What are the different types of airfoils?

There are generally two kinds of airfoils: laminar flow and conventional. Laminar flow airfoils were originally developed to make an airplane fly faster.

What are Eppler airfoils?

The Eppler Airfoil Design and Analysis Code (References 1 and 2) combines a conformal-mapping method for the design of airfoils with prescribed velocity-distribution characteristics, a panel method for the analysis of the potential flow about given airfoils, and an integral boundary-layer method.

What is Ncrit airfoil?

The Ncrit value is a measure of free flow turbulence and is used to simulate the transition location when no forced trip location is given. XFLR5 uses the same method as XFOIL, which is an adaptation of the eN transition theory.

What is the best airfoil design?

The most efficient airfoil for producing the greatest lift is one that has a concave or “scooped out” lower surface. As a fixed design, this type of airfoil sacrifices too much speed while producing lift and is not suitable for high-speed flight.

What is the most common airfoil?

Possibly the most widely used airfoil of all time, the NACA 23012 combined high lift, low drag, mild pitching moments, and even a bit of laminar flow on its lower surface. It was designed in 1935 by NACA Langley researcher Eastman Jacobs.

Is the fuselage an airfoil?

The design of aeroplane fuselage body is designed by using principle of aerofoil shape. The wings of aeroplane are in perfectly aerofoil shape, but main body is not in perfectly aerofoil shape.

Does airfoil tools use Xfoil?

Xfoil. All the polar diagrams currently available have been produced using Xfoil, an application created by Mark Drela and Harold Youngren for the design and analysis of subsonic airfoils. There is more information and details on the limitations of the analysis on the Xfoil page.

What is a low Reynolds number airfoil?

Low-Reynolds-number flows are characterized by the increasing importance of viscous forces within the fluid compared with inertial forces. Consequently, boundary-layer physics such as flow separation, re-attachment zones, and the amount of laminar/turbulent flow on the airfoil varies.

What airfoil should I use?

If the plane is to be a precision aerobat then a symmetrical airfoil is most appropriate because it flies the same in any given attitude. If the plane is to fly slowly or carry a load but is not intended to do aerobatics then a flat-bottom or under-cambered airfoil should be considered.

How do I choose an airfoil?

The airfoil you choose is going to be a determined by the desired operating parameters of your design, each requirement you add will have input to your airfoil decision. For Example: Thin symmetrical airfoils are great for aerobatics but not for lift – see the Extra 300 vs a Zenith CH801.

What are fuselages made of?

Aluminium alloy has been the most common fuselage material over the past eighty years, although carbon fibre-epoxy composite is regularly used in the fuselage of military fighters and increasingly in large passenger aircraft. For example, the Boeing 787 fuselage is constructed using carbon-epoxy composite.