LESSON 4 Chapter 3 Aerodynamic Forces on Airfoils ANA Chapter 1
Chapter 3
Structures, Airfoils and Aerodynamic Forces
Airfoil terminology
1. Chordline – A straight line connecting the leading edge and the trailing edge of the airfoil
2. Chord – The length of the chordline . Airfoil dimensions are measured in terms of the chord.
Airfoil terminology
3. Mean camber line – A line drawn halfway between the upper surface and the lower surface.
4. Maximum camber – The maximum distance between the mean camber line and the chordline . The location of maximum camber is important in determining the aerodynamic characteristics of the airfoil.
Airfoil terminology
5. Maximum Thickness – The maximum distance between the upper and lower surfaces. the location of maximum thickness is also important.
6. Leading edge radius – A measure of the sharpness of the leading edge. It may vary from zero, for a knife edge supersonic airfoil, to about 2% of the chord for blunt leading edge airfoils.
The four main variables in wing geometry
1. The shape of the mean camber line
if the shape coincides with the mean camber line then the airfoil is symmetrical
2. Thickness
3. Location of maximum thickness
4. Leading edge radius
Definitions
Flight path velocity – The speed and direction of a body passing through the air.
Relative wind – The speed and direction of the air impinging on a body passing through it. It is equal and opposite in direction to the flight path velocity.
Angle of attack or alpha – The acute angle between the relative wind and the chordline of an airfoil
Definitions
Aerodynamic force – The net resulting static pressure multiplied by the planform area of an airfoil
Lift – the net force developed perpendicular to the relative wind
Drag – The force parallel to the relative wind which opposes the notion of a body through the air.
Center of Pressure – the point on the chordline where the aerodynamic force acts
Definitions
Laminar flow – smooth airflow with little transfer of momentum between parallel layers
Streamlined flow is the same as laminar flow
Turbulent flow the the streamlines break up and there is much mixing of the layers.
The Cylinder
Where the streamlines are scrunched together velocity is very high and pressure is lowered.
Where the streamlines are further apart the velocity is lower and pressure is higher.
The Cylinder
The important point here is that if the flow patterns are realized around a cylinder in a perfect fluid, then no net lifting force is developed.
The analogy then can be drawn to the symmetrical airfoil with no angle of attack.
In this scenario, there is no lift being generated.
Symetrical Airfoil
The Cylinder
The drag side of the discussion is that in a real wind tunnel test, there is surface friction which causes a boundary layer to be set up.
Alters the flow pattern around the cylinder in such a way as to increase the friction.
The flow pattern produces drag in addition to the skin friction.
The Curve Ball
If we were to rotate the cylinder the skin friction would cause an imbalance in the drag profile of the cylinder.
The air would tend to follow the rotation and produce more lift on one side of the cylinder than the other.
The best examples of this are a curve ball in baseball and a slice or hook in golf.
This is called the Magnus effect.
So why do we care?
The patterns developed by the cylinder clearly show how lift can be developed by bending the air
It is this bending of air that generates upwash and downwash
This is something our airfoils do in addition to speeding up airflow over the top
The Airfoil
In airfoils, the flow pattern is much more efficient for creating lift.
The air is accelerated ahead of the airfoil and over the top of the surface.
However there is a stagnation point in front of the airfoil where the air comes to a complete stop, at this point static pressure is equal to the free stream velocity (Bernoulli’s equation).
The Airfoil
Furthermore the air is slowed under the airfoil producing higher pressure under the surface (impact pressure).
In some high angles of attack, the stagnation point may even move under the leading edge producing even more lift.
The Airfoil
Near the max thickness portion max velocity and min pressure will occur (Bernoulli’s equation)
Because of viscosity, the slow air in the boundary layer will slow the upper layers to the point where a high pressure area will show up near the trailing edge.
The Airfoil
In all cases lift generated by an airfoil, the generated lift will be the net force caused by the distribution of pressure over the upper and lower surfaces of the airfoil.
At high angle of attack near that for maximum lift a positive pressure will exist on the lower surface but this will only account for approximately one third the net lift.
Center of pressure
The point at which lift or aerodynamic force passes through the chord line.
It is important to know when designing an airplane where in relation to the cg the cp is.
You want the cp behind the cg at all times for stability’s sake.
Center of pressure
This can be complicated by the cambered airfoil’s pitching moment caused by an imbalance imparted by the cp on top behind the cp on the bottom.
Aerodynamic Center
For this reason we use the Aerodynamic Center for calculations.
The Aerodynamic Center does not change with changes in angle of attack at a given velocity.
It resides at about 23 to 27% of the chord and 50% of the chord supersonically.
Airfoil Savvy
Airfoil design exploded in about the 1920’s making some sort of id system necessary.
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) the forerunner of NASA, developed a wind tunnel test and numbered the airfoils.
Airfoil Savvy
The first series are the 4 digit series.
E.g. 2412
The first number is max camber in % of chord (in hundredths)
The second is location of max camber in % of chord (in tenths)
The last 2 are max thickness in % of chord.
Airfoil Savvy
Example: 2412 with a 60 inch chord would be .02c, .4c and .12c
.02 x 60 = 1.2 inches
max camber 1.2 inches
.4 x 60 = 24 inches
max camber location 24 inches behind the leading edge
.12 x 60 = 7.2 inches
max thickness 7.2 inches
Airfoil Savvy
A symmetrical airfoil would have two zero’s 0010
In the 1930’s the max camber was moved forward for a 10 to 20% greater possible lift.
This dictated a new numbering system– the 5 digit system.
Airfoil Savvy
NACA 23012 is the Bonanza airfoil.
The 2 is the same (max camber)
The 3 indicates location of max camber in twentieths.
The 0 indicates a straight aft meanline and a 1 indicates a curved aft meanline.
The 12 is the same (max thickness)
Airfoil Savvy
Airfoils capable of speeds in the 300 to 400 mph range needed a new classification
So they went to the 6 series airfoil such as 652 – 415
6 = series
5 = min pressure at 5/10ths chord
2 = range of low drag above and below the design CL
4 = design CL
15 = max thickness at 15% of the chord
Airfoil Savvy
The series 6 airfoil was first used on the P-51 mustang because of the low drag qualities.
In order to achieve a far aft min pressure point, the max thickness in also far aft.
Mooney’s also use this series airfoil.
P-51 Mustang 437mph
F-8 Bearcat 455mph
Nemesis NXT 400mph