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Introduction
I have noted some general confusion over this laboratory with numerous similar questions
from students. Therefore I am issuing this explanatory note in the hope of clarifying
some points. For the calculations of lift and drag it is of critical importance that signs
are accounted for correctly (sign of the pressure, sign of dy and dx and the sign of the
angle ) when performing integrations. Much of this can be clarified by thinking through
the problem and sketching force diagrams.
Additional explanations
the tabulated data in the lab sheet is for the upper surface from tap 15 to tap 29. The x
axis acts along the chord line of the airfoil (the line connecting the leading to the trailing
edge, shown by the red dashed line in figure 1). The y axis acts perpendicularly to this
line. The airfoil is at an angle of attack . For aircraft, a positive angle of attack (nose
up), is a clockwise rotation about the horizontal for this figure. The forces Fx and Fy
act in the x and y directions respectively. The real-world horizontal axes system xw and
yw are defined such that xw is aligned with the flow direction of U. The forces Fx and
Fy can be used to calculate lift (L) and drag (D) which are defined as the forces acting
perpendicular and parallel to the freestream. The relationship between forces acting in
the x,y and xw ,yw axes system can be written,
L = Fy cos() Fx sin()
D = Fx cos() + Fy sin()
(1)
In order to simplify things later on, I will break the airfoil into four quadrants, (i) frontupper, (ii) back-upper, (iii) back-lower, (iv) front-lower. A positive pressure always acts
perpendicularly inwards on the surface. Imagine if there were positive pressure (above
atmospheric) all around the airfoil (impossible when there is an airflow over the body).
The pressure would look as shown in figure 2 (acting always inwards to the surface). What
you should see is that a positive pressure on the upper surface gives negative Fy whereas
positive pressure on the lower surface gives positive Fy . Conversely, positive pressure on
the front surface gives positive Fx , and positive pressure on the back surface gives negative
Fx . This is summarized in the table below.
Quadrant
front-upper
back-upper
front-lower
back-lower
Cp
+ve
+ve
+ve
+ve
Fx
+ve
-ve
+ve
-ve
Fy
-ve
-ve
+ve
+ve
Cp
ve
ve
ve
ve
Fx
-ve
+ve
-ve
+ve
Fy
+ve
+ve
-ve
-ve
i integrate from front-to-back, and bottom-to-top (as shown in equation (6) of the
original lab sheet).
ii perform a line integral around the surface (equation (7) of original lab sheet).
Each of these choices has implications on the sign of dy and dx and the equations you
use for Fx and Fy .
Figure 3: Pressure forces acting on a small element of the airfoil upper-front surface
Integrating from front-to-back, dx is always positive. For the upper surface we can write,
dFy = (dF ) cos = (pupper ds)
dx
= pupper dx
ds
Figure 4: Pressure forces acting on a small element of the airfoil lower-back surface
Integrating from front-to-back, dx is always positive. For the lower surface we can write,
dFy = (dF ) cos = (plower ds)
dx
= plower dx
ds
dy
= pf ront dy
ds
dy
= pback dy
ds
Thus we can write that the total Fx from the front and back,
Z ymax
(pf ront pback )dx
Fx =
ymin
Fx =
(2)
(3)
p dy
sI
Fy =
p dx
Figure 5: A summary of the line integral for the front-upper, back-upper, back-lower and
front-lower surfaces. Direction of integration shown by red arrows.
We integrate from tap 15, via 23 to tap 30 and then back on the lower surface from tap
30 to 15, via 7. Note that the signs of dy and dx change according to the quadrant, but
the equations for Fx and Fy remain the same.
Quadrant dx
front-upper +ve
back-upper +ve
back-lower ve
front-lower ve
dy
+ve
-ve
-ve
+ve
I
y
p dy
= 1 2
= Cp d
c
U c 1
s
2 H
I
x
p dx
= 1 s 2
= Cp d
c
U c 1
s
2
s
(4)