chord line to the upper and lower surfaces of the wing denotes the magnitude of the
upper and lower camber at any point. Another reference line, drawn from the leading edge to the
trailing edge, is the "mean camber line." This mean line is equidistant at all points form the upper
and lower contours.

   The construction of the wing so as to provide actions greater than its weight, is done by
shaping the wing (Fig. 17-4) so that advantage can be taken of the air's response to certain
physical laws, and thus develop two actions from the air mass; a positive pressure lifting action
from the air mass below the wing, and a negative pressure lifting action from lowered pressure
above the wing.

   As the airstream strikes the relatively flat lower surface of the wing when inclined at a small
angle to its direction of motion, the air is forced to rebound downward and therefore causes an
upward reaction in positive lift, while at the same time airstream striking the upper curved
section of the "leading edge" of the wing is deflected upward. In other words, a wing shaped to
cause an action on the air, and forcing it downward, will provide an equal reaction from the air,
forcing the wing upward. If a wing is constructed in such form that it will cause a lift force
greater than the weight of the airplane, the airplane will fly.

   Probably you have held your flattened hand out of the window of a moving automobile. As you
inclined you hand to the flow of air, the force of air against it pushed it up. Without realizing it
you were demonstrating how an airplane gets a portion of its lift. The "wing," in this case your
hand, pushed against the air, the air pushed back - remember Newton's third law? As we have
already learned, the upward component of this force is called lift.

   However, if all the lift required were obtained merely from the deflection of air by the lower
surface of the wing, an airplane would need only a flat wing like a kite. This, of course, is not the
case at all; under certain conditions disturbed air currents circulating at the trailing edge of the
wing could be so excessive as to make the airplane lose speed and lift. The balance of the lift
needed to support the airplane comes from the flow of air above the wing. Herein lies the key to
flight. The fact that most lift is the result of the airflow's downwash from above the wing, must
be thoroughly understood in order to continue further in the study of flight. It is neither accurate
nor does it serve a useful purpose, however, to assign specific values to the percentage of lift
generated by the upper surface of an airfoil versus that generated by the lower surface. These are
not constant values and will vary, not only with flight conditions, but with different wing
designs.

   It should be understood that different airfoils have different flight characteristics. Many
thousands of airfoils have been tested in wind tunnels and in actual flight, but no one airfoil has
been found that satisfies every flight requirement. The weight, speed, and purpose of each
airplane dictate the shape of its airfoil. It was learned many years ago that the most efficient
airfoil for producing the greatest lift was one that had a concave, or "scooped out" lower surface.
Later it was also learned that as a fixed design, this type of airfoil sacrificed too much speed
while producing lift and, therefore, was not suitable for high speed flight. It is interesting to note,
however, that through advanced progress in engineering, today's high speed jets can again take
advantage of the concave airfoil's high lift characteristics. Leading edge (Kreuger) flaps and
trailing edge (Fowler) flaps, when extended from the basic wing structure, literally change the
airfoil shape into the classic concave form, thereby generating much greater lift during slow
flight conditions.
 

 On the other hand, an

airfoil that is perfectly
streamlined and offers
little wind resistance
sometimes does not
have enough lifting
power to take the
airplane off the ground.
Thus, modern airplanes
have airfoils which
strike a medium
between extremes in
design, the shape
varying according to
the needs of the
airplane for which it is
designed. Figure 17-5
shows some of the
more common airfoil
sections
Aeronautics (from Greek ὰήρ āēr which means "air" and ναυτική nautikē which means
"navigation, seamanship", i.e. "navigation of the air") is the science involved with the study,
design, and manufacture of flight-capable machines, or the techniques of operating aircraft.
While the term—literally meaning "sailing the air"—originally referred solely to the science of
operating the aircraft, it has since been expanded to include technology, business and other
aspects related to aircraft.[1] One of the significant parts in aeronautics is a branch of physical
science called aerodynamics, which deals with the motion of air and the way that it interacts with
objects in motion, such as an aircraft. Aviation is a term sometimes used interchangeably with
aeronautics, although "aeronautics" includes lighter-than-air craft such as airships, while
"aviation" does not.[1]

Early aeronautics
The first mention of aeronautics in history was in the writings of ancient Egyptians who
described the flight of birds. It also finds mention in ancient China where people were flying
kites thousands of years ago. The medieval Islamic scientists were not far behind, as they
understood the actual mechanism of bird flight. Before scientific investigation of aeronautics
started, people started thinking of ways to fly. In a Greek legend, Icarus and his father Daedalus
built wings of feathers and wax and flew out of a prison. Icarus flew too close to the sun, the wax
melted, and he fell in the sea and drowned. When people started to scientifically study how to
fly, people began to understand the basics of air and aerodynamics. One of the earliest scientists
to study aeronautics was Ibn Firnas who studied the dynamism of flying and carried out a
number of experiments in 8th century in Cordoba, Al-Andalus.[2] Roger Bacon and Leonardo da
Vinci were some of the first modern Europeans to study aeronautics. Leonardo studied the flight
of birds in developing engineering schematics for some of the earliest flying machines in the late
fifteenth century AD. His schematics, however, such as the ornithopter ultimately failed as
practical aircraft. The flapping machines that he designed were either too small to generate
sufficient lift, or too heavy for a human to operate. Although the ornithopter continues to be of
interest to hobbyists, it was replaced by the glider in the 19th century. Sir George Cayley was
one of the most important people in the history of aeronautics. Many consider him the first true
scientific aerial investigator and the first person to understand the underlying principles and
forces of flight.[3] A pioneer of aeronautical engineering,[4] he is credited as the first person to
separate the forces of lift and drag which are in effect on any flight vehicle,[5]
Glider aircraft are heavier-than-air craft that are supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of
the air against their lifting surfaces, and whose free flight does not depend on an engine.[1] Mostly
these types of aircraft are intended for routine operation without engines, though engine failure
can force other types of aircraft to glide.

There are a wide variety of types differing in the construction of their wings, aerodynamic
efficiency, location of the pilot and controls. Some may have power-plants to take off and/or
extend flight. Some are designed simply to descend, but the most common varieties exploit
meteorological phenomena to maintain or even gain height. These types are principally used for
the air sports of gliding, hang gliding and paragliding. Perhaps the most familiar type is the paper
aeroplane.