WEEK 03: AIRFOILS AND WINGS

Ing. Carlos Saito Villanueva

The Airfoil

Reading Airfoil Data Charts

NACA 2421
The First Digit: Airfoil maximum camber in percent of the chord(2%C).

The Second Digit: Indicates where on the airfoil the point of maximum camber
occurs in tenths of the chord length aft of the airfoil leading edge. (40%C).

The Third and Fourth Digits: Indicate the airfoils maximum thickness in percent
of the chord lenght (21%C).

2%C = 0.02
cm

Ing. Carlos Saito Villanueva

The Airfoil

The Airfoil

Shape of the Airfoil

Simbol for different

amounts of Re

Position of the AC.

The Airfoil

Lift Curve
Cl vs.

The Airfoil

Drag Curve
Cd vs Cl

The Airfoil

Pitching Moment at of the chord (cmc/4) vs.

The Airfoil

Pitchin Moment at AC (cmac) vs. Cl

The Wing

Properties of an airfoil are based on two-dimensional

flow while the properties of a wing are related to the
flow in three dimensions

The Wing

Terminology

The Wing

Mean Aerodynamic Chord (MAC)

The Aerodynamic Center is located at the MAC

Rectangular Wing:
MAC = Chord

Linear Tapered Wing

2
1++
MAC = 3 1+
General Formula
1 /2
MAC = /2 ()2
=

1 + 2
6 1+

= tan B.A + 0.25

The Wing

Dihedral Angle
Positive

Neutral

Negative

The Wing

Angle of Twist

Geometric Twist

The Wing

Angle of Twist

Aerodynamic Twist

If the airfoil at the wing tip has less camber than the airfoil at the root,
this has much the same effect on the wing lift as if the airfoils were
the same but the wing tip airfoil was at a lower angle of attack than
the root.

The Wing

The main factors that determine the aerodynamic

characteristics of a wing and have an important
contribution in the stall properties are:

The distribution of the airfoil.

Aspect Ratio
Taper Ratio
Twist Angle
Sweep Angle

The Wing
Downwash
Low Pressure
High Pressure

The Pressure Diference is what causes the airflow to go from the high presurre
area to the low pressure area.

The Wing

The circular flow pattern around the wing tips results in a

downward component to the flow over the wing. This
downward flow component is called downwash

Downwash adds vectorially to the freestream velocity to change the

diretion of the flow velocity. (effective freestream velocity)

The Wing

The circular flow pattern around the wing tips results in a

downward component to the flow over the wing. This
downward flow component is called downwash

The change in flow direction as a result of downwash is called the

downwash angle and is given the symbol ( or i)

The Wing

A consequence of the change in effective flow direction caused by the

downwash, the effective angle of attack of the airfoil is reduced, and the lift
generated by each airfoil has a component in the wings drag direction. This
component of the lift in the drag direction is called induces drag.

The Wing

Induce Drag:

Total Drag for a Wing (Incompressible and subsonic flow)

Induced Drag (Di)

Friction Drag (Df)

Pression Drag (Dp)

= sin i o = sin i

2
=

By increasing CL the airspeed is

reduced to maintain a constant
lift.

CD = +

The Wing

The Wing

The reduction in effective angle of attack as a result of

downwash decreases lift at any given and delays stall to
higher values of
=

57.3
1 +

= ( =0 )

The Wing

Aerodynamic load distribution for a rectangular wing in subsonic airstream:

(a) differential pressure distribution along the chord for several spanwise
stations; (b) spanwise lift distribution

The Wing

The lift distribution is influenced by:

Taper
Twist
Different airfoils along the span wise direction

Untwisted elliptic wings are the ones that have the best
lift distribution. They generate the smallest possible
induced drag (do not generate vortices )