Finding Airfoil Data For Amateur Projects?

An anonymous reader asks: "I am an aerospace engineering student who is engaged in an amateur project. A major hurdle I am having is finding modern airfoil data which can be used for a non-profit project. As most aerospace engineers know, just about all modern airfoil data are guarded industry secrets, so building an amateur project that requires precise airfoil data is difficult, because of the lack of available modern information. There is plenty of dated airfoil data from the 1960s or earlier, but my project requires access to modern data. Note that I do not have access to a wind tunnel to procure this data on my own. Where would one find free modern airfoil data for use in an amateur project?"

Comments

Get a summer job with a company which has it? ;-)

[PaulBu]

Maybe if you ask your manager nicely you will be able to take some old data home to play with it in the context of yoru project?

Paul B.

Re:ruler, inclinometer

[torpor]

Yeah... that would've been neat in 1902, maybe.

Airfoil follows fairly well-known laws of aerodynamics; I would wager that any modern use of airfoil data is an order of magnitude (time) more extensive in its demand for details...

What he wants is data - modern data - which means probably *lots* of data for modelling, analysis, on a very accurate scale.

An intriguing question, to be sure

[SkiifGeek]

It is very interesting that you call yourself an Aero Eng student, but haven't mentioned anything about the NACA series of aerofoils (or maybe that is what you are calling 1960s or earlier). Why modern aerofoil data is required, as opposed to these foils is not known. If you are on the cutting edge of design, then you should have ready access to a wind tunnel for testing. If you don't, then you should be able to convince your instructors to let you carry out a project to derive appropriate NACA data for your modern aerofoil.

A standard NACA series aerofoil should suffice for your project, until everything else related to the design is settled to maximum efficiency (propulsion and so on). The six series aerofoil is actually the basis for the F-15 wing, it uses the 64A modified with camber at the leading edge. A lot of modern aerofoils are derived from the six-series NACA aerofoils, so they would make for a great starting point, while you modify the design to meet your requirements.

If you really must use a custom design, I would reccomend using X Plane and the aircraft design module, and design the aerofoil within that module. This also allows flying of the model in the simulator. X Plane uses Finite Element Analysis to carry out the appropriate computations to work out if the design will work, and generate lift in accordance with design principles.

Building your own wind tunnel / test rig would also be a possibility, such as the Wright brothers did, in order to test your designs. A good read of

Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach by Daniel P. Raymer;

Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators by the USN ASA-ANA ISBN 1-56027-140-X;

Modern Combat Aircraft Design by Klaus Huenecke also explains the F-16 wing as the NACA 64A204 series (modified) - although these last couple of titles would probably gain unwanted attention now-a-days.

I remember being able to develop a decent approximation for the E-2C Hawkeye and the Concorde aerofoils as part of my assignments at Uni. Surely your Uni / College library would have suitable titles on the shelves with some more in-depth listings of aerofoils and their application, and the appropriate modifications. The NACA series aerofoil data should also be available online (at least I remember that used to be the case).

Good luck with your project, anyway.

Mark Drela

[TheLocustNMI]

Dr. Mark Drela @ MIT is a great resource for these things. He is also an RC Sailplane enthusiast, so that is where I know him from. He is one of the most knowledgeable, helpful guys around, and makes all of his airfoils available to the public.

http://raphael.mit.edu/DRELA.bio.html
http://ww w.monkeytumble.com/dnc/supergee.htm