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Figure 2. Aeroplanes.
Mean Camber Line: is the locus of points halfway between the upper and lower surfaces
measured perpendicular to the mean camber line itself.
Leading Edge: Most forward point of mean chamber line.
Trailing Edge: Most rearward point of mean chamber line.
Chord, c: Distance from leading to trailing edge.
What Causes Aerodynamics Forces?
Forces acting on the airfoil/wing comes from 2 sources:
Pressure distribution (P) over the body surface. (P)
Acts normal to the surface.
L CL 20 kN
10 therefore D 2 kN
D CD 10
P D V 2 103 55.56 111.12 kW
How Does an Airfoil Generate Lift?
Bernoulli’s Principle
P V2
z C
g 2g
Figure 13. Pressure contour at α = 0°. Figure 14. Pressure contour at α = 10°.
Figure 15. Pressure coefficient
With increasing α: at different α.
Suction on the upper surface increase.
This causes the lift to increase.
The drag also increases as α increases
Lift Characteristics
The lift increases with increasing α.
Lift or Lift Coefficient
Angle of Attack, a
Figure 16. Lift characteristics at different α.
Class Activity
What are the units of lift and drag?
The component of the aerodynamic force that is
normal to the free-stream velocity is called _______?
Homework
A small airplane has a mass of 1800 kg and a wing
area of 42 m2. Determine the lift and drag coefficients
of this airplane while cruising at an altitude of 4000
m at a constant speed of 280 km/hr and generating
190 kW of power.
Additional Resources
Airfoil nomenclature
Video link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fk2J5LtdSg