UNIT-3

Topics
 Aerodynamic characteristics of airfoils
 Geometric characteristics of airfoils
 Airfoil nomenclature\designation
 Wing Design Procedure
 Selection of parameters
 Final Design Steps

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 Introduction
In the context of wing design the following aspects need
consideration
i) Airfoil selection
ii) Aspect ratio
iii) Sweep
iv)Taper ratio
v)Twist
vi) Incidence
vii) Dihedral
viii)Vertical location
ix)Wing tips
x) Other aspects
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 Aerodynamics Characteristics of Airfoils

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  From (a)
i. Lift coefficient Vs. Angle of Attack
ii. Angle of Zero lift (αol)
iii. Slope of Lift curve dCl/dα or Clα or αo
iv. Maximum lift coefficient (Clmax)
v. αstall corresponding to Clmax

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  From (b)
i. Cdmin
ii. Clopt Corresponding to Cdmin
 In some airfoils, called laminar flow airfoils or lowdrag
airfoils, the minimum drag coefficient extends over a range
of lift coefficients. This feature is called ‘Drag bucket’.
 The extent of the drag bucket and the lift coefficient at the
middle of this region are also characteristic features of the
airfoil.
 It may be added that the camber decides Clopt and thickness ratio
decides the extent of the drag bucket.

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  From (c)
i. Cmc/4 Vs. α
ii. From this curve aerodynamic centre and the moment
about it(Cmac) can be worked out.
iii. a.c. is the point on the chord about which the moment
coefficient is independent of Cl .
 Stall pattern
i. Variation of the lift coefficient with angle of attack near
the stall is an indication of the stall pattern. A gradual
pattern as shown in Fig.3.18a is a desirable feature.
Some airfoils display abrupt decrease in Cl after stall.
ii. This behaviour is undesirable as pilot does not get
adequate warning regarding impending loss of lift.

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 iii.Airfoils with thickness ratio between 6 – 10% generally display
abrupt stall while those with t/c more than 14% display a
gradual stall.
iv. It may be added that the stall patterns on the wing and on the
airfoil are directly related only for high aspect ratio (A > 6)
unswept wings.
v. For low aspect ratio highly swept wings three-dimensional
effects may dominate.

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 Geometrical characteristics of airfoils
 The camber line or the mean line is the basic line for definition of the
aerofoil shape.
 The line joining the extremities of the camber line is the chord. The
leading and trailing edges are defined as the forward and rearward
extremities, respectively, of the mean line.
 Various camber line shapes have been suggested and they characterize
various families of airfoils.
 The maximum camber as a fraction of the chord length (ycmax/c) and its
location as a fraction of chord (xycmax/c) are the important parameters
of the camber line.
 Various thickness distributions have been suggested and they
characterize different families of airfoils.
 The maximum ordinate of the thickness distribution as fraction of chord
(ytmax/c) and its location as fraction of chord (xytmax/c) are the
important parameters of the thickness distribution.
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 Airfoil shape and ordinates
 The aerofoil shape is obtained by combining the camber line and the
thickness distribution in the following manner.
a) Draw the camber line shape and draw lines perpendicular to it at various
locations along the chord.
b) Lay off the thickness distribution along the lines drawn perpendicular to
the mean line.
c) The coordinates of the upper surface (xu, yu) and lower surface (xl, yl) of
the airfoil are given as :

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 d) The leading edge radius is also prescribed for the aerofoil. The
center of the leading edge radius is located along the tangent to
the mean line at the leading edge.
e) Depending on the thickness distribution, the trailing edge angle
may be zero or have a finite value. In some cases, thickness may be
non-zero at the trailing edge.

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 Airfoil nomenclature/designation
 NACA four-digit series airfoils

 The thickness distributions are denoted as NACA 0006, NACA 0009,……..,

NACA 0024.
 Figure 3.20b shows the shape of NACA 0009 airfoil. It is a symmetrical airfoil
by design.
 The maximum thickness of all four-digit airfoils occurs at 30% of
chord.
 First digit describing maximum camber as percentage of the chord.
 Second digit describing the distance of maximum camber from the airfoil
leading edge in tens of percents of the chord.
 Last two digits describing maximum thickness of the airfoil as percent of the
chord.
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  The camber lines obtained by using different values of m & p
are denoted by two digits, e.g. NACA 64 indicates a mean
line of 6% camber with maximum camber occuring at 40%
of the chord.
 A cambered airfoil of four-digit series is obtained by
combining meanline and the thickness distribution.
 For example, NACA 2412 airfoil is obtained by combining
NACA 24 meanline and NACA 0012 thickness distribution.
 This airfoil has
(a) maximum camber of 2% occurring at 40% chord and
(b) maximum thickness ratio of 12%.

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 NACA five-digit series airfoils

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 NACA five-digit series airfoils
 During certain tests it was observed that max Cl of the airfoil
could be increased by shifting forward the location of the
maximum camber.
 This finding led to development of five-digit series airfoils.
The new camber lines for the five-digit series airfoils are
designated by three digits. The same thickness distribution
was retained as that for NACA four-digit series airfoils. The
camber line shape is given as :

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  The value of ‘m’ decides the location of the maximum camber and
that of k1 the design lift coefficient( i Cli or Clopt ).
 This meanline is designated as NACA 230.
 The first digit ‘2’ indicates that Cli = 0.3 and the subsequent two
digits (30) indicate that the maximum camber occurs at 15% of
chord.
 A typical five-digit cambered airfoil is NACA 23012. Its shape is
shown in the fig.
 The digits signify :
First digit(2) indicates that Cli = 0.3.
Second & third digits (30) indicate that maximum camber occurs
at 15% of chord.
Last two digits (12) indicate that the maximum thickness ratio is
12%.

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 Six Series Airfoils

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 Six Series Airfoils
 In 1931 T. Theodorsen presented ’Theory of wing sections of
arbitrary shape’ NACA TR 411 which enabled calculation
flow past airfoils of general shape .
 Around the same time the studies of Tollmien and Schlichting
on boundary layer transition, indicated that the transition
process, which causes laminar boundary layer to become
turbulent, depends predominantly on the pressure gradient
in the flow around the airfoil.
 A turbulent boundary layer results in a higher skin friction
drag coefficient as compared to when the boundary layer is
laminar. Hence, maintaining a laminar boundary layer over a
longer portion of the airfoil would result in a lower drag
coefficient.

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  Taking advantage of these developments, new series of airfoils called low
drag airfoils or laminar flow airfoils were designed.
 These airfoils are designated as 1-series, 2-series,…….,7-series. Among
these the six series airfoils are commonly used airfoils.
 When the airfoil surface is smooth. These airfoils have a Cdmin which is
lower than that for four-and five-digit series airfoils of the same
thickness ratio. Further, the minimum drag coefficient extends over a
range of lift coefficient. This extent is called drag bucket.
 The thickness distributions for these airfoils are obtained by calculations
which give a desired pressure distribution.
 Analytical expressions for these distributions are not available.
 The camber lines are designated as : a = 0, 0.1, 0.2 …., 0.9 and 1.0.
 For example, the camber line shape with a = 0.4 gives a uniform
pressure distribution from x/c = 0 to 0.4 and then linearly decreasing
to zero at x/c = 1.0. If the camber line designation is not mentioned, ‘a’
equal to unity is implied.

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  An airfoil with a designation as NACA 662-215 is shown in
Fig.3.20d. It is obtained by combining NACA 662 – 015 thickness
distribution and a = 1.0 mean line.The digits signify :
 1st digit ‘6’ indicates that it is a 6 series airfoil
 2nd digit ‘6’ denotes the chordwise position of the minimum
pressure in tenths of chord for the symmetrical airfoil at Cl = 0.
i.e. the symmetrical section (NACA 662 - 015) would have the
minimum pressure at x/c = 0.6 when producing zero lift.
 The suffix ‘2’ indicates that the drag bucket extends ±0.2around
Clopt.
 The digit ‘2’ after the dash indicates that opt Cl is 0.2. Thus in this
case, drag bucket extends for Cl = 0.0 to 0.4.
 The last two digits ”15” indicate that the thickness ratio is 15%.
 Since the value of ‘a’ is not explicitly mentioned, the camber
line shape corresponds to a = 1.0.

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 Note:-

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 NASA Airfoils

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 NASA Airfoils
 NASA has developed airfoil shapes for special applications. For
example GA(W) series airfoils were designed for general aviation
airplanes. The ‘LS’ series of airfoils among these are for low speed
airplanes.
 A typical airfoil of this category is designated as LS(1)-0417.
 In this designation
 The digit ‘1’ refers to first series, the digits ‘04’ indicate opt
Clopt of 0.4 and the digits ‘17’ indicate the thickness ratio of 17%.
 For the airfoils in this series, specifically designed for medium
speed airplanes, the letters ‘LS’ are replaced by ‘MS’.
 NASA NLF series airfoils are ‘Natural Laminar Flow’ airfoils.
 NASA SC series airfoils are called ‘Supercritical airfoils’. These
airfoils have a higher critical Mach number. Figure ‘f ‘ shows an
airfoil of this category.

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 (i)Besides NACA & NASA airfoils, some researchers have
designed airfoils for specialized applications like
(a) low Reynolds number airfoils for micro air vehicles,
(b) wind mills,
(c) hydrofoils etc.
These include those by Lissaman, Liebeck, Eppler and Drela.

(ii)The coordinates of NACA, NASA and many other airfoils

are available on the website entitled ‘UIUC airfoil data base’.

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 1. (Wing reference (or planform) area (SW or Sref or S)
2. Number of the wings
3. Vertical position relative to the fuselage (high, mid, or low wing)
4. Horizontal position relative to the fuselage
5. Cross section (or airfoil)
6. Aspect ratio (AR)
7. Taper ratio (λ)
8. Tip chord (Ct)
9. Root chord (Cr)
10. Mean Aerodynamic Chord (MAC or C)
11. Span (b)
12. Twist angle (or washout) (αt)
13. Sweep angle (Λ)
14. Dihedral angle (Γ)
15. Incidence (iw) (or setting angle, (α set)
16. High lifting devices such as flap
17. Aileron
18. Other wing accessories
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Aircraft Design, VIIth Sem, Department of Aerospace Engg, ACED, AU, Bangalore
 Number of Wings
One of the decisions a designer must make is to select the
number of wings. The options are:
1. Monoplane (i.e. one wing)
2. Two wings (i.e. biplane)
3. Three wings

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 Wing Vertical Location
High Wing Low Wing
Mid Wing Parasol Wing

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 High Wing
Advantages:-
 Eases and facilitates the loading and unloading of loads and cargo into
and out of cargo aircraft. For instance, truck and other load lifter
vehicles can easily move around aircraft and under the wing without
anxiety of the hitting and breaking the wing.
 Facilitates the installation of engine on the wing, since the engine (and
propeller) clearance is higher (and safer), compared with low wing
configuration.
 Facilitates the taking off and landing from sea. In a sea-based or an
amphibian aircraft, during a take-off operation, water will splash around
and will high the aircraft. An engine installed on a high wing will receive
less water compared with a low wing. Thus, the possibility of engine
shut-off is much less.
 Increases the dihedral effect. It makes the aircraft laterally more stable.
 The wing will produce more lift compared with mid and low wing,
since two parts of the wing are attached at least on the top part.

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  The pilot has better view in lower-than-horizon. A fighter
pilot has a full view under the aircraft.
 For an engine that is installed under the wing, there is less
possibility of sand and debris to enter engine and damage the
blades and propellers.
 There is a lower possibility of human accident to hit the
propeller and be pulled to the engine inlet.
 The aerodynamic shape of the fuselage lower section can be
smoother.
 There is more space inside fuselage for cargo, luggage or
passenger.

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 Disadvatages:-

 The aircraft tend to have more frontal area (compared with mid wing). This will increase
aircraft drag.
 The ground effect is lower, compared with low wing. During takeoff and landing
operations, the ground will influence the wing pressure distribution. The wing lift will be
slightly lower than low wing configuration. This will increase the takeoff run slightly.
 Landing gear is longer if connected to the wing. This makes the landing gear heavier and
requires more space inside the wing for retraction system. This will further make the wing
structure heavier.
 The pilot has less higher-than-horizon view. The wing above the pilot will obscure part of
the sky for a fighter pilot.
 If landing gear is connected to fuselage and there is not sufficient space for retraction
system, an extra space must be provided to house landing gear after retraction. This will
increase fuselage frontal area and thus will increase aircraft drag.
 The wing is producing more induced drag (Di), due to higher lift coefficient.
 The horizontal tail area of an aircraft with a high wing is about 20% larger than the
horizontal tail area with a low wing. This is due to more downwash of a high wing on the
tail.
 A high wing is structurally about 20% heavier than a low wing.
 The aircraft lateral control is weaker compared with mid wing and low wing, since the
aircraft has more laterally dynamic stability.
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 LOW WING - Advantages

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 Disadvantages

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 Airfoil Section

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 Airfoil Section

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 Characteristic Graphs of an Airfoil

1. The variations of lift coefficient versus angle of attack

2. The variations of pitching moment coefficient about
quarter chord versus angle of attack
3. The variations of pitching moment coefficient about
aerodynamic center versus lift coefficient
4. The variations of drag coefficient versus lift coefficient
5. The variations of lift-to-drag ratio versus angle of attack

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 Airfoil Section

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 Airfoil Section

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 Airfoil Section

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 Airfoil Selection Criteria

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 Airfoil Section

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 Airfoil Section

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 Practical steps for Wing Airfoil Section Selection

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 Airfoil Section

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 Airfoil Section

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 Airfoil Section

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 Wing Incidence

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  The typical number for wing incidence for majority of
aircraft is between 0 to 4 degrees.
 The wing setting angle in supersonic fighters, is between 0 to
1 degrees;
 In GA aircraft, between 2 to 4 degrees; and
 In jet transport aircraft is between 3 to 5 degrees.
 It is very hard to have the exact same incidence on both left
and right wing sections.

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 Aspect Ratio

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Aircraft Design, VIIth Sem, Department of Aerospace Engg, ACED, AU, Bangalore
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Aircraft Design, VIIth Sem, Department of Aerospace Engg, ACED, AU, Bangalore
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 Taper Ratio

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 Lift and Load Distribution

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 Sweep Angle

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Aircraft Design, VIIth Sem, Department of Aerospace Engg, ACED, AU, Bangalore
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 Non – Constant Sweep

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 Twist Angle

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 Dihedral Angle
 When you look at the front view of an aircraft, the angle between the
chord-line plane of a wing with the “xy” plane is referred to as the wing
dihedral (Γ).
 The primary reason of applying the wing dihedral is to improve the lateral
stability of the aircraft. The lateral stability is mainly a tendency of an
aircraft to return to original trim level-wing flight condition if disturbed by
a gust and rolls around the x axis. In some references, it is called dihedral
stability, since a wing dihedral angle provides the necessary restoring rolling moment.

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Aircraft Design, VIIth Sem, Department of Aerospace Engg, ACED, AU, Bangalore
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 High Lifting Device
 One of the design goals in wing design is to maximize the
capability of the wing in the generation of the lift. This design
objective is technically shown as maximum lift coefficient
(CLmax). In a trimmed cruising flight, the lift is equal to weight.
When the aircraft generates its maximum lift coefficient, the
airspeed is referred to as stall speed.

Two design objectives among the list of objectives are:

1. maximizing the payload weight,
2. minimizing the stall speed (Vs).

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Aircraft Design, VIIth Sem, Department of Aerospace Engg, ACED, AU, Bangalore
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 Design Technique

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 Accessories
Strake
 A strake (also known as a leading edge extension) is an
aerodynamic surface generally mounted on the fuselage of an
aircraft to fine-tune the airflow and to control the vortex over the
wing.
 In order to increase lift and improve directional stability and
maneuverability at high angles of attack, highly swept strakes along
fuselage forebody may be employed to join the wing sections.
 Aircraft designers choose the location, angle and shape of the
strake to produce the desired interaction.
 Fighter aircraft F-16 and F-18 have employed strakes to improve
the wing efficiency at high angles of attack.
 In addition, the provision of strakes on the fuselage, in front of the
tail, will increase the fuselage damping which consequently
improves the spin recovery characteristics of the aircraft.

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 Fences
 Stall fences are used in swept wings to prevent the boundary layer drifting outboard
toward the wing tips. Boundary layers on swept wings tend to drift because of the
spanwise pressure gradient of a swept wing.
 Swept wing often have a leading edge fence of some sort, usually at about 35 percent of
the span from fuselage centerline.
 The cross-flow creates a side lift on the fence that produces a strong trailing vortex. This
vortex is carried over the top surface of the wing, mixing fresh air into the boundary
layer and sweeping the boundary layer off the wing and into the outside flow.
 The result is a reduction in the amount of boundary layer air flowing outboard at the rear of
the wing.This improves the outer panel maximum lift coefficient.
 Similar results can be achieved with a leading edge snag. Such snags tend to create a vortex
which acts like a boundary layer fence. The ideal device is the under-wing fence, referred to as
vortilon.
 Vortilons are fixed aerodynamic devices on aircraft wings used to improve
handling at low speeds.
 Vortilon is a contraction of VORTex and pYLON words (generating vortices as a
leading-edge engine pylon does).
 Pylons supporting the engines under the wing, in practice, serve the purpose of the leading edge fences.
Several high subsonic transport aircraft such as McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and Beech Starship have
utilized fence on their swept lifting surfaces.

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 Vortex Generators
 Vortex generators are very small, low aspect ratio wings placed vertically at
some local angle of attack on the wing, fuselage or tail surfaces of aircraft.
 The span of the vortex generator is typically selected such that they are just
outside the local edge of the boundary layer. Since they are some types of
lifting surfaces, they will produce lift and therefore tip vortices near the
edge of the boundary layer. Then these vortices will mix with the high
energy air to raise the kinetic energy level of the flow inside the boundary
layer.
 Hence, this process allows the boundary layer to advance further into an
adverse pressure gradient before separating. Vortex generators are employed
in many different sizes and shapes.
 Most of today’s high subsonic jet transport aircraft have large number of
vortex generators on wings, tails and even nacelles.
 Even though vortex generators are beneficial in delaying local wing stall,
but they can generate considerable increase in aircraft drag.
 The precise number and orientation of vortex generators are often
determined in a series of sequential flight tests. For this reason, they are
sometimes referred to as “aerodynamic afterthoughts”. Vortex generators
are usually added to an aircraft after test has indicated certain flow
separations.
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 Fig:- Showing Vortex Generators on the Wing Surface

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 Winglet
 Since there is a considerable pressure difference between lower and upper
surfaces of a wing, tip vortices are produced at the wingtips. These tip vortices
will then roll up and get around the local edges of a wing. This phenomenon will
reduce the lift at the wingtip station, so they can be represented as a reduction
in effective wing span. Experiments have shown that wings with square or sharp
edges have the widest effective span.
 To compensate this loss, three solutions are tip-tank; extra wing span; and
winglet. Winglets are small, nearly vertical lifting surfaces, mounted rearward
and/or downward relative to the wing tips.
 The aerodynamic analysis of a winglet (e.g. lift, drag, local flow circulation) may
be performed by classical aerodynamic techniques. The necessity of wingtips
depends on the mission and the configuration of an aircraft, since they will add
to the aircraft weight.
 Several small and large transport aircraft such as Pilatus PC-12, Boeing 747-400
(Figures 3.7, 3.12, 9.4), McDonnell Douglas C-17A Globemaster III (Figure
9.9), and Airbus 340-300 (Figure 8.20) have winglets.
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 Fig: - Showing a winglet attached to tip chord of wing
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 Wing Design Steps

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