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At least 271 records · Page 15
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1932

Tests of N.A.C.A. airfoils in the variable-density wind tunnel Series 24

This note is the fifth of a series covering an investigation of a number of related airfoils. It presents the results obtained from tests of a group of six low-cambered airfoils in the variable-density wind tunnel. The mean camber lines are identical for the six airfoils and are of such a form that the maximum mean camber is 2 per cent of the chord and is at a position 0.4 of the chord behind the loading edge. The airfoils differ in thickness only, the maximum-thickness/chord ratios being 0.06, 0.09, 0.12, 0.15, 0.18, and 0.21. The results have been presented in the form of both infinite and finite aspect-ratio characteristics. The values of C(sub L) max/C(sub d) degrees min for this group of airfoils are among the highest thus far obtained, the minimum profile drags being approximately equal to those for the symmetrical series of corresponding thickness, while the maximum lift coefficients are considerably higher.

Jacobs, Eastman N↗
NASA NTRS1932

Characteristics of two sharp-nosed airfoils having reduced spinning tendencies

According to Mr. L.D. Bell, of the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation, certain undesirable spinning characteristics of a commercial airplane were eliminated by the addition of a filler to the forward part of the wing to give it a sharp leading edge. To ascertain what aerodynamic effects result from such a change of section, two airfoils having sharp leading edges were tested in the variable-density wind tunnel. Both sections were derived by modifying the Gott. 398. The tests, which were made at a large value of the Reynolds Number, were carried to very large angles of attack to provide data for application to flight at angles of attack well beyond the stall. The characteristics of the sharp-nosed airfoils are compared with those of the normal Gott. 398 airfoil. Both of the sharp-nosed airfoils, which differ in the angle between the upper and lower surfaces at the leading edge, have about the same characteristics. As compared with the normal airfoil, the maximum lift is reduced by approximately 26 per cent, but the objectionable rapidly decreasing lift with angle of attack beyond the stall is eliminated; the profile drag of the section is slightly reduced in the range of the lift coefficient between 0.2 and 0.85, but at higher and lower lift coefficients the drag is increased.

Jacobs, Eastman N↗
NASA NTRS1954

Airfoil section characteristics at high angles of attack

Information from the literature and from recent investigations is used herein to summarize briefly the effects of airfoil section parameters and flow variables on the aerodynamic characteristics of two-dimensional symmetrical airfoils at high angles of attack. The results presented indicate that airfoil thickness ratio, Reynolds number, Mach number, and surface roughness can all have an important effect on the maximum lift coefficient. The effect of surface roughness seems to be particularly important. Not only can surface roughness cause large decreases in maximum lift coefficient, but also the magnitudes of the effects of Reynolds number, Mach number, and airfoil thickness ratio are much reduced by surface roughness. Beyond the stall, changes in section thickness ratio appear to have little effect on the aerodynamic characteristics of airfoil sections. An investigation of one section through an angle-of-attack range of from 0° to 360° shows that the drag coefficient reaches a value of 2 at an angle of attack of 90°.

Laurence K Loftin, Jr↗
NASA NTRS1925

Aerodynamic Characteristics of Airfoils at High Speeds

This report deals with an experimental investigation of the aerodynamical characteristics of airfoils at high speeds. Lift, drag, and center of pressure measurements were made on six airfoils of the type used by the air service in propeller design, at speeds ranging from 550 to 1,000 feet per second. The results show a definite limit to the speed at which airfoils may efficiently be used to produce lift, the lift coefficient decreasing and the drag coefficient increasing as the speed approaches the speed of sound. The change in lift coefficient is large for thick airfoil sections (camber ratio 0.14 to 0.20) and for high angles of attack. The change is not marked for thin sections (camber ratio 0.10) at low angles of attack, for the speed range employed. At high speeds the center of pressure moves back toward the trailing edge of the airfoil as the speed increases. The results indicate that the use of tip speeds approaching the speed of sound for propellers of customary design involves a serious loss in efficiency.

Briggs, L J↗
NASA NTRS1931

Large-scale aerodynamic characteristics of airfoils as tested in the variable density wind tunnel

In order to give the large-scale characteristics of a variety of airfoils in a form which will be of maximum value, both for airplane design and for the study of airfoil characteristics, a collection has been made of the results of airfoil tests made at full-scale values of the reynolds number in the variable density wind tunnel of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. They have been corrected for tunnel wall interference and are presented not only in the conventional form but also in a form which facilitates the comparison of airfoils and from which corrections may be easily made to any aspect ratio. An example showing the method of correcting the results to a desired aspect ratio has been given for the convenience of designers. In addition, the data have been analyzed with a view to finding the variation of the aerodynamic characteristics of airfoils with their thickness and camber.

Jacobs, Eastman N↗
NASA NTRS1931

Airfoil Pressure Distribution Investigation in the Variable Density Wind Tunnel

Report presents the results of wind tunnel tests of pressure distribution measurements over one section each of six airfoils. Pressure distribution diagrams, as well as the integrated characteristics of the airfoils, are given for both a high and a low dynamic scale or, Reynolds number VL/V, for comparison with flight and other wind-tunnel tests, respectively. It is concluded that the scale effect is very important only at angles of attack near the burble. The distribution of pressure over an airfoil having a Joukowski section is compared with the theoretically derived distribution. A further study of the distribution of pressure over all of the airfoils resulted in the development of an approximate method of predicting the pressure distribution along the chord of any normal airfoil for all attitudes within the working range if the distribution at one attitude is known.

Jacobs, Eastman N↗
NASA NTRS1932

The aerodynamic characteristics of eight very thick airfoils from tests in the variable density wind tunnel

Report presents the results of wind tunnel tests on a group of eight very thick airfoils having sections of the same thickness as those used near the roots of tapered airfoils. The tests were made to study certain discontinuities in the characteristic curves that have been obtained from previous tests of these airfoils, and to compare the characteristics of the different sections at values of the Reynolds number comparable with those attained in flight. The discontinuities were found to disappear as the Reynolds number was increased. The results obtained from the large-scale airfoil, a symmetrical airfoil having a thickness ratio of 21 per cent, has the best general characteristics.

Jacobs, Eastman N↗
NASA NTRS1937

Airfoil Section Characteristics as Affected by Variations of the Reynolds Number

Report presents the results of an investigation of a systematically chosen representative group of related airfoils conducted in the NACA variable-density wind tunnel over a wide range of Reynolds number extending well into the flight range. The tests were made to provide information from which the variations of airfoil section characteristics with changes in the Reynolds number could be inferred and methods of allowing for these variations in practice could be determined. This work is one phase of an extensive and general airfoil investigation being conducted in the variable-density tunnel and extends the previously published researches concerning airfoil characteristics as affected by variations in airfoil profile determined at a single value of the Reynolds number.

Jacobs, Eastman N↗
NASA NTRS1939

The Compressibility Burble and the Effect of Compressibility on Pressures and Forces Acting on a Airfoil

Simultaneous air-flow photographs and pressure-distribution measurements were made of the NACA 4412 airfoil at high speeds to determine the physical nature of the compressibility burble. The tests were conducted in the NACA 24-inch high-speed wind tunnel. The flow photographs were obtained by the Schlieren method and the pressures were simultaneously measured for 54 stations in the 5-inch-chord airfoil by means of a multiple-tube manometer. Following the general program, a few measurements of total-pressure loss in the wake of the airfoil at high speeds were made to illustrate the magnitude of the losses involved and the extent of the disturbed region; and, finally, in order to relate this work to earlier force-test data, a force test of a 5-inch-chord NACA 4412 airfoil was made. The results show the general nature of the phenomenon known as the compressibility burble. The source of the increased drag is shown to be a compression shock that occurs on the airfoil as its speed approaches the speed of sound. Finally, it is indicated that considerable experimentation is needed in order to understand the phenomenon completely.

Stack, John↗
NASA NTRS1939

Airfoil section data obtained in the NACA variable-density tunnel as affected by support interference and other corrections

The results of an investigation of the effect of support interference on airfoil drag data obtained in the variable-density tunnel are presented. As a result of the support interference, previously published airfoil data from the variable-density tunnel have shown too large drag coefficients and too large a rate of increase of drag coefficients and too large a rate increase of drag coefficients with airfoil thickness. The practical effect of the corrections on the choice of the optimum section is briefly considered and corrected data for a selected list of airfoils are presented as a convenience to the designer. Methods of correcting published data for other airfoils are presented.

Jacobs, Eastman N↗
NASA NTRS1945

A Systematic Investigation of Pressure Distributions at High Speeds over Five Representative NACA Low-Drag and Conventional Airfoil Sections

Pressure distributions determined from high-speed wind-tunnel tests are presented for five NACA airfoil sections representative of both low-drag and conventional types. Section characteristics of lift, drag, and quarter-chord pitching moment are presented along with the measured pressure distributions for the NACA 65sub2-215 (a=0.5), 66sub2-215 (a=0.6), 0015, 23015, and 4415 airfoils for Mach numbers up to approximately 0.85. A critical study is made of the airfoil pressure distributions in an attempt to formulate a set of general criteria for defining the character of high speed flows over typical airfoil shapes. Comparisons are made of the relative characteristics of the low-drag and conventional airfoils investigated insofar as they would influence the high-speed performance and the high-speed stability and control characteristics of airplanes employing these wing sections.

Graham, Donald J↗
NASA NTRS1946

The effect of wall interference upon the aerodynamic characteristics of an airfoil spanning a closed-throat circular wind tunnel

The results of a theoretical and experimental investigation of wall interference for an airfoil spanning a closed-throat circular wind tunnel are presented. Analytical equations are derived which relate the characteristics of an airfoil in the tunnel at subsonic speeds with the characteristics in free air. The analysis takes into consideration the effect of fluid compressibility and is based upon the assumption that the chord of the airfoil is small as compared with the diameter of the tunnel. The development is restricted to an untwisted, constant-chord airfoil spanning the middle of the tunnel. Brief theoretical consideration is also given to the problem of choking at high speeds. Results are then presented of tests to determine the low-speed characteristics of an NACA 4412 airfoil for two chord-diameter ratios. While, on the basis of these experiments, no appraisal is possible of the accuracy of the corrections at high speeds, the data indicate that at low Mach numbers the analytical results are valid, even for relatively large values of the chord-diameter ratio.

Vincenti, Walter G↗
NASA NTRS1949

The development of cambered airfoil sections having favorable lift characteristics at supercritical Mach numbers

Several groups of new airfoil sections, designated as the NACA 8-series, are derived analytically to have lift characteristics at supercritical Mach numbers which are favorable in the sense that the abrupt loss of lift, characteristic of the usual airfoil section at Mach numbers above the critical, is avoided. Aerodynamic characteristics determined from two-dimensional wind-tunnel tests at Mach numbers up to approximately 0.9 are presented for each of the derived airfoils. Comparisons are made between the characteristics of these airfoils and the corresponding characteristics of representative NACA 6-series airfoils.

Graham, Donald J↗
NASA NTRS1993

Efficient simulation of incompressible viscous flow over multi-element airfoils

The incompressible, viscous, turbulent flow over single and multi-element airfoils is numerically simulated in an efficient manner by solving the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The solution algorithm employs the method of pseudo compressibility and utilizes an upwind differencing scheme for the convective fluxes, and an implicit line-relaxation scheme. The motivation for this work includes interest in studying high-lift take-off and landing configurations of various aircraft. In particular, accurate computation of lift and drag at various angles of attack up to stall is desired. Two different turbulence models are tested in computing the flow over an NACA 4412 airfoil; an accurate prediction of stall is obtained. The approach used for multi-element airfoils involves the use of multiple zones of structured grids fitted to each element. Two different approaches are compared; a patched system of grids, and an overlaid Chimera system of grids. Computational results are presented for two-element, three-element, and four-element airfoil configurations. Excellent agreement with experimental surface pressure coefficients is seen. The code converges in less than 200 iterations, requiring on the order of one minute of CPU time on a CRAY YMP per element in the airfoil configuration.

Rogers, Stuart E.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Unsteady flow past an airfoil pitched at constant rate

The unsteady flow past a NACA 0012 airfoil that is undertaking a constant-rate pitching up motion is investigated experimentally by the PIDV technique in a water towing tank. The Reynolds number is 5000, based upon the airfoil's chord and the free-stream velocity. The airfoil is pitching impulsively from 0 to 30 deg. with a dimensionless pitch rate alpha of 0.131. Instantaneous velocity and associated vorticity data have been acquired over the entire flow field. The primary vortex dominates the flow behavior after it separates from the leading edge of the airfoil. Complete stall emerges after this vortex detaches from the airfoil and triggers the shedding of a counter-rotating vortex near the trailing edge. A parallel computational study using the discrete vortex, random walk approximation has also been conducted. In general, the computational results agree very well with the experiment.

Lourenco, L.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Effect of initial acceleration on the development of the flow field of an airfoil pitching at constant rate

We present results from a series of experiments where an airfoil is pitched at constant rate from 0 to 60 degrees angle of attack. It is well documented that the dynamic stall behavior of such an airfoil strongly depends on the nondimensional pitch rate K = dot-alpha C/(2U(sub infinity)), where C is the chord, dot-alpha the constant pitch rate, and U(sub infinity) the free stream speed. In reality, the actual motion of the airfoil deviates from the ideal ramp due to the finite acceleration and deceleration periods imposed by the damping of drive system and response characteristics of the airfoil. It is possible that the pitch rate alone may not suffice in describing the flow and that the details of the motion trajectory before achieving a desired constant pitch rate may also affect the processes involved in the dynamic stall phenomenon. The effects of acceleration and deceleration periods are investigated by systematically varing the acceleration magnitude and its duration through the initial acceleration phase to constant pitch rate. The magnitude and duration of deceleration needed to bring the airfoil motion to rest is similarly controlled.

Koochesfahani, M. M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Dynamic stall study of a multi-element airfoil

Unsteady flow behavior and load characteristics of a VR-7 airfoil with and without a slat were studied in the water tunnel of the Aeroflightdynamics Directorate, NASA Ames Research Center. Both airfoils were oscillated sinusoidally between 5 and 25 degrees at a Reynolds number of 200,000 to obtain the unsteady lift, drag and pitching moment data. A fluorescing dye was released from an orifice located at the leading edge of the airfoil for the purpose of visualizing the boundary layer and wake flow. The flow field and load predictions of an incompressible Navier-Stokes code based on a velocity-vorticity formulation were compared with the test data. The test and predictions both confirm that the slatted VR-7 airfoil delays both static and dynamic stall as compared to the VR-7 airfoil alone.

Tung, Chee↗
NASA NTRS1996

Assessment of dual-point drag reduction for an executive-jet modified airfoil section

This paper presents aerodynamic characteristics and pressure distributions for an executive-jet modified airfoil and discusses drag reduction relative to a baseline airfoil for two cruise design points. A modified airfoil was tested in the adaptive-wall test section of the NASA Langley 0.3-Meter Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel (0.3-m TCT) for Mach numbers ranging from 0.250 to 0.780 and chord Reynolds numbers ranging from 3.0 x 10(exp 6) to 18.0 x 10(exp 6). The angle of attack was varied from minus 2 degrees to almost 10 degrees. Boundary-layer transition was fixed at 5 percent of chord on both the upper and lower surfaces of the model for most of the test. The two design Mach numbers were 0.654 and 0.735, chord Reynolds numbers were 4.5 x 10(exp 6) and 8.9 x 10(exp 6), and normal-force coefficients were 0.98 and 0.51. Test data are presented graphically as integrated force and moment coefficients and chordwise pressure distributions. The maximum normal-force coefficient decreases with increasing Mach number. At a constant normal-force coefficient in the linear region, as Mach number increases an increase occurs in the slope of normal-force coefficient versus angle of attack, negative pitching-moment coefficient, and drag coefficient. With increasing Reynolds number at a constant normal-force coefficient, the pitching-moment coefficient becomes more negative and the drag coefficient decreases. The pressure distributions reveal that when present, separation begins at the trailing edge as angle of attack is increased. The modified airfoil, which is designed with pitching moment and geometric constraints relative to the baseline airfoil, achieved drag reductions for both design points (12 and 22 counts). The drag reductions are associated with stronger suction pressures in the first 10 percent of the upper surface and weakened shock waves.

Allison, Dennis O.↗