Thermodynamics

Student: Maciej Hajduk

Aircraft: PZL.37 Łoś
Teacher: prof. Krzysztof Sibilski
Group: MoF1-En1
25 March 2023

Aerodynamic Characteristic
of the Wing

Deadline: 27 March 2023 Grade:......................

 Warsaw University of Technology
Thermodynamics Mechanics of Flight 1

1 Introduction
This project is devoted to estimate two basic wing aerodynamic characteristics
CL (α)- lift coefficient,
CD (α)- drag coefficient,
as functions of wing angle of attack.

2 Geometry of the wing

From the airplane’s technical data sets and from three-view drawing, I was able to take the following basic
dimensions and geometric parameters of the airplane wing:
• wing span b = 17.93m
• root chord cr = 4.54m
• tip chord ct = 2.28m

• wing leading sweep angle νx0 = 4◦ , and local chord line νx0.25 = 4◦
• wing area S = 54.30m2 .
Using this data, I could calculate other parameters for a straight moderate sweep tapered wings:
b2 17.932
• wing aspect ratio Λ = S = 54.30 = 5.921
• wing taper ratio λ = ct
cr = 2.28
4.54 = 0.502
1+λ+λ2 1+0.502+0.5022
• mean aerodynamic chord (MAC) ca = 2
3 · cr · 1+λ = 2
3 · 4.54 · 1+0.502 = 3.534m
• coordinates of the tip N of MAC:

1. xN = 1
6 · b · tg(νx0 ) · 1+2·λ
1+λ = 1
6 · 17.93 · tg(4◦ ) · 1+2·0.502
1+0.502 = 0.279m
2 b 2 17.93
2. yN = 3 · π = 3 · π = 3.804m

3 Aerodynamic characteristics of the airfoil and the wing

From the technical description of the PZL.37 Łoś Im taking the minimum speed of the aircraft (stall speed for
clean configuration):
km m
Vs1 = 120 = 33.(3)
h s
2
Using Vs1 I can calculate Reynolds number Re1 for the wing, where ν0 = 1.453 · 10−5 ms is kinematic viscosity
coefficient of the air for flight altitude 0m STD:

Vs1 · ca 33.(3) · 3.534

Re1 = = = 8.10728 · 106
ν0 1.453 · 10−5

2
 Warsaw University of Technology
Thermodynamics Mechanics of Flight 1

PZL.37 Łoś had an airfoil IAW-743 which has the maximum thickness of 14% at the distance of 40% from the
airfoil chord.

Figure 1: Original airfoil of PZL 37 Łoś

It was new but successful airfoil, but since it was an experimental one and before all the NACA reports there
are hardly any aerodynamic characteristics of such airfoil available.

I had to find another, richer in data airfoil which is similar to IAW-743. From the NACA Technical Report No.
824 the most fitting one is NACA 2415 airfoil profile.

Figure 2: Aerodynamic characteristics of NACA 2415 from which data is gathered

3
 Warsaw University of Technology
Thermodynamics Mechanics of Flight 1

The closest Reynolds number to the Re1 is:

Re = 9.0 · 106
Thus the value of airfoil lift slope a∞ is:
dCL∞ 1 1
a∞ = = 0.1047 = 5.9989
dα∞ deg rad

Figure 3: Linear approximation of the lift slope parameter

4
 Warsaw University of Technology
Thermodynamics Mechanics of Flight 1

Table 1: Basic aerodynamic airfoil data

No. CL∞ α∞ CD∞ No. CL∞ α∞ CD∞
1 -0.896 -10.100 0.010 26 0.970 7.525 0.008
2 -0.801 -9.395 0.009 27 1.085 8.230 0.009
3 -0.727 -8.690 0.009 28 1.118 8.935 0.009
4 -0.653 -7.985 0.008 29 1.192 9.640 0.009
5 -0.580 -7.280 0.007 30 1.266 10.345 0.010
6 -0.506 -6.575 0.007 31 1.340 11.050 0.012
7 -0.432 -5.870 0.007 32 1.413 11.755 0.013
8 -0.358 -5.165 0.007 33 1.487 12.460 0.014
9 -0.284 -4.460 0.007 34 1.502 13.165 0.015
10 -0.211 -3.755 0.007 35 1.515 13.870 0.015
11 -0.137 -3.050 0.007 36 1.550 14.575 0.016
12 -0.063 -2.345 0.006 37 1.598 15.280 0.016
13 0.011 -1.640 0.006 38 1.625 15.985 0.017
14 0.085 -0.935 0.006 39 1.629 16.690 0.017
15 0.186 -0.230 0.006 40 1.617 17.395 0.017
16 0.232 0.475 0.006 41 1.544 18.100 0.016
17 0.306 1.180 0.006 42 1.520 18.805 0.015
18 0.380 1.885 0.007 43 1.466 19.510 0.014
19 0.454 2.590 0.007 44 1.304 20.215 0.011
20 0.528 3.295 0.007 45 1.285 20.920 0.011
21 0.601 4.000 0.007 46 1.266 21.625 0.010
22 0.675 4.705 0.007 47 1.253 22.330 0.010
23 0.749 5.410 0.007 48 1.268 23.035 0.010
24 0.823 6.115 0.008 49 1.302 23.740 0.011
25 0.897 6.820 0.008 50 1.325 24.455 0.012

Airfoil drag coefficient corrections

Browsing rich aerodynamic airfoil data it can be proof that for Re < 10 ∗ 106 the drag coefficient slightly depend
on the Reynolds number (decrease with increasing of Re). The effect is visible for small angles of attack (for
example for cruise flight conditions) when Re > Re1 and vanish for Re > 10 ∗ 106 .

The correction of the airfoil drag coefficient ∆CD∞ due to changes of Reynolds number for high speed regimes
of the flight can be done using formulas:
Re1 0.11
CD∞min2 = CD∞min1 · ( )
10 · 106
CL∞
∆CD∞ (CL∞ ) = (CD∞min2 − CD∞min1 ) · (1 − | |)
CL∞max
where CD∞min1 = 0.006 and CL∞max = 1.629. Then:

8.10728 · 106 0.11

CD∞min2 = 0.006 · ( ) = 0.0059
10 · 106
CL∞
∆CD∞ (CL∞ ) = (0.0059 − 0.006) · (1 − | |)
1.629
Final values of the wing section drag coefficient gives the formula:
′ ′
CD∞2 = CD∞1 + ∆CD∞ (CL∞ )

5
 Warsaw University of Technology
Thermodynamics Mechanics of Flight 1

Aerodynamic wing characteristics

It can be proved that two basic aerodynamic characteristics for the wing CL = f1 (αw ) and CD = f2 (CL ) are
given using following formulas:

αw = α∞ + αi
′ ′
CD = CD∞2 + ∆CDtech + CDi
where:
• αi = CL
π·Λ · (1 + τ ) - the induced angle angle of attack,
2
CL
• CDi = π·Λ · (1 + δ) - the induced drag coefficient,
• ∆CDtech - the drag increment due to manufacturing (technological) effects on a real wing of an airplane;
estimated as 0.15 · (CD∞2 )min since PZL 37 Łoś has metal wings.

∆CDtech = 0.15 · 0.0059 = 0.000885

Two Glauert’s correctional factors τ and δ should be calculated applying approximations as follows:
τ1 · τ2
τ=
0.17
where:
Λ 3 Λ 2 Λ
τ1 = 0.023 · ( ) − 0.103 · ( ) + 0.25 · ( )
a∞ a∞ a∞
τ2 = −0.18 · λ5 + 1.52 · λ4 − 3.51 · λ3 + 3.5 · λ2 − 1.33 · λ + 0.17
and:
δ1 · δ2 · δ3
δ=
0.048
for:
Λ
1. δ1 = 0.0537 · a∞ − 0.005

2. δ2 = −0.43 · λ5 + 1.83 · λ4 − 3.06 · λ3 + 2.56 · λ2 − λ + 0.148

3. δ3 = 1.0, because νx0.25 = 4◦ ≤ 10◦

Then:
5.921 3 5.921 2 5.921
τ1 = 0.023 · ( ) − 0.103 · ( ) + 0.25 · ( ) = 0.1685
5.9989 5.9989 5.9989
τ2 = −0.18 · 0.5025 + 1.52 · 0.5024 − 3.51 · 0.5023 + 3.5 · 0.5022 − 1.33 · 0.502 + 0.17 = 0.0311
0.1685 · 0.0311
τ= = 0.0308
0.17

5.921
δ1 = 0.0537 · − 0.005 = 0.0480
5.9989
δ2 = −0.43 · 0.5025 + 1.83 · 0.5024 − 3.06 · 0.5023 + 2.56 · 0.5022 − 0.502 + 0.148 = 0.0065
δ3 = 1.0
0.0480 · 0.0065 · 1.0
δ= = 0.0065
0.048
For typical rectangular or straight tapered wings 0.0 ≤ τ ≤ 0.25 and 0.0 ≤ δ ≤ 0.2, so our values are in range.

6
 Warsaw University of Technology
Thermodynamics Mechanics of Flight 1

Figure 4: Corrected data due to finite aspect ratio

Additional information on the airfoil used for calculation of wing characteristics:

• Type of airfoil: NACA 2415

• Data source: NACA Technical Report No. 824 „Summary of Airfoil Data”, page 395
• Airfoil data for Reynolds number: 9.0 · 106
• Value of lift slope a∞ = (dCL /dα)∞ = 5.9989 rad
1 1
(0.1047 deg .), constant for angle of attack range −10.1 <
α < +11.5.
• Value of pitching moment coefficient Cm_a.c.. = −0.039, constant for lift coefficient range −0.890 < CL <
1.500.
• The airfoil aerodynamics center position (for the Reynolds number given in item 3 above): x̄a.c. = 0.246
, ȳa.c. = −0.013.

7
 Warsaw University of Technology
Thermodynamics Mechanics of Flight 1

Wing lift slope

The induced flow over the wing changes the aerodynamic characteristic CL (α) and – obviously – the lift slope
calculated by using the trend function in MS Excel is:
dCL 1 1
a1 = = 0.0787 = 4.5092
dα deg rad
This parameter should be calculate using same method as for wing section slope α∞ taking into account linear
part of wing’s CL (α) characteristic. The value of a should be compared with a value obtained from the formula:
a∞ 5.9989 1
a2 = a∞ = 5.9989 = 4.5022
1+ π·Λ· (1 + τ ) 1+ π·5.921· (1 + 0.0308) rad
Relative error:
|a2 − a1 | |4.5022 − 4.5092|
ϵ= = = 0.15%
a2 4.5022
This means, that the calculations are correct.

Figure 5: Drag characteristics comparison of the wing and the airfoil.

8
 Warsaw University of Technology
Thermodynamics Mechanics of Flight 1

Figure 6: Lift characteristics comparison of the wing and the airfoil.