Chap.

1 Introduction
Chap. 2 Fundamental Principles and Equations
(basic concepts and definitions) FUNDAMENTALS
Chap.3 Inviscid, Incompressible Flow
(Potential flows in 2D )

Chap. 4 Incompressible Flow over Airfoils

APPLICATIONS
Chap. 5 Incompressible Flow over Finite Wings
Review of the results of Potential flow theory
Assumptions: Properties:
• irotational • velocity field is governed by a
• inviscid linear equation (Laplace)
• incompressible • superposition of solutions
• steady • pressure follows from Bernoulli

Results for a closed body placed in a uniform flow:

• Drag = 0 (paradox of d’Alembert)
• Lift only when there is circulation: L =  V  (Kutta-Joukowski)
• Value of circulation  is not unique (Kutta condition)
• solution for  = 0 with source distribution on the contour
• solution for  0 with vortex distribution on the contour
 –4
Chapter 4: Incompressible Flow over Airfoils
4.1-3 Introduction the Airfoil concept
4.4-6 Airfoil Theory principle: the vortex sheet
the Kutta condition
Kelvin’s circulation theorem
4.7-8 Classical Thin Airfoil Theory for symmetrical and cambered airfoils
4.9 Lifting Flow over Arbitrary Bodies: the vortex panel method
4.11 Flow over an Airfoil - The Real Case: the effect of viscosity
4.A The Design Condition of an Airfoil
4.B Discrete Vortex Representation
 The concept of the airfoil (wing section)
Prandtl’s approach to the analysis of airplane wings:
(1) the study of the section of the wing (the airfoil)
(2) the modification of airfoil properties to account for the complete
wing
z
What is an airfoil?
x
• an “infinite” wing in 2D flow
y
• the local section of a true wing

Airfoil section
Motivation for looking at airfoils: V
– the wing properties follow from the local airfoil properties
– a good model for slender wings (i.e. with large aspect ratio)
 Uses of Airfoils

• Wings
• Propellers and Turbofans
• Helicopter Rotors
• Compressors and Turbines
• Hydrofoils (wing-like devices which can lift up
a boat above waterline)
• Wind Turbines
 Evolution of Airfoils

• Early Designs - Designers mistakenly believed

that these airfoils with sharp leading edges
will have low drag.
• In practice, they stalled quickly, and generated
considerable drag.
–Why do airfoils have such a shape?

–How are lift and drag produced?

–NACA airfoil performance data

–How do we design?
–What is limit of behavior?
 Airfoil Nomenclature
Mean camber line
thickness Trailing edge

Leading edge

Chord line

Chord c

• NACA method to generate standard “airfoil series”:

airfoil contour = mean camber line + thickness

distribution
• Mean Chamber Line: Set of points halfway
between upper and lower surfaces
– Measured perpendicular to mean chamber line itself
• Leading Edge: Most forward point of mean
chamber line
• Trailing Edge: Most reward point of mean
chamber line
• Chord Line: Straight line connecting the leading
and trailing edges
• Chord, c: Distance along the chord line from
leading to trailing edge
• Chamber: Maximum distance between mean
chamber line and chord line
– Measured perpendicular to chord line
Geometric Construction of an Airfoil
Airfoil Camber line Variations
 NACA AIRFOIL NAMING CONVENTION
• NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) precursor to NASA
• Early NACA series, 4-, 5-, modified 4-/5-digit generated with analytical
equations
• Later families, including 6-Series, are more complicated shapes derived using
theoretical rather than geometrical methods
• Before NACA series, airfoil design was rather arbitrary with nothing to
guide designer’s except experience with known shapes and
experimentation with modified shapes
 NACA Series
• NACA Four-Digit Series
• NACA Five-Digit Series
• Modified NACA Four- and Five-Digit Series:
• NACA 1-Series or 16-Series:
• NACA 6-Series:
• NACA 7-Series:
• NACA 8-Series:
NACA FOUR-DIGIT SERIES
 EXAMPLE: NACA FOUR-DIGIT SERIES
• First digit specifies maximum camber in percentage of chord
• Second digit indicates position of maximum camber in tenths of chord
• Last two digits provide maximum thickness of airfoil in percentage of
chord

Example: NACA 2415

• Airfoil has maximum thickness of 15%
of chord (0.15c)
• Camber of 2% (0.02c) located 40%
back from airfoil leading edge (0.4c)
NACA five-Digit Series
 NACA five-Digit Series
• The NACA five-digit series developed around 1935 uses the same
thickness distribution as the four-digit series.
• The mean camber line is defined differently, however, in order to move
the position of maximum camber forward in an effort to increase Clmx
• Indeed, for comparable thicknesses and cambers, the Clmx values for
the five-digit series are 0.1 to 0.2 higher than those for the four-digit
airfoils.
• The numbering system for the five-digit series is not as straightforward
as for the four-digit series.
• The first digit multiplied by 3/2 gives the design lift coefficient of the
airfoil.
• The next two digits are twice the position of maximum camber in
percent of chord.
• The last two digits give the percent thickness.
• For example, the 23012 airfoil is a 12% thick airfoil having a design Cl of
0.3 and a maximum camber located 15% of c back from the leading
edge.
NACA 1-Series (Series 16)
 NACA 1-Series (Series 16)
• The NACA 1-series of wing sections developed around 1939
was the first series based on theoretical considerations.
• The most commonly used 1-series airfoils have the
minimum pressure located at the 0.6 c point and are
referred to as series-16 airfoils.
• The camber line for these airfoils is designed to produce a
uniform chordwise pressure difference across it.
• In the thin airfoil theory to follow, this corresponds to a
constant chordwise distribution of vorticity .
• Operated at its design CI, the series-16 airfoil produces its
lift while avoiding low-pressure peaks corresponding to
regions of high local velocities.
• Thus the airfoil has been applied extensively to both marine
and aircraft propellers.
• In the former application, low-pressure regions are
undesirable from the standpoint of cavitation (the
formation of vaporous cavities in a flowing liquid.
• In the latter, the use of senes-16 airfoils delays the onset
of deleterious effects resulting from shock waves being
formed locally in regions of high velocities.
• Series-1 airfoils are also identified by five digits as, for
example, the NACA 16212 section.
• The first digit designates the series; the second digit
designates the location of the minimum pressure in tenths
of chord.
• Following the dash, the first number gives the design CI in
tenths.
• As for the other airfoils, the last two digits designate the
maximum thickness in percent of chord.
NACA 6-SerieS
 NACA 6-SerieS
• The 6 series airfoils were designed to achieve desirable drag, compressibility, and
Clmax, performance.
• These requirements are somewhat conflicting, and it appears that the motivation
for these airfoils was primarily the achievement of low drag.
• The chordwise pressure distribution resulting from the combination of thickness
and camber is conducive to maintaining extensive laminar flow over the leading
portion of the airfoil over a limited range of Cl values.
• Outside of this range, Cd and Clmax values are not too much different from other
airfoils.
• The mean lines used with the 6-series airfoils have a uniform loading back to a
distance of xlc = 2.
• Aft of this location the load decreases linearly.
• The a = 1 mean line corresponds to the uniform loading for the series-16 airfoils.
• There are many perturbations on the numbering system for the 6-series airfoils.
• The later series is identified, for example, as
• NACA 651-212 a = 0.6
• Here 6 denotes the series;
• the numeral 5 is the location of the minimum
pressure in tenths of chord for the basic
thickness and distribution;
• and the subscript 1 indicates that low drag is
maintained at C, values of 0.1 above and below
the design Cl of the 0.2, denoted by the 2
following the dash.
• Again, the last two digits specify the percentage
thickness.
• If the fraction, a, is not specified, it is understood
to equal unity.
• Lift and drag curves for the 65,-212 airfoil are
presented in Figure 3.8.
• Notice the unusual shape of Cd versus Cl, where the
drag is significantly lower between Cl values of
approximately 0 to 0.3.
• In this region, for very smooth surfaces and for
Reynolds numbers less than 9 x 106, extensive
laminar flow is maintained over the surface of the foil
with an attendant decrease in the skin friction drag.
• This region, for obvious reasons, is known as the "drag
bucket."
• In practice this laminar flow, and resulting low drag, is
difficult to achieve because of contamination by bugs
or by structurally transmitted vibration that perturbs
the laminar boundary layer, causing transition.
 SAMPLE DATA: SYMMETRIC AIRFOIL
–Lift Coefficient

–Angle of Attack, a
–A symmetric airfoil generates zero lift at zero a
 SAMPLE DATA: CAMBERED AIRFOIL
–Lift Coefficient

–Angle of Attack, a
–A cambered airfoil generates positive lift at zero a
 Airfoil Characteristics

Attached flow:
cl ~ a
(inviscid) airfoil
theory
 –Low a
a

–Moderate a
a

–High a
a
 Limitations of the (inviscid) airfoil theory
• Assumptions: - inviscid, irrotational flow
- incompressible

• What is correctly predicted: the pressure distribution

over the airfoil
» lift and pitching moment

• What is absent: viscous effects: - boundary layer

development - friction
forces -
flow separation
» no prediction of drag (D = 0!) or maximum lift

Conclusion: airfoil theory can reasonably predict lift and pitching moment
as long as the flow does not separate
Example: Results of the (thin) airfoil theory
for the NACA 2412 airfoil

• Lift
cl  2 (a  a 0 )
a 0  2.1
(cl )a 0  0.23

• Pitching moment

cm ,c / 4  constant
cm ,c / 4  0.053